Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Gillian Flato]

That’s one of the reasons I switched to Madcap Flare. It’s an exponentially 
better authoring tool.
-GIllian

> On Feb 21, 2022, at 11:20 AM,   wrote:
> 
> I'm working with the latest monthly licence version of Frame at work. 
> 
> My system significantly beats all the Adobe requirements and I *still* get 
> several crashes a week - even though I'm working with small books or single 
> files (which I've taken to doing to protect the integrity of the book).
> 
> Please note that as I also work with MS Word, restarting my system at least 
> twice, if not 3 or 4 times a day is integral to my "work methodology".
> 
> Yet Frame still crashes. Regularly.
> 
> Alison 
> 
> 
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: Framers  On Behalf 
> Of Reng Winfried
> Sent: February 20, 2022 11:01 PM
> To: An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software. 
> 
> Subject: Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe
> 
> Hi Betrand,
> 
> Sorry to hear this.
> However:
> o From your other thread I understand that you used and old version.
> Newer versions are definitely more stable.
> o My experience is that Adobe is more responsive than some years ago.
>  The support e-mail address is: mailto:tcs...@adobe.com
>  When you have an issue (e.g. with recovery files), then also post it on the 
> Adobe forum.
>  There are a few Adobe employees who follow the discussions.
>  Your issue might get more attention.
>  And post your issue on the Adobe Tracker:
>  https://tracker.adobe.com/#/home
> 
> Best regards
> 
> Winfried
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: Framers 
> <mailto:framers-bounces+w.reng=carecom-solutions@lists.frameusers.com> On 
> Behalf Of Bertrand Meyer
> Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2022 4:32 PM
> To: 'An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software.' 
> <mailto:framers@lists.frameusers.com>
> Cc: mailto:me...@inf.ethz.ch
> Subject: Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe
> 
> This is an old thread but here is a comment. I fundamentally rely on 
> FrameMaker and would never "bash" it. On the other hand, right now at the end 
> of a two-year book-writing process, with the camera-ready due on Monday, I 
> got a crash this afternoon. Not the first -- in my experience, if I am 
> working on a book a FrameMaker session does not last more than three or four 
> days before it vanishes  --  but possibly the worst ever. The supposed 
> recovery files were corrupted; just to restart from the backup to a stable 
> state took almost two hours. I do back up obsessively (as I have been burned 
> many times before), but still. And when you are in delicate fine-tuning, 
> typo-fixing and final indexing mode, working over several chapters at once, 
> going through every recent change to see which were kept and which were lost, 
> is a nightmare. 
> 
> One might imagine that by this time they would have either fixed the crashes 
> or devised a decent recovery mechanism.
> 
> There is still nothing that measures up to FrameMaker for writing books with 
> a sophisticated structure, but if it did respect the integrity of customers' 
> work that wouldn't hurt.
> 
> -- Bertrand Meyer
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: Framers 
> [mailto:framers-bounces+bertrand.meyer=inf.ethz...@lists.frameusers.com] On 
> Behalf Of Shmuel Wolfson
> Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:00
> To: Framers List <mailto:framers@lists.frameusers.com>
> Subject: Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe
> 
> I don't know why everyone likes bashing FrameMaker.
> 
> Is there anything else that:
>  Is suitable for long books.
>  Gives you PDF output as is appears while you are working (WYSIWYG).
>  Can be converted to online help, (even if it requires buying an extra 
> program).
> 
> FM happens to have online help conversion built-in, but I could live without 
> that if that was another decent authoring tool that worked together with 
> another decently priced conversion tool.
> 
> Word comes close to checking all those boxes, but has problems with large 
> files and other issues.
> 
> Someone mention another page layout program recently, but I forgot what it 
> was. Maybe it was Xara Page & Layout Designer. But can it do online help at 
> all?
> 
> Please post if you know of another authoring tool that is excellent for PDFs 
> and can be used for online help.
> 
> My biggest gripe with FM is the price, but you know what, you really don't 
> need to buy every new version that comes out. Do you buy every new smartphone 
> that comes out, or wait until you need a new phone? Anyone under 20 is 
> excluded

Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[acraig]

I'm working with the latest monthly licence version of Frame at work. 

