QuarkXPress 7.31 adds Leopard support

Isn't that what they used to use before lead type?

Anyone who downplays Quark XPress is probably new to the industry. For one, XPress was ready for Intel long before Adobe Creative Suite was (is it yet?). Second, if there were no competition in the DTP space, do you think Adobe would treat the Mac platform better or worse? Third, I've used it since 1987 and it's still very good. Where is your PageMaker now? A lot of printing houses use XPress, even though it doesn't come free with Photoshop.

The only reason Quark is improving on their software is to compete with InDesign. And they are doing it through Xtensions which suck. This company is also notorious for being neurotic, they bought great companies and tried to implement them into Quark and when all failed they turned closed them down and left their user base stranded with no support or upgrades! They tried to make Quark into a multimedia software, then into a web-design software. I remember during the early 2000s when the ceo claimed that Macs are dead and everyone should switch to PCs; moreover, that printing itself is dead and that they're gonna turn their focus to web-design!!! Since then Quark did nothing to improve their software till InDesign 3 (which is InDesign CS) shipped. Since then they've been miserably trying to catchup.

I remember when so many people switched to InDesign only because of Quarks software activation process, Quark finally changed it, but after what?... Their previous activation process harmed so many designers, pre-presses departments, and their clients by locking them-out during a software update or an OS re-install, anyone who went through this will have a story to tell.

Every Quark upgrade that came after 3.x was worse and slower than the one before it. Untill today updating graphic links requires you to keep your fingure on the return button until it's done, for over 10 years Quark had ignored their customer complaints to add such simple features to their software like an update-all button. Note: I haven't checked this latest version yet, it might be there now, but now is too late.

Constant crashes same old crappy Quark, buggy Xtensions everywhere. Quark today is like yesterdays PageMaker, or as known to the printing industry Rage-Maker.

and running on Intel. It works for me. Use what you want. Nobody is forcing you to love Quark. But unless you use it, bagging on it makes as much sense as testudo. Can we both agree that Publisher sucks?

I think you have the cart before the horse with regard to Quark making significant improvements only after CS3 was released. Quark made a significant shift in its development and business practices and delivered a greatly improved, and intel, version well before CS3 shipped. Most of your points are largely correct though, and certainly apply to Quark prior to that shift. I think Quark is a changed company now, and worthy of investigation when you get tired of the seemingly endless push toward the Microsoft versioning strategy.

Oh, and the CS suite has it's own exciting collection of irritating bugs (should I mention Bridge, and the refusal to install if there is even a shred of the hundreds of files it scatters through out your system), so,.. yeah.

the only thing new to the industry is quark paying attention to its users (after 8-9 years).

every serious ("experienced") designer I know couldnt switch to InDesign fast enough.

Doofuses