So Long and Thanks for the Fish -- Migrating from FrameMaker to Flare

[Alan Litchfield]

Hiya,

TeXLive is a distribution of the TeX, LaTeX, XeTeX, LuaTeX, etc. 
typesetting systems. It is multiplatform (that is, it can be used on 
vertualy all computer platforms). The main installation schemes are for 
Windows and Mac but many others also exist for various linux flavours.

It is free and can be installed from the net, by downloading the iso and 
making a dvd or mounting and installing from there, or by joining TUG 
and getting a free DVD with your membership.

Regular/constant updates are obtained from a range of ctan mirror sites 
around the globe.

The LaTeX, etc. typesetting systems are really a composition of macros 
(packages) and various supporting binaries built upon the TeX 
typesetting system. The packages are binaries are all supported by and 
army of volunteers and there is a mechanism for additional packages to 
be contributed. That means if you area having issues with a package you 
can often email the maintainer direct or you can open it in a text 
editor and fix it yourself if you are skilled.

Traditionally, TeX has used the ASCII character set but more modern 
systems now use all available font systems, for example LuaTeX and XeTeX 
are designed to use OpenType fonts.

Other packages allow for output to multimedia players too.

Alan


On 29/10/13 9:54 PM, Shmuel Wolfson wrote:
> What exactly is TeXLiv? They don't explain it very well on the site.
>
> Regards,
> Shmuel Wolfson
> 052-763-7133
>
> On 28-Oct-13 8:48 PM, Alan Litchfield wrote:
>> Interestingly, Syed's comments mirror my own trajectory but I have 
>> been using LaTeX et al for as long as I have been using FrameMaker.
>>
>> I doubt I will be moving past version 10 unless my clients continue 
>> to request I upgrade (to match compatibility with their software). I 
>> doubt I will be taking any short term licensing options because files 
>> are not created for short term use.
>>
>> Importantly for me, TeXLive is free and has a strong and vibrant user 
>> base.
>>
>> Alan
>>
>>
>>
>> On 29/10/13 7:22 AM, Syed Zaeem Hosain (Syed.Hosain at aeris.net) wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi, Joseph.
>>>
>>> You are not the only one who is abandoning FrameMaker … if you look 
>>> at my posts in the past months, I have done the same although I have 
>>> been using it since 1988 off and on. I am still on the list for old 
>>> times sake, though. J
>>>
>>> Please do send me your detailed reasons in an off-list e-mail – 
>>> would like to know /your/ decision trigger! For me, it was the (a) 
>>> recent over-pricing for some version upgrades that should have been 
>>> done as free bug fixes, (b) the Adobe trend (albeit not yet 
>>> announced for FrameMaker) to SAAS as the only licensing mechanism, 
>>> and (c) their abandonment of small users (i.e., number of licenses) 
>>> from their multi-year update licensing system.
>>>
>>> Today, *all* my new documents are no longer in FrameMaker. I am 
>>> /only/ using it for maintaining and changing old documents, and if 
>>> the change is large enough, I move it off FrameMaker. That takes a 
>>> couple of days – even for the large documents – and then I am fine 
>>> for the future! In time, all my old documents will be moved from 
>>> FrameMaker.
>>>
>>> However, I have not chosen Flare as my platform, although it looks 
>>> quite capable. Switching to it is expensive (of course, if they made 
>>> me a $199 one-time offer to switch from FrameMaker to Flare, I would 
>>> do it! J)
>>>
>>> For now, /for my needs (which may not apply to everybody)/, a 
>>> combination of Word 2013 for short documents (less than 10 to 20 
>>> pages), and LaTex (for large multi-hundred page specifications) is 
>>> proving quite workable. Not perfect, and not as flexible as 
>>> FrameMaker, but the costly “upgrades” of FrameMaker is not 
>>> acceptable, and the trend to equally costly SAAS is a deal-breaker.
>>>
>>> BTW, LaTeX in particular allows me to achieve **complete** 
>>> look-and-feel consistency in my specifications – formatting is 
>>> separate from text entry – and I value that highly. It was my reason 
>>> for selecting FrameMaker over Word about 12 years ago for my current 
>>> company.
>>>
>>> Regards, and good luck!
>>>
>>> Z
>>>
>>> *From:*framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 
>>> [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] *On Behalf Of *Joseph 
>>> Lorenzini
>>> *Sent:* Saturday, October 26, 2013 10:13 AM
>>> *To:* FrameMaker Forum; TCS-Users at googlegroups.com
>>> *Subject:* So Long and Thanks for the Fish -- Migrating from 
>>> FrameMaker to Flare
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I have used FrameMaker for over 5 years. I have used it to produce 
>>> thousands of pages of documentation. And I honestly thought that FM 
>>> was a great tool...for a time. Plus, the community was super helpful.
>>>
>>> So its with some regret that I am telling you that I am leaving this 
>>> community and the TCS suite. I am adopting Flare as a replacement. 
>>> Please note I am no evangelist of Flare nor do I think that there's 
>>> One Right Tool. FrameMaker can be a great solution for some and if 
>>> works for you then great. The reasons why I made this choice were 
>>> driven by a specific business and use case
>>>
>>> There are many reasons for this but that would cause this post to 
>>> grow quite large and I didn't want to flood this community with a 
>>> gigantic post about why I am not using its tool anymore.
>>>
>>> That said, my experience of why and how i migrated may be of 
>>> interest to others in this forum. If you'd like a detailed 
>>> explanation and are curious to learn more, I would be happy to share 
>>> those details with you offline. Feel free to email me.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Joseph Lorenzini
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>

-- 
Dr Alan Litchfield
AlphaByte
PO Box 1941
Auckland, New Zealand 1140