Re: Framemaker history ?

[Dan Emory <danemory@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 02:32 PM 5/26/01 +0200, Studio Smalbro wrote:
>Hi
>I'm trying to write a small article on the history of Framemaker. I have
>only used the software since 1995, and doesn't know a lot besides that the
>program was owned by Framesystems up until 1995, when it was sold to Adobe.
>Can anyone help me out on this ? I'd like to describe when the first release
>was - by whom ----and so forth. But I frankly don't know where to get the
>info.
>Sincerely
>Bjørn Smalbro
=============================================
 From the initial release of FrameMaker in the late 1980s until it was sold 
to Adobe in 1995, the
company name was Frame Technology, located in San Jose, CA. Before about 
1993, the product
was only available on Unix platforms.

 From about 1993 to 1997, I had a symbiotic relationship with a FrameMaker 
Value-Added Reseller (VAR) in Southern
California. I'd help him make the sale, and in the process establish my own 
credentials with
the new customer so I could pick up the post-sales consulting and 
application development
work. Naturally, we worked closely with the Frame Technology/Adobe sales 
and tech support people,
and often participated in their sales meetings and seminars, as well as 
attending VAR get-togethers
at the company headquarters. So I have an insider's view of what was going 
on during those years.

When I began using the product (release 2.1x as I recall) in 1990,
the product had no table-making functions--you had to create each row
of a table in a separate anchored frame, whose height became the row height.
But that was OK, because FrameMaker's only real competition was InterGrief.
Release 3 added the great table capabilities the product has now. Release 4 
is when
Windows and Mac platforms were added, as well as more flavors of Unix.

In about 1994, Frame Technology produced  FrameBuilder, which was the 
company's first
structured document product. It allowed you to create an Element Definition 
document (EDD)
whose element definitions were imported into a template, which could then 
be used
to create SGML-like structured documents, while still preserving the 
WYSIWYG features of FrameMaker.
Although this product ran on Unix, Windows, and Mac platforms, the only way 
you could
export these documents to SGML was to use a Unix platform, and pay $10,000 
for a kludgy
plug-in. But that kludge was done away with when FM+SGML was released in 
about 1996.
This new product had full SGML import/export capabilities on all supported 
platforms, plus
major improvements in the capabilities of the EDD. The FM+SGML product has 
changed
very little since then, the main addition being the capability to export 
(but not import) XML.

 From its inception, Frame Technology was totally committed to outstanding 
product support.
For example, the FM+SGML 5.1 User's manual had at least
300 more pages in it than the manual for the current Adobe release of 
FM+SGML, even though many
new functions (e.g., XML, HTML, Japanese language support) did not exist in 
V5.1.
The on-line help was so superior to what you get now that it makes me ill 
to think about it.

The in-house training staff  produced outstanding course material, and the 
classes, mainly conducted
at Frame Technology headquarters by Frame Technology trainers, were of the 
highest quality.

The tech support function was also excellent. Each sales region had a 
couple of highly qualified support engineers.
When you called tech support, you actually got solutions. You could
email your problem to tech support (even if you didn't buy the maintenance 
option),
and you'd get a substantive reply via email. Often, there would be a whole 
series
of email exchanges over a single problem.

The tech support people were aware of all the known bugs in the product, 
and when
you ran into one, they'd give you the official workaround if any was 
available. If you found a new
bug, you could send them a file in which the bug was manifested, and they'd 
test it,
verify the bug, log it, and report back to you on what they'd found. Nearly 
all known
bugs were fixed in the next release, and on several occasions a free point 
release was distributed when
serious bugs were found.

Frame Technology also vigorously supported third party vendors and OEMs who 
developed
add-ons, enhancements, and special applications. About twice a year, the 
company
produced a 2-1/2-inch-thick book listing and describing all the third-party 
products
and product tie-ins that were available.

The last release (5.1) produced by Frame Technology
was almost completed when the sale to Adobe took place. It was the best and 
most stable version
ever. The next release, the first one produced under Adobe's aegis, was 
5.5, and even though most of the
improvements (other than double-byte which few of us needed) were minor 
cosmetics,
it had more bugs than Starship Troopers. It took 4 point releases (5.5.1, 
5.5.2, 5.5.3, and 5.5.6)
and several years to clean up all the bugs introduced in the original 5.5 
release, and there are
quite a few (some are serious) still left unfixed in V5.5.6. Also, the 
Users Manual and on-line help declined markedly in release 5.5,
and got even worse in release 6.0. Those documentation deficiencies, and 
the continuing decline in tech support, are what
has led to greater reliance on lists like this one.

That was just the beginning of the decline under Adobe. Within a year or so 
after the
takeover, the in-house training group was abolished, most other types of 
product support went into sharp decline,
and many of the top programmers began to leave. Support for OEMs and 
third-party
developers almost vanished, and many of the good FrameMaker VARs began to 
desert the ship.
Each new release sheds more flavors of Unix.

So, the story you're writing should be a sad one.




====================
| Nullius in Verba |
====================
Dan Emory, Dan Emory & Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design & Database Publishing
Voice/Fax: 949-722-8971 E-Mail: danemory@primenet.com
177 Riverside Ave., STE F, #1151, Newport Beach, CA 92663
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