Rumour: FM really is dead

[Fred Ma <fma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The baffling thing is that Adobe doesn't consider FM
worthwhile.  How can that be?  We live in a capitalist
environment.  There is no product (that I know of, not
that I'm any final authority) that even begins to
rival FM for technical composition.  (I distinguish
composition from document preparation; for the latter,
the assumption is that the content and approximate
format has been predetermined).  How can an application
for which there are no substitutes (not even remotely)
be not worthwhile?  Surely, the market for the application
is not small.  Alas, I feel the conversation drifting
in the same direction that it has drifted before.  It is
because Word has become so cheap that the bean counters
(no respect intended, it is a critical role) have forced
the propeller heads to use Word.  Maybe, despite its
awesome functionality, elegance, and stability, the
cost of FM is more than the market can bear.  This doesn't
necessarily mean that Adobe is pocketing too much (it
obviously feels that it can't get enough for FM without
giving up market share).  It may simply be that continual
development of such a (much better) tool requires too
much resources.

The argument put forth in the past was that FM's greater
expense more than pays for itself before too long.  That
may (or may not) be true.  It doesn't matter, so long as
the bean counters don't see that.  The market has spoken,
and rightly or wrongly, it will lumber down the path it
has chosen (to the sadness of FM users everywhere).

Former responses to this topic include the testimony that
FM training courses are alive and well.  If so, that is a
welcome relief, since it makes it less likely that FM will
truly be dropped.  Whether that testimony is still accurate
today, only the instructors can say.  And who knows how
much of any effect that has on the decision of dropping FM.
Who can say what goes on in the minds of the visionaries at
Adobe.

Fred

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