How FM use impacts purchasing decisions

[Art Campbell]

Rene,

You're sort of ignoring the fact that Vista is past the first ship
early adopter milepost. It's a relatively known quantity, and the
amount of twiddling you need to do is no where near 30 minutes per
product. Frame 8 supports/runs under Vista. And products that are not
already certified as Vista compatible will be in their forthcoming
releases.

Last I heard, Mac's market share has crept up to about 3% of business
systems; the rate of adoption seems to be driven by people using them
for personal stuff (Apple is one of the largest music distributors
now... so while you may be able to make it a viable solution, you're
going to spend more time twiddling a dual boot or emulation
environment to run Windows. And pay more for the processing power, but
it may be worth it to you.

Linux/UNIX is certainly viable, especially if you're one of the IT
guys who's recommending it.
I use it for a server, and might for a second desktop system.

So if you're looking recommendations for a Windows laptop, I'd go with
an upper level Dell with next-day replacement, just in case. I've been
working on a company-provided IBM/Lenovo for a while, and that's also
been mechanically stable. If you're serious about being rough on them,
look at the ruggedized models put out by Panasonic, Dell, and some
other vendors, although I don't have any personal experience with
those models.

Art


On Thu, Jun 19, 2008 at 9:51 AM, Rene Stephenson <rinnie1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> My PC laptop is beaten up so badly it's barely stable anymore, so it's getting time to start the process of identifying the next workhorse for me. (Yes, I am rough on a laptop and rely on it very heavily. Any testimonials of your laptop successes are more than welcome!)
>
> I have gotten rather irritated with Microsoft since Vista came out, and I really am reluctant to get a new PC laptop due to it shipping with Vista and all the exponentially increased hassle factor that will entail. Frankly, I don't have time to spend 30 minutes per product just to load the software and get it functional by jumping through all the hoops required now. I "get" that it's piracy protection, and I "get" the concept and am not trying to circumvent any copyright laws, but it really just feels like my time and purse are being taxed because of other people's lack of ethics.
>
> I have some friends who have moved to the Mac platform for their laptops, and they swear by them. All the IT gurus I know swear by Unix/Linux and open source development. But, then I get the cold water splashing in the face: the majority of my computer use is work related, and the majority of that work is done in FrameMaker, and FM seems viable only in PC world.
>
> Am I missing something, or is this really the trap it seems to be? If I'm going to continue working with clients whose environment, architecture, workflow, and staffing all revolve around FrameMaker, am I forced to concede to all the baggage that comes with the PC world? Or is there a viable way to use FrameMaker on a new Apple laptop/notebook/etc., or on a Linux laptop, seamlessly with FM files saved by and shared with FM PC users? I can't risk hosing anything in these single-sourced shared-file environments...!
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
>
> Rene L. Stephenson
> _______________________________________________



-- 
Art Campbell art.campbell at gmail.com
 "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
 No disclaimers apply.
 DoD 358