My system significantly beats all the Adobe requirements and I *still* get 
several crashes a week - even though I'm working with small books or single 
files (which I've taken to doing to protect the integrity of the book).

Please note that as I also work with MS Word, restarting my system at least 
twice, if not 3 or 4 times a day is integral to my "work methodology".

Yet Frame still crashes. Regularly.

Alison 



-Original Message-
From: Framers  On Behalf 
Of Reng Winfried
Sent: February 20, 2022 11:01 PM
To: An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software. 

Subject: Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

Hi Betrand,

Sorry to hear this.
However:
o From your other thread I understand that you used and old version.
 Newer versions are definitely more stable.
o My experience is that Adobe is more responsive than some years ago.
  The support e-mail address is: mailto:tcs...@adobe.com
  When you have an issue (e.g. with recovery files), then also post it on the 
Adobe forum.
  There are a few Adobe employees who follow the discussions.
  Your issue might get more attention.
  And post your issue on the Adobe Tracker:
  https://tracker.adobe.com/#/home

Best regards

Winfried

-Original Message-
From: Framers 
<mailto:framers-bounces+w.reng=carecom-solutions@lists.frameusers.com> On 
Behalf Of Bertrand Meyer
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2022 4:32 PM
To: 'An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software.' 
<mailto:framers@lists.frameusers.com>
Cc: mailto:me...@inf.ethz.ch
Subject: Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

This is an old thread but here is a comment. I fundamentally rely on FrameMaker 
and would never "bash" it. On the other hand, right now at the end of a 
two-year book-writing process, with the camera-ready due on Monday, I got a 
crash this afternoon. Not the first -- in my experience, if I am working on a 
book a FrameMaker session does not last more than three or four days before it 
vanishes  --  but possibly the worst ever. The supposed recovery files were 
corrupted; just to restart from the backup to a stable state took almost two 
hours. I do back up obsessively (as I have been burned many times before), but 
still. And when you are in delicate fine-tuning, typo-fixing and final indexing 
mode, working over several chapters at once, going through every recent change 
to see which were kept and which were lost, is a nightmare. 

One might imagine that by this time they would have either fixed the crashes or 
devised a decent recovery mechanism.

There is still nothing that measures up to FrameMaker for writing books with a 
sophisticated structure, but if it did respect the integrity of customers' work 
that wouldn't hurt.

-- Bertrand Meyer

-Original Message-
From: Framers 
[mailto:framers-bounces+bertrand.meyer=inf.ethz...@lists.frameusers.com] On 
Behalf Of Shmuel Wolfson
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:00
To: Framers List <mailto:framers@lists.frameusers.com>
Subject: Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

I don't know why everyone likes bashing FrameMaker.

Is there anything else that:
  Is suitable for long books.
  Gives you PDF output as is appears while you are working (WYSIWYG).
  Can be converted to online help, (even if it requires buying an extra 
program).

FM happens to have online help conversion built-in, but I could live without 
that if that was another decent authoring tool that worked together with 
another decently priced conversion tool.

Word comes close to checking all those boxes, but has problems with large files 
and other issues.

Someone mention another page layout program recently, but I forgot what it was. 
Maybe it was Xara Page & Layout Designer. But can it do online help at all?

Please post if you know of another authoring tool that is excellent for PDFs 
and can be used for online help.

My biggest gripe with FM is the price, but you know what, you really don't need 
to buy every new version that comes out. Do you buy every new smartphone that 
comes out, or wait until you need a new phone? Anyone under 20 is excluded from 
answering that question :)

--
Shmuel Wolfson
Technical Writer
058-763-7133 

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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Reng Winfried]

Hi Betrand,

Sorry to hear this.
However:
o From your other thread I understand that you used and old version.
 Newer versions are definitely more stable.
o My experience is that Adobe is more responsive than some years ago.
  The support e-mail address is: tcs...@adobe.com
  When you have an issue (e.g. with recovery files), then also post it on the 
Adobe forum.
  There are a few Adobe employees who follow the discussions.
  Your issue might get more attention.
  And post your issue on the Adobe Tracker:
  https://tracker.adobe.com/#/home

Best regards

Winfried

-Original Message-
From: Framers 
 On Behalf 
Of Bertrand Meyer
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2022 4:32 PM
To: 'An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software.' 

