Ever the bridesmaid, never the bride

[Hedley_S_Finger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Folks, here in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, the leaves are turning gold
and Adobe Systems (Australia) are showering me with seasonal brochures.

Look!  Here's a fantastic upgrade offer!  Upgrade or purchase any two Adobe
products and you get two cheap CDs chock-a-block with images ($A59,
normally $320) and _The Official Adobe Electronic Publishing Guide_.
Sadly, FrameMaker is NOT one of the products you can upgrade or buy -- it's
not even mentioned.

Oh, wow.  Let's rip the plastic wrapper off Adobe Magazine, Asia Pacific
edition (vol 2 no 2, 1999).  Lookit all this neat stuff about InDesign and
Acrobat 4.0.  You can do sooooo much with Acrobat -- forms 'n markup 'n
prepress 'n document distribution.  Gee, I bet it tells you how FrameMaker
is the pre-eminent frontend to Acrobat for producing fully hyperlinked
books, with external and internal links, and neat effects like Post-It
notes and other stuff with pdfmark operators ... err, no, it doesn't.
Surely there's something about FrameMaker and what a fantastic tool it is
for technical writers, academic writers, and authors -- after all, all the
other Adobe products get a mention.  Thought so ... in Q&A there's a tip
showing how to get rid of the superfluous spaces embedded in Web pages by
cross-reference markers.  And FM is also listed in the Current Product
Versions box -- talk about hard hitting publicity!

Wait on!  Here's an insert that folds out into a great big poster showing
all the neat things a researcher, a manager, a builder, a designer, a
lawyer, a webmaster, and an engineer can do with Acrobat.  Perhaps if I
turn it over it will tell me what an author or a technical writer can do
with books and other long documents ... no, it doesn't.

What a cornucopia of stuff!  Now there's a timetable of Adobe Seminars
around Australia from June to November.  Naturally the emphasis is on
InDesign -- sure looks fantastic 'cos if any arrogant overpriced software
needs a kick in the derriere, Quark is it!  And all the other products look
like they will be getting a run ... except FrameMaker ...

Can we please stop hearing crap about market segments and targeted
publicity?  The worldwide academic and commercial book publishing industry
is a natural fit for FrameMaker and absolutely NOTHING is being done to
promote the product into its obvious application.  When is Adobe going to
let FrameMaker out of the technical documentation ghetto?

Regards,
Hedley the Despairs

====================================================================

Hedley Finger
   User documentation and publishing consultant
   Adobe(R) Certified Expert, FrameMaker 5.5

Hand Holding Projects Pty Ltd   ACN 007 418 153
   28 Regent Street   Burwood VIC 3125   Australia
   Tel +61 3 9809 1229   Fax +61 3 9809 1326   Mobile +61 412 461 558
   E-mail <mailto:hfinger@handholding.com.au>



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