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

Alan Litchfield alan at alphabyte.co.nz
Wed Oct 30 11:22:47 PDT 2013 

While others have answered your question I too would add:
FrameMaker used to have all these interfaces that you would open to 
perform work of various kinds, running as separate programs, kind of. 
TeX and friends do that too. In that sense, you can use whatever text 
editor/interface you prefer. There are commercial authoring tools 
available, such as Scientific Word and I prefer TeXShop on the Mac (it 
does all the things that Syed mentioned).

For the two main platforms, MiKTeX is included for Windows and MacTeX 
for the Mac. The directory tree is almost identical but 
programs/binaries are compiled for each system. Some programs are 
available for several platforms, such as TeXWorks (an editor/interface) 
and all the core programs for parsing TeX files and generating (mainly) 
pdf's. There are also some different programs available for each 
platform for handling tasks like bibliography management.

As Syed mentioned, TeXLive has become the most widely used distribution 
but that is because it provides a consistent directory structure and 
rules for management that are enforced by the team of volunteers who 
look after it. There are also a number of forks for more specific 
applications (such as automated print functions and print on demand).

Alan


On 30/10/13 8:46 PM, Shmuel Wolfson wrote:
> Are you saying that TeXLive is sort of a flavor of LaTex, not an 
> editor like TeXstudio?
> Is it compatible with TeXstudio?
> Do you use an authoring tool with TeXLive other that a simple text 
> editor?
>
> Regards,
> Shmuel Wolfson
> Technical Writer
> 052-763-7133
>
> On 29-Oct-13 8:15 PM, Alan Litchfield wrote:
>> 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

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