<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 9.00.8112.16455"></HEAD>
<BODY style="MARGIN: 4px 4px 1px; FONT: 10pt Segoe UI">
<DIV>I can provide a tiny bit of data, for what it's worth.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Each year, the NZ tech comms society (TCANZ) does a salary survey, and asks about tool usage while they're at it. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In 2011, the tools part of the survey had 110 respondents from 85 different companies. </DIV>
<DIV>Of those, there were 15 FM users from 6 different companies.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So that suggests very roughly 14% of tech writers in New Zealand use FM, in 7% of companies. I'm guessing FM use is biased towards bigger companies. The survey was self-selecting, so it's biased towards those who take their tech writing career seriously enough to belong to TCANZ (~90% of respondents) and to fill out the survey. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Flare had 10 users and Author-IT had 30. Author-IT does well in NZ because it's a local product.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Cheers</DIV>
<DIV>Rebecca</DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR>>>> "Rob Shell" <rshell@iafrica.com> 19/12/12 12:22 >>><BR>Dear Framers:<BR>When passing judgment, Framers should also declare whether they are working<BR>in structured or unstructured. I am working with unstructured print and pdf.<BR>Perhaps my remarks only apply to those modes. <BR>This list is the sole reason I continue with FM.<BR><BR>I think we need some scientific data on how many FM seats there are<BR>globally, how many there were in 2005, 2006,2007,2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 &C.<BR>Could Adobe, or someone oblige?<BR>I am sure these stats are hard to come by. One has to make do with what one<BR>has.<BR>In that light, it is worth noting that Norton Insight, which has good<BR>quantitative data on all global software, has changed its damning one line<BR>"few users, slightly unstable" to the much worse "Stability unknown" for<BR>FM11.<BR>When FrameMaker dropped the Mac, I fully expected the program to fold. All<BR>those loyal users down the toilet.<BR>In none of FrameMaker promos is the number of users EVER mentioned. "Fastest<BR>growing software" it ain't.<BR>My guestimate is that the user base has shrunk to below a thousand.<BR><BR>Indesign can now do multiple indexes and I foresee that I will not be<BR>upgrading my hugely disappointing TCS4. <BR>At least the Indy menu system is logical and includes endnotes and split<BR>footnotes. <BR>My feeling after using the same set of big files since FM 6 is that the<BR>FrameMaker is in bad shape and going down. <BR>FM9 was such a disaster that little attempt has been made to fix it. You<BR>only have to look at it and it falls over. <BR>FM 10 was released too soon and so too was FM11 without the sound testing of<BR>all components. Poor documentation, or zero documentation on its scripting<BR>and even poor packaging.<BR>FM 11 is not faster for the work I do. Only print to pdf is fast, but then<BR>there are no comparisons as it NEVER worked before.<BR>Hope sprung up when we users were asked for improvements. None came my way.<BR>I was not informed by Adobe of new updates, nor that purchasers of the<BR>classic "cant-print-to-ps" FM11 were entitled to Acrobat 11.<BR>The biggest weakness for me is that FrameMaker has no options to specify<BR>extra memory limits, no place to specify scratch disks, which Photoshop,<BR>Illustrator and all other first class software all have. Looking at older<BR>versions of Frame I was surprised that the Unix version could adjust FM<BