Support needed!

[Lynn Gold]

Your situation reminds me of the place I worked where the CEO's wife 
complained, "Can't you come up with a solution that involves Microsoft 
products?"

Nonetheless, I was in a situation with more reasonable management that I 
managed to convince.  I did it by listing what I needed to do that I 
couldn't do in MS Word:
. Conditional text 
. Large files (MS Word has memory management problems)
. Numbered lists (MS Word has bugs that limit the number of such lists you 
can have)
. Flexible variables (you can set them at once from an external file in 
FrameMaker, while MS Word doesn't have this capability)
. Customization that doesn't make you vulnerable to viruses (the #1 way 
computers get infected via MS Word is through its macros)

The final selling point was a file I found on the Internet that showed 
Microsoft Press using FrameMaker.  I was able to say "Even *Microsoft* 
doesn't use Word for creating books!"

The word "flexible" in this person's message is also clearly a euphemism 
for either "cheaper," "one that the rest of the idiots here know," or "one 
that runs in native mode on my Mac."

Are there any other tech writers in the company that acquired you?  If so, 
find out what they use.  If someone else is using FrameMaker, you've got a 
better defense.  If you're the only one using it, you may be screwed.

Good luck,

--Lynn



From:   <laura at lavadome.net>
To:     <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
Date:   07/10/2012 10:22 AM
Subject:        Support needed!
Sent by:        framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com



 Dear all

 Please tell me I'm not going mad or being unreasonable.

 Have just come into work to find that the company which acquired us a 
 few months ago wants me to use Powerpoint for creating datasheets 
 instead of InDesign (definite) and "a more flexible tool" (Word) instead 
 of our beloved Framemaker (proposed).

 I could cry. I am the only tech author in the company of about 100 
 people and the marketing department used PP for datasheets which they 
 say is "adequate" for the job. This all arose on Friday when someone 
 else needed to edit a version of my ID files when I was on holiday.  Now 
 I come in to find:

 "...For more technical documentation (e.g. product manuals) then I 
 understand the argument for use of a more specialist tool - but even 
 here we can use more flexible tools."

 Such as????? I have long user guides with masses of conditional text. 
 Just let Word have a shot at that. In fact, they were trying to do just 
 that before I started this job 4 years ago - and it wasn't working.

 Sorry to clog up the forum with this but I think of you all as friends 
 who feel the same way about FM as I do.

 How do I persuade them otherwise? In fact, it's just one person really 
 I think I need to convince - not in my office.

 I can just about cope with datasheets in PP but using anything other 
 than Frame for long user guides is unthinkable.

 L

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