Options
My company is 99% Mac, 99% FrameMaker. Adobe's decision to discontinue Mac FrameMaker has left us, and thousands of others, with a dilemma. Do we continue with Mac OS 9 and
FrameMaker, upgrade to Mac OS X and run FrameMaker in
Classic, or switch
to a poor alternative?
Here are the options:
Option #1: Continue with FrameMaker
on Mac OS 9?
Pros:
- FrameMaker works and does the job.
- Most of the bugs have been ironed
out.
- Proven, highly-capable technical authoring and publishing
system.
Cons:
- Can't benefit from the power, stability, security, and elegance
of Mac OS X.
- All Macs sold since Summer 2004 can't boot into Mac OS 9 so
we can't buy any new hardware.
- Can't upgrade our other apps to the latest Mac OS X versions, including Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator,
and Adobe Photoshop.
Option #2: Upgrade to Mac OS X and run FrameMaker
in Classic?
Pros:
- FrameMaker works and does the job
- Most of FrameMaker's bugs have been ironed
out
- Take advantage of the power, stability, security, and elegance
of Mac OS X for other apps
- Mac OS X can create PDFs from any app
- Preview PostScript and EPS files onscreen
- Full Unicode supports makes working in multiple languages a breeze
- OpenType support built-in
- Font management app included
- Quartz 2D display model based on PostScript and PDF so what you see really is what you get
- ColorSync color management built-in
- Print PostScript and EPS files directly to non-PostScript printers
- Supports OpenType, TrueType, Type 1, and PostScript Multiple Master instances
- Six high-quality Japanese PostScript OpenType fonts included
- Quartz text smoothing looks fantastic (leaves Windows ClearType in the dust)
- Spotlight search finds files and words in PDF files
Cons:
- Classic can be a resource hog and prone to crash (this may be due to other issues, such as incompatible extensions)
- Additional complexity on Macs running Chinese, Cyrillic, and Japanese language kits
- Need to manage hundreds of fonts in both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X (including Japanese, Chinese, and Russian)
- Need to configure printers in both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X
- Additional maintenance of running what is essentially two operating systems
- FrameMaker can't make use of all the advanced Mac OS
X technologies
- The new Intel-based Macs don't support Classic and can't run FrameMaker
Option #3: Switch to InDesign?
Pros:
- Highly-capable page-layout app
- Take advantage of the power, stability, security, and elegance
of Mac OS X
Cons:
- No cross-references
- No paragraph numbering
- Bulleted paragraphs not automated
- No footnotes or endnotes
- No table styles
- Doesn't automatically add new pages
- Can't run paragraphs or tables across multiple columns
- Fixed 2-page spread view cumbersome when authoring
- No revision features
- Printed manual costs extra
- See the detailed Comparison for more details
Option #4: Switch to Windows?
Pros:
- Use the latest version of FrameMaker
Cons:
- Need to replace hardware—expensive
- Need to replace software—expensive
- Need to retrain people—expensive
- Windows GDI doesn't support CMYK color, so CMYK colors in FrameMaker documents get converted
to RGB
- Text unexpectedly disappears when converting FrameMaker documents to PDF
- Large text is converted to outlines when printing FrameMaker documents to PS or
PDF at high resolutions
- Unable to use our extensive library of Mac fonts (English, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, etc)
- No scripting like Mac OS X's built-in AppleScript
- Windows ClearType technology is inferior to Mac OS X's Quartz text smoothing, which looks fantastic!
- Virus and spyware issues plague Windows. According to AOL, 80%
of Windows PCs are infected with spyware. Dell says 20% of support
calls are spyware related
- Mac is the platform of choice for creative professionals in publishing, graphic design, photography, and music
- WIndows is an also ran in the publishing industry
- Inferior platform
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