Where on Adobe is the info/link to renew my maintenance contract for FrameMaker?

Mon Apr 1 17:34:03 PDT 2013

Hi, Tori,

Your observation of "top dollar for minimal improvement" sounds right to me, unfortunately! I also only use Unstructured FrameMaker at this time, btw.

Here is what I have spent on upgrading FrameMaker in the recent past few years (I did _not_ bother to include the upgrades _prior_ to version 8.0):

$289 for FrameMaker version 8.
$304 for FrameMaker version 9.
$393 for FrameMaker version 10.
$436 for 2 year update plan (included the 2 year update cost for Acrobat Pro too ... at around $126, as I recall).

Would I say that it has been worth it? Not recently ... particularly since I think that versions 10 and 11 should have been released as bug fixes for version 9, as far as I am concerned, and should _not_ have been charged for.

With my luck, FrameMaker 12 will be released _after_ my current plan expires. :(

You may ask why I was wanting to sign up for the Update Plan again? Well, I was hoping it would be at a lower cost (and make it palatable) than the [expected] $399 for a version 12 upgrade.

But, at these prices, I can no longer justify using FrameMaker for my documentation needs. The removal of this Update Plan mostly just crystallized my decision, I guess. Now, I will probably just spend some money for a purchase of Mif2Go to transfer my documents out of FrameMaker.

So, yes! Adobe has just lost a long-time FrameMaker customer. Time to move on, I guess ... after 25 years. :)

(And, FWIW, if I cannot find an update plan for Acrobat Pro on their web site, then that will also be dropped when that Update Plan expires ... there are plenty of "way good-enough" PDF generation solutions out there now, available for far less cost than Acrobat Pro.)

Z

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Tori Muir
Sent: Monday, April 01, 2013 12:02 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Where on Adobe is the info/link to renew my maintenance contract for FrameMaker?

Question: MacCap's site lists upgrades as 'starting at $499' -- we'd love to find a more cost-effective alternative to FrameMaker.  The v9 >
v11 $600 upgrade was a real kick in the pants to start seriously evaluating the cost of continuing to absorb FM's high upgrade fees vs the cost of switching to a different program. We use unstructured Frame, so most of the features added in recent versions of the program have been of no use to us, thus we're paying top dollar for minimal improvement.  But $499 seems even higher than Frame's one-version upgrades? Or is this only a better deal financially if replacing Frame + RoboHelp?

Tori Muir
tmuir at spot-on-creative.com | 650.430.8674 www.spot-on-creative.com

On 4/1/13 11:22 AM, Martinek, Carla wrote:
> Syed -
>
> I've been using Frame since 1991 (Frame 2.0.)
>
> We've been evaluating MadCap Flare and were ready to switch, but when we looked at FM11 and the new multi-HTML output that appears to be as easy as Flare, it made us stop and take another look. We don't know which way we're going yet.. back into evaluation mode.
>
> That said, MadCap being a smaller company is, in general, much more responsive in regards to feature requests. Much like Frame Technologies (and DataLogics) were in the early days with Frame. Their Platinum support plan is worth its cost when you are first using it, and Flare imports Framemaker files directly. However, my recent talk with an Adobe sales mgr letting them know we were *seriously* evaluating a competitor seems to have gotten me better response regarding some of the issues I've been having  - more so than I've seen in years.
>
> Cost-wise, it may be worth it to you to look at the Adobe cloud-based subscription model. That is supposed to include the latest versions whenever released, but I haven't evaluated the overall cost on a yearly basis yet.
>
> -Carla
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 
> [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Syed Zaeem 
> Hosain (Syed.Hosain at aeris.net)
> Sent: Monday, April 01, 2013 1:02 PM
> To: Syed Zaeem Hosain (Syed.Hosain at aeris.net); Kapil Verma; Robert 
> Lauriston; framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: RE: Where on Adobe is the info/link to renew my maintenance contract for FrameMaker?
>
> Hi, Kapil.
>
> Okay, I just got off the phone with somebody "in the FrameMaker team". Her statement to me was that the Update Plan for FrameMaker is indeed either dead, or essentially not available anymore to anybody who has less than 10,000 points in the Adobe systems.
>
> The bottom line: all users with few licenses are essentially shut out.
>
> So, it seems that I did *not* get wrong information from the Adobe sales rep I spoke to before!
>
> For me, this means that FrameMaker 11 is the _last_ version I will ever use (after having been on the FrameMaker wagon since 1988).
>
> Because the version upgrade pricing has gotten way out of hand - from my perspective, _most_ (almost all) of what I paid for with the FM 10 and FM 11 upgrades were bug-fixes for version 9 really!
>
> At $399 for the last upgrade, this is simply not acceptable anymore. Even my purchase of the 2 year update plan was for naught (based on my sign-up date for the Update plan, I had to pay for the FM 11 version upgrade _separately_ anyway), since I have not seen FrameMaker 12 come out in that time.
>
> I have already begun looking for alternatives and will make do without FrameMaker as soon as we can finish this project - I suspect that my last purchase of any FrameMaker-related product will be for Mif2Go to get all current FrameMaker documents into some other tool.
>
> Regards,
>
> Z
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 
> [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Syed Zaeem 
> Hosain (Syed.Hosain at aeris.net)
> Sent: Monday, March 25, 2013 10:41 AM
> To: Kapil Verma; Robert Lauriston; framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: RE: Where on Adobe is the info/link to renew my maintenance contract for FrameMaker?
>
> Thanks for the response, Kapil.
>
> Yes, I would like to get information - the last time, I bought a 2 year Update Plan directly at the Adobe web site (may have been the Adobe store?) in May of 2011, but cannot find that link on the site anymore.
>
> Please do let me know who I can speak to about this (as an FYI, I did get an e-mail from somebody else on the FrameMaker team, but we did not connect on Friday).
>
> Z
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kapil Verma [mailto:kverma at adobe.com]
> Sent: Monday, March 25, 2013 9:12 AM
> To: Syed Zaeem Hosain (Syed.Hosain at aeris.net); Robert Lauriston; 
> framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: RE: Where on Adobe is the info/link to renew my maintenance contract for FrameMaker?
>
> Hi Syed,
>
> This is Kapil Verma, Adobe Tech Comm Product Manager. Unfortunately, you have been given wrong information. We continue to offer upgrade plans for both FrameMaker and Acrobat. If you are interested in purchasing/renewing, I will be more than happy to put you in touch with the right folks here at Adobe. Sorry about the confusion.
>
> P.S. It will be great if you can email me separately (off list) with 
> some more info on who you had talked to and how did you reach them
>
> Thanks,
> Kapil Verma
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 
> [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Syed Zaeem 
> Hosain (Syed.Hosain at aeris.net)
> Sent: Friday, March 22, 2013 6:31 AM
> To: Robert Lauriston; framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: RE: Where on Adobe is the info/link to renew my maintenance contract for FrameMaker?
>
> Robert Lauriston wrote:
>> I had to phone them.
> Ok-a-a-y ... I am confused now. I just spoke with an Adobe sales rep who claims that they are no longer offering the Upgrade Plan for Acrobat and FrameMaker ... huhn!?!?
>
> Even though, Adobe sent me an e-mail in late January reminding me that my current one was going to expire soon (in May fortunately) and I needed to renew?
>
> Does anyone know what is going on here? If Adobe is going to charge an arm and a leg to upgrade to the next version of FrameMaker (like I had to do for version 9 and 10 and 11), then that will be the last nail in the coffin, and I will use version 11 till it croaks or find another solution.
>
> The cost of FrameMaker has simply become too expensive to work for my 
> needs ... :(
>
> Z
>
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