RE: InDesign and Frame

["Larry D. Polk" <larry.polk@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello All,

I think it is important that we keep in mind what Adobe is trying to do
here. Up until recently, it was unusual for ANY Adobe products to be
listed on their home page (with certain exceptions, of course). They
are, however, targeting InDesign at a very large, somewhat hostile
market--namely those QuarkXPress. The situation is not really similar to
a person having to decide whether Word or Frame is a better tool for the
particular job. Instead, they are faced with marketing a product to a
group of people who are already *firmly* entrenched with a competing
product. 

I really don't think Adobe is intentionally trying to slight the
FrameMaker crowd but instead are advertising, to the best of their
abilities, their brand new product to a skeptical crowd, to say the
least. And I'm sure, as time goes on and the fanfare dies down, we'll
see less of an "InDesign" presence and more of an "equitable" marketing
scheme for all Adobe products.

I agree with you, Adam, about FrameMaker not being publicized enough. It
is certainly true that plenty of people who are using Word should be
using Frame. However, I doubt that the financial decision makers are
willing to see it our way. As sad as it is to say, all too often the
mindset is "why spend so much money on one application [FrameMaker],
when we can get a suite of applications [Office, WordPerfect, etc]". I'm
sure you would agree, that the best decisions aren't *always* made when
money is on the line.

As for me, I'm trying to be optimistic about the future of Frame. Maybe
I'm being naive, but until Adobe announces their cancellation of the
product, I will welcome any new developments with open arms. This is
largely due to the fact that I *believe* FrameMaker to be the best
product for the job it does.

Well, that's my opinion...you can wake up now. :)

Best Wishes,

Larry Polk
Product Development Engineer
larry.polk@bossintl.com

> ----------
> From: 	Adam Korman[SMTP:adamk@san.rr.com]
> Sent: 	Wednesday, March 10, 1999 05:34 PM
> To: 	Dov Isaacs; Framers2; Framers
> Subject: 	Re: InDesign and Frame
> 
> > (4) I cannot comment on the web page, but maybe FrameMaker users
> > are considered to be too sophisticated to be woo'ed by
> flash-and-glitter
> > on the home page.
> 
> I think you overestimate us. I think many of us would find it heart
> warming
> to see Frame mentioned at least in passing. I generally don't take it
> as a
> good sign when a product isn't marketed on the company's home page.
> 
> I've gone through this issue of perceptions regarding Frame at my
> company
> and I don't doubt that it happens elsewhere. While we, the users, may
> feel
> that any money spent on Frame licenses is well spent, we often aren't
> the
> ones making purchase decisions.
> 
> If Adobe were seen promoting Frame strongly, perhaps its adoption
> would
> become more ubiquitous. I understand that the market for FrameMaker is
> much
> smaller than for Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign/GoLive/Acrobat/etc.,
> but I'd
> bet that most of Frame's market remains untapped. There are plenty of
> people
> using MS Word who should be using Frame.
> 
> As I see it there are two big obstacles to wider adoption of Frame
> (and both
> can be blamed on Adobe):
> 
> 1. A lot of people have never even heard of FrameMaker. Of those that
> have,
> most don't know what it's really good for -- they think Word can do
> anything
> Frame can do without the additional software and training costs. Or,
> they
> think that it's only for huge technical pubs departments of massive
> corporations.
> 
> 2. The common perception that Adobe's commitment to Frame's future is
> questionable. Whether this is true or not is almost irrelevant --
> perception
> is all that counts. A lot of companies aren't willing to make an
> investment
> in expensive software they think won't be supported, developed and
> updated.
> 
> Adam Korman
> 
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