FrameMaker Server "User Interface"??

[Max Dunn]

> this floored me since the last time it 
> was a single CD that a one-person IT 
> department installed in a few hours.
> Has the Server version changed?

No, it hasn't changed. There are still things you can do with it pretty
much as is, although the "server" form is just a license, (the software
on the cd is identical between "server" and "desktop"!); expense will
depend on which you choose from the many "server side" ways you can use
Frame. It is possible to spend as much as you like on front end systems,
or you can use it via free tools like DZBatcher, plugins you write
yourself, whatever.

> And the Adobe site says that Server needs 
> a companion and "must be integrated into 
> a solution before it is ready for use. 
> You can either purchase third-party 
> solutions (From Datazone or Finite Matters 
> Limited) or you can build your own solution 
> using Frame Developers Kit."

We have used it extensively with Miramo, and via home-built plugins, and
with DZ Batcher. There are many ways to use it as a "server" and I could
never figure out from the license the fine line between "server usage"
of FrameMaker, though in our case it is usually a back end system for
Web PDF generation, which was pretty obvious. Miramo was worth it in
some cases for scalability/ease of administration, though other
solutions cost very little, yet had more time/effort or were simply less
demanding.

Hopefully with the next FrameMaker they will do something to
differentiate server from desktop, and offer some sort of jump start.
$25,000 would not be unreasonable for a robust plugin that would let you
leverage FrameMaker as a server more directly, but that should be the
sort of investment Adobe makes in the product, not each shop has to ante
up, and there are also plenty of alternatives.

If you do end up with Frame Server then in purchasing it, there sure is
a better deal with an upgrade from "desktop" than an outright
purchase...


Max Dunn
Silicon Publishing



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