Cc: me...@inf.ethz.ch
Subject: Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

This is an old thread but here is a comment. I fundamentally rely on FrameMaker 
and would never "bash" it. On the other hand, right now at the end of a 
two-year book-writing process, with the camera-ready due on Monday, I got a 
crash this afternoon. Not the first -- in my experience, if I am working on a 
book a FrameMaker session does not last more than three or four days before it 
vanishes  --  but possibly the worst ever. The supposed recovery files were 
corrupted; just to restart from the backup to a stable state took almost two 
hours. I do back up obsessively (as I have been burned many times before), but 
still. And when you are in delicate fine-tuning, typo-fixing and final indexing 
mode, working over several chapters at once, going through every recent change 
to see which were kept and which were lost, is a nightmare. 

One might imagine that by this time they would have either fixed the crashes or 
devised a decent recovery mechanism.

There is still nothing that measures up to FrameMaker for writing books with a 
sophisticated structure, but if it did respect the integrity of customers' work 
that wouldn't hurt.

-- Bertrand Meyer

-Original Message-
From: Framers 
[mailto:framers-bounces+bertrand.meyer=inf.ethz...@lists.frameusers.com] On 
Behalf Of Shmuel Wolfson
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:00
To: Framers List 
Subject: Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

I don't know why everyone likes bashing FrameMaker.

Is there anything else that:
• Is suitable for long books.
• Gives you PDF output as is appears while you are working (WYSIWYG).
• Can be converted to online help, (even if it requires buying an extra 
program).

FM happens to have online help conversion built-in, but I could live without 
that if that was another decent authoring tool that worked together with 
another decently priced conversion tool.

Word comes close to checking all those boxes, but has problems with large files 
and other issues.

Someone mention another page layout program recently, but I forgot what it was. 
Maybe it was Xara Page & Layout Designer. But can it do online help at all?

Please post if you know of another authoring tool that is excellent for PDFs 
and can be used for online help.

My biggest gripe with FM is the price, but you know what, you really don't need 
to buy every new version that comes out. Do you buy every new smartphone that 
comes out, or wait until you need a new phone? Anyone under 20 is excluded from 
answering that question :)

--
Shmuel Wolfson
Technical Writer
058-763-7133 

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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Bertrand Meyer]

This is an old thread but here is a comment. I fundamentally rely on FrameMaker 
and would never "bash" it. On the other hand, right now at the end of a 
two-year book-writing process, with the camera-ready due on Monday, I got a 
crash this afternoon. Not the first -- in my experience, if I am working on a 
book a FrameMaker session does not last more than three or four days before it 
vanishes  --  but possibly the worst ever. The supposed recovery files were 
corrupted; just to restart from the backup to a stable state took almost two 
hours. I do back up obsessively (as I have been burned many times before), but 
still. And when you are in delicate fine-tuning, typo-fixing and final indexing 
mode, working over several chapters at once, going through every recent change 
to see which were kept and which were lost, is a nightmare. 

One might imagine that by this time they would have either fixed the crashes or 
devised a decent recovery mechanism.

There is still nothing that measures up to FrameMaker for writing books with a 
sophisticated structure, but if it did respect the integrity of customers' work 
that wouldn't hurt.

-- Bertrand Meyer

-Original Message-
From: Framers 
[mailto:framers-bounces+bertrand.meyer=inf.ethz...@lists.frameusers.com] On 
Behalf Of Shmuel Wolfson
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:00
To: Framers List 
Subject: Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

I don't know why everyone likes bashing FrameMaker.

Is there anything else that:
• Is suitable for long books.
• Gives you PDF output as is appears while you are working (WYSIWYG).
• Can be converted to online help, (even if it requires buying an extra 
program).

