FM 11 somewhat disappointing. Am I alone?

[Rick Quatro]

Hi Rob,

Welcome to the new normal for FrameMaker and Adobe. FrameMaker has had
serious quality control issues for some time now, whether it is new
instability or outdated documentation. There is not much of a concern for
"fit and finish" that you would expect from an expensive commercial
application. Speaking for myself as a long-time FrameMaker user, I have
lowered my expectations over time. I get more excited about new releases of
InDesign, because it still has a lot of polish and a focus on great user
experience. There is still an attention to detail with InDesign that is
lacking with FrameMaker.

One example that will surely be misjudged, but illustrates the point:
English-language presentations for new product features should be done by
native English speakers, or those that speak very clear English. The
FrameMaker people in India are wonderful people and are doing the best they
can, but product presentations should be as clear and understandable as
possible. Compare presentations from both FrameMaker and InDesign and you
will see what I mean.

Rick

Rick Quatro
Carmen Publishing Inc.
585-283-5045
rick at frameexpert.com



-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Rob Shell
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 6:46 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: FM 11 somewhat disappointing. Am I alone?

Dear Framers:
I felt so bad about my previous criticisms re FM 9 that I went out and
splurged on TCS4.
Let me start by saying there are some nice features and a marginal
improvement in stability in FM11. 
The pods for example, seem better behaved. The PGF does not get tired and
hide. The margins can now safely be changed using the slider.
However, I have not seen anything really moving FM towards that crystal
clarity and total stability we all so need.
The print to .ps protocol seems to have changed. I cannot print a book to
postscript without a sudden crash. It does not even start printing.
I have adjusted the printer properties in nearly every configuration I can
think of.  One issue is the printer or pdf converter keeps reverting to
letter when I want A4. 
The strange thing is FM11 saves to pdf with no trouble at all.
I have tried with various good (FM9) book files: they all crash with FM11. I
have stripped all graphics elements in a test book file. That did not help.

Individual files print perfectly to .ps

Here is the windows crash message:
FrameMaker.exe 
   11.0.0.380 
   4ff4018d 
   FrameMaker.exe 
   11.0.0.380 
   4ff4018d 
   c0000005 
   000a0ed2 
   10a4 
   01cd9511f95a084e 
   C:\Program Files\Adobe\AdobeFrameMaker11\FrameMaker.exe 
   C:\Program Files\Adobe\AdobeFrameMaker11\FrameMaker.exe 
   b176c7f9-0109-11e2-b3df-001fc60d0248

Please, I want to be an agreeable house companion . I notice that other
people are also complaining on the web.
I cannot even find the new pdf manual but am working through some FM videos
searching for a hint of what to do.


Rob Shell
Windows Seven
FrameMaker 11 UNpatched
4 GB RAM
3 TB hd