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http://www.macnn.com/articles/04/03/24/mac.framemaker.rip/

Adobe discontinues FrameMaker for Macintosh

updated 12:20 pm EST, Wed March 24, 2004

 

Mac FrameMaker RIP


Adobe announced it will on April 21, 2004. Adobe says Adobe FrameMaker 7.1 will continue to be available on Microsoft Windows and Sun Solaris platforms and that complimentary and fee-based technical support for FrameMaker 7.0 for Macintosh will be available for one year, through April 21, 2005. "The majority of customers use FrameMaker on Windows and Sun platforms... Adobe's planned development efforts for FrameMaker will focus on Windows and Solaris platforms." Earlier this year the company released FrameMaker 7.1 for Windows and Solaris, but refused to answer questions on the future development for the Mac.


by MacNN Staff

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Comments

  1. rok

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Mar 1999

    0
    03/24, 01:39pm | report spam | Reply |

    got news for you...

    if you use framemaker on ANY platform, be prepared for when adobe decides to herd you into the indesign camp via plug-ins and upgrade incentives. it might not be for another year or two, but you can bet it will happen.

  1. porieux

    Baninated

    Joined: Mar 2001

    0
    03/24, 01:57pm | report spam | Reply |

    well

    Adobe really discontinued FrameMaker a long time ago, but they were coerced into keeping it in 'maintenance mode' for the few who rely on it.

  1. illovich

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 1999

    0
    03/24, 01:58pm | report spam | Reply |

    not to mention Windows...

    From what I've read, Adobe is encouraging their big Framemaker clients to switch to Windows. One of their big clients is apparently Apple, which should be an interesting phone conversation.

  1. alsosprach

    Registered User

    Joined: Jul 2003

    0
    03/24, 03:34pm | report spam | Reply |

    yet Solaris and OS X...

    ...Are both UNIX! So supporting both would be much easier than Windows and Solaris. They obviously have an anti-Mac camp there. This is not to say that an InDesign migration wouldn't be better. But where is it?

  1. outZider

    Junior Member

    Joined: Sep 1999

    0
    03/24, 03:58pm | report spam | Reply |

    ARGH.

    Just because the two platforms share a unix base doesn't mean they're the same code. FrameMaker is essentially a big carbon app, which means it is different than the Windows code, and different than the Solaris code. Same reason why it isn't 'trivial' to move QuickTime to Linux.

  1. mqualben

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2001

    0
    03/24, 05:00pm | report spam | Reply |

    IMHO

    This is too bad for companies who depend on FrameMaker and might have pursued the option to migrate to OS-X from Solaris. Sure, the number of FrameMaker users is greater now for Solaris than the (lightweight OS-9) Mac, but I would highly suspect that if an OS-X version of FrameMaker were introduced, companies might consider using UNIX boxes that are cheaper and more capable than Solaris (can run MS Office, Photoshop, etc.), and not subject themselves to never-going-to-end MS Windows security issues. Is the future of Solaris in the enterprise really so much brighter than Mac OS-X? Adobe should have never bought FrameMaker if they cannot afford to support it.

  1. HeatherEcsedi

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2001

    0
    03/24, 05:16pm | report spam | Reply |

    What's next ?

    Just wondering which app for the Mac platform Adobe will ditch next ?

  1. alsosprach

    Registered User

    Joined: Jul 2003

    0
    03/24, 05:54pm | report spam | Reply |

    UNIX is UNIX

    Dear outZider, Quicktime is not a good example of the difficulties in making a program cross-platform because it is highly dependent on low-level audio and video sub-systems. A better example would be programs like GIMP and the 700 or so other UNIX programs that have already been ported to OS X (see http://osx.hyperjeff.net/Apps/). And most of those ports are by volunteers! So Adobe, with hundreds of full-time programmers and record profits, can't do it?

  1. mqualben

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2001

    0
    03/24, 07:24pm | report spam | Reply |

    FM on Linux and NextStep

    Interesting...readers noted on slashdot that three years ago there was a beta Linux version of FrameMaker (http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/fmlinux.html) and in 1996 there was NextStep version of FrameMaker. Is it *really* that much harder and expensive to port programs nowadays?

  1. Feeling_Macish

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Mar 2004

    0
    03/24, 08:52pm | report spam | Reply |

    Adobe owes Apple

    big time... don't forget, Apple was a startup investor in Adobe Systems, and for a while one of their largest shareholders. Adobe is where they are today because of the Macintosh platform, and that alone is a sound reason for developing a cocoa version of FrameMaker. I'm tired of software developers distancing themselves from their role in the growth of a platform, as if they are nothing more than Las Vegas bookies who have no personal opinion who wins the game, as long as both sides balance each other out odds-wise. Adobe is failing to pay their debt to Apple with this show of no confidence; and they are helping to create the reality they say justifies their withdrawal.

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