FM happens to have online help conversion built-in, but I could live without 
that if that was another decent authoring tool that worked together with 
another decently priced conversion tool.

Word comes close to checking all those boxes, but has problems with large files 
and other issues.

Someone mention another page layout program recently, but I forgot what it was. 
Maybe it was Xara Page & Layout Designer. But can it do online help at all?

Please post if you know of another authoring tool that is excellent for PDFs 
and can be used for online help.

My biggest gripe with FM is the price, but you know what, you really don't need 
to buy every new version that comes out. Do you buy every new smartphone that 
comes out, or wait until you need a new phone? Anyone under 20 is excluded from 
answering that question :)

--
Shmuel Wolfson
Technical Writer
058-763-7133

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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Syed Zaeem Hosain]

Thanks! I couldn't agree with you more! :thumbsup

And years ago, I think it was even less than $400 to upgrade - heck the cost of 
a license was around that much (although this may be wishful recollection on my 
part! )

Z

Shmuel Wolfson said:
> At one point it was $400 to upgrade up to two versions back. That was 
> reasonable. Every few years I would ask my employer to upgrade. Then the 
> price shot up to $400 for one version back, $600 for two versions back, and 
> full price after that. That's when I just gave up and said I'll stick with 
> the version I have now until (perhaps) forever. It would be nice to have some 
> of the new features, but I can't justify the expense.
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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Robert Lauriston]

I suspect the main reason Adobe did not discontinue FrameMaker 20
years ago and has continued to sell it is the significant revenue
streams from large customers such as Boeing who built complex
toolchains using structured FrameMaker and the Framemaker development
kit.
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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Shmuel Wolfson]

At one point it was $400 to upgrade up to two versions back. That was 
reasonable. Every few years I would ask my employer to upgrade. Then the 
price shot up to $400 for one version back, $600 for two versions back, 
and full price after that. That's when I just gave up and said I'll 
stick with the version I have now until (perhaps) forever. It would be 
nice to have some of the new features, but I can't justify the expense.


If they are going to charge a lot, they should really try hard to make 
their users happy, which apparently they are not.



On 18-Oct-21 9:34 PM, Robert Lauriston wrote:

The current $360 annual subscription price is lower than the old
annual maintenance charge, which was 50% of the cost for a new
license.

On Mon, Oct 18, 2021 at 12:27 AM Shmuel Wolfson  wrote:

... I think when Adobe charged less for upgrades people had more tolerance
for Adobe not fixing bugs. ...

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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Craig, Alison GLI/CA]

But how many people actually bought maintenance? 

And how many writers or employers updated every time a new version was 
released? 

This was - and is - an expensive piece of software with absolutely terrible 
support - especially when you consider that almost every installation and/or 
authorisation issue is caused by Adobe?

Alison 

++

-Original Message-
From: Framers 
 On 
Behalf Of Robert Lauriston
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2021 11:34 AM
To: An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software. 

Subject: Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

The current $360 annual subscription price is lower than the old
annual maintenance charge, which was 50% of the cost for a new
license.

On Mon, Oct 18, 2021 at 12:27 AM Shmuel Wolfson  wrote:
>
> ... I think when Adobe charged less for upgrades people had more tolerance
> for Adobe not fixing bugs. ...
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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Robert Lauriston]

The current $360 annual subscription price is lower than the old
annual maintenance charge, which was 50% of the cost for a new
license.

On Mon, Oct 18, 2021 at 12:27 AM Shmuel Wolfson  wrote:
>
> ... I think when Adobe charged less for upgrades people had more tolerance
> for Adobe not fixing bugs. ...
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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Shmuel Wolfson]

I think the general feeling of those who are upset at Adobe, is that 
Adobe seems to feel:
"We are the best. Nothing else comes close. So we can charge whatever we 
want and ignore your request for bug fixes."


Does that about sum it up?

I think when Adobe charged less for upgrades people had more tolerance 
for Adobe not fixing bugs. But if they are going to charge a lot, they 
should also give a lot in terms of what existing customers want, 
including bug fixes and specific features that customers asked for - not 
just new features that they feel will bring them new customers.


