More bad news on TCS4: no longer includes Photoshop

[Gust, Dieter]

From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Rob Shell
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 12:23 PM
Subject: More bad news on TCS4: no longer includes Photoshop

>  I must add that I have found another disadvantage to buying TCS4, especially if you are a first-time buyer. 
> TCS4 does not include Photoshop, whereas TCS2 does, or did
> I must confess that I find it odd that Adobe and not a single reviewer has mentioned this.
If you really need Photoshop, I understand you.

If you think of typical technical documentation use cases, RoboScreenCapture and Illustrator which are  included instead of Photoshop (!!) are the better choice. .

> 1. One cannot print a book in unstructured FM11.
You refer to a bug, which is really annoying, but printing the book in structured mode might be a suitable workaround for the short.
Save the book as PDF file is working in unstructured mode.

> 2. Forget about online support.
Why? Online support always is a combination of official Adobe feedback and customer feedback from all over the world.
While an official Adobe feedback always will have to take into account side effects and therefore must be careful with hastily tips and workarounds, a lot of well-known experts in framers are giving fast and valuable feedback to almost any problem.

> 3. Do without Photoshop.
Most technical documentation use cases don't deal with CMYK  so I think cheap software or freeware (Photoshop Elements, IrfanView...) should fulfill the demands. For screenshots RoboScreenCapture (which is good) is included in TCS4. A lot of customers asked for switching from Photoshop to Illustrator which is now included in TCS4.

> 4. Forget about timely patches
Why?
The Adobe TCS team is always seeking dedicated contact to TCS customers, and while "I hate bugs like  a plague" Adobe delivers patches as soon as possible. O.K. The Adobe team might think about a similar approach like Microsoft in order to establish "hotfixes" beside regular patches.

> As a user of many programs over the years, what I see here is a drastic cutting down of FrameMaker 
If you think of licenses I fear you may be right but if you think of the commitment of Adobe this has increased from year to year.
But indeed to compete with InDesign and Word the commitment might still be much too little.
Dieter Gust
itl AG, Munich