--
Shmuel Wolfson

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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Robert Lauriston]

You can't buy FrameMaker any more. Subscription only. $360 a  year is
quite cheap compared with other tools. I'm paying a little over $3,000
a year for Paligo. Flare is $2,000.

PDF's still a customer requirement for many products, but the other
single-sourcing tools I've used all produce professional-looking PDFs.
Occasionally I use the Organize Pages view in Acrobat and skim for bad
page breaks and code listings / tables that go past the right margin.
Last time I checked there were no problems.

On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 1:59 AM Shmuel Wolfson  wrote:

> ... My biggest gripe with FM is the price, but you know what, you really
> don't need to buy every new version that comes out. ...
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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Syed Zaeem Hosain]

Well ... I don't bash FrameMaker because of its capabilities, but I do bash 
them for the upgrade pricing changes over the years.

For me to see the benefits of stability that Reng Winfried says is now 
available (since FM 7), would require paying for a full FM license - eek!

Of course, I do not like subscription models ... this last evolution guarantees 
that I will not update from FM 12. When that stops working for whatever reason, 
*good*! I am not using it much anymore anyway ...



To answer your other question, yes, I have an alternative ... works "for my 
purposes". I emphasize "for my purposes" since it is not for everybody, of 
course!

My current flow is LaTeX using the TeXStudio editor. 

Not WYSISYG, but ... one click gets me PDF output in a window on the side. 
*And*, I can click on the PDF, and TeXstudio opens the *specific* file with the 
LaTeX source, and puts my cursor right where I need it!

Consistent output? Yes. Many people have provided all the necessary add-ons for 
just about any standardized technical format that you might ever want.

Large books? Yes. No issues with multiple-hundred-page documents for me. I keep 
my chapters and re-usable text paragraphs in separate source files, so they can 
be re-used in other "books" too.

Variables? Of course! Defined at the top level or wherever, and these can be 
over-ridden in a given source file for local use. 

Equations? Beautiful! but you do have to spend a tiny amount of time learning 
how. After that curve (it is not tough), LaTeX and TeX have better equation 
output than *any* other tool I have ever seen ... for technical documents, this 
is perfect!

Tables? Yes. But you do have to get used to doing them without WYSIWYG ... the 
rapid PDF generation is what makes it work for me!

Help files? I do not know. I have not tried creating these from LaTeX at all 
(since I don't need them), but I would be surprised if this is difficult to 
make happen!

And, best of all, the price is right: my current flow is FREE ... 

Z

P.S. My latest infuriating issue is Acrobat Pro. Which seems to want to check 
its license status with Adobe far too often, does not "get through" to whatever 
system it is trying to reach, and stops working till I restart my computer or 
reboot my router or stop using it for a while! 

This is helping me move to FlexiPDF faster ... frankly, the next time that 
Acrobat Pro stops, it will no longer be the default tool selected in Windows 
for PDF files.

-Original Message-
From: Framers 
[mailto:framers-bounces+syed.hosain=aeris@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf 
Of Shmuel Wolfson
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 2:00 AM
To: Framers List 
Subject: Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

I don't know why everyone likes bashing FrameMaker.

Is there anything else that:
• Is suitable for long books.
• Gives you PDF output as is appears while you are working (WYSIWYG).
• Can be converted to online help, (even if it requires buying an extra 
program).

FM happens to have online help conversion built-in, but I could live without 
that if that was another decent authoring tool that worked together with 
another decently priced conversion tool.

Word comes close to checking all those boxes, but has problems with large files 
and other issues.

Someone mention another page layout program recently, but I forgot what it was. 
Maybe it was Xara Page & Layout Designer. But can it do online help at all?

Please post if you know of another authoring tool that is excellent for PDFs 
and can be used for online help.

My biggest gripe with FM is the price, but you know what, you really don't need 
to buy every new version that comes out. Do you buy every new smartphone that 
comes out, or wait until you need a new phone? Anyone under 20 is excluded from 
answering that question :)

--
Shmuel Wolfson
Technical Writer
058-763-7133
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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Shmuel Wolfson]

   To continue my previous email, I agree that if PDF is not an output you
   supply to the customers, than there are lots of good options out there
   that may be cheaper than FM and have other benefits. But there are
   plenty of products out there that still come with a PDF, or have one
   available if you go to their support page. I don't know how people can
   say that PDF is dead. I've never has a cellphone or a printer that I
   could not download it's manual. On the other hand, those type of
   products don't need online help, so you could use any page layout
   program for them. It could by that my company is someone unique in
   needed nice PDFs for most products, and online help for others.
   --
   Shmuel Wolfson
   Technical Writer
   058-763-7133
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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Shmuel Wolfson]

I don't know why everyone likes bashing FrameMaker.

Is there anything else that:
• Is suitable for long books.
• Gives you PDF output as is appears while you are working (WYSIWYG).
• Can be converted to online help, (even if it requires buying an extra 
program).


FM happens to have online help conversion built-in, but I could live 
without that if that was another decent authoring tool that worked 
together with another decently priced conversion tool.


Word comes close to checking all those boxes, but has problems with 
large files and other issues.


Someone mention another page layout program recently, but I forgot what 
it was. Maybe it was Xara Page & Layout Designer. But can it do online 
help at all?


Please post if you know of another authoring tool that is excellent for 
PDFs and can be used for online help.


My biggest gripe with FM is the price, but you know what, you really 
don't need to buy every new version that comes out. Do you buy every new 
smartphone that comes out, or wait until you need a new phone? Anyone 
under 20 is excluded from answering that question :)


--
Shmuel Wolfson
Technical Writer
058-763-7133

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Re: [Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[nuhDEEN]

 Michael, what are you using to publish your DITA content? What output is it 
missing?
Nadine
On Wednesday, October 13, 2021, 04:43:39 p.m. EDT, Norton, Michael 
 wrote:  
 
 Some of us have been using FrameMaker since it was owned by Frame. For many 
years, it seemed as if Adobe was trying to abandon FraneMaker. That has changed 
and it is still a good product. RoboHelp, however, is much more troublesome. I 
would not recommend it. It's buggy, and cumbersome. That said, the company I 
work for is moving into a DITA toolset that is even more buggy than RoboHelp 
and doesn't have nearly the publishing capabilities of FrameMaker. So, I am 
thankful that I can, for a little while longer, still work with one good tool.

And yeah, installation and licensing is a pain. I hesitate to get with Adobe 
Support for RoboHelp problems because a reinstall is often necessary and it's 
just a major pain. In contrast, I can't remember the last time I had to contact 
them with a FrameMaker problem. FrameMaker has that one characteristic that I 
really appreciate in a software tool - it works.


Principal Technical Documentation Specialist, Robotic Automation  |  
Pegasystems Inc.
Office: +1.678.527.5412  |  Email: 
michael.nor...@pega.com  |  
www.pega.com

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[Framers] Why so many of us feel the way we do about Adobe

[Norton, Michael]

Some of us have been using FrameMaker since it was owned by Frame. For many 
years, it seemed as if Adobe was trying to abandon FraneMaker. That has changed 
and it is still a good product. RoboHelp, however, is much more troublesome. I 
would not recommend it. It's buggy, and cumbersome. That said, the company I 
work for is moving into a DITA toolset that is even more buggy than RoboHelp 
and doesn't have nearly the publishing capabilities of FrameMaker. So, I am 
thankful that I can, for a little while longer, still work with one good tool.

And yeah, installation and licensing is a pain. I hesitate to get with Adobe 
Support for RoboHelp problems because a reinstall is often necessary and it's 
just a major pain. In contrast, I can't remember the last time I had to contact 
them with a FrameMaker problem. FrameMaker has that one characteristic that I 
really appreciate in a software tool - it works.


Principal Technical Documentation Specialist, Robotic Automation  |  
Pegasystems Inc.
Office: +1.678.527.5412  |  Email: 
michael.nor...@pega.com  |  
www.pega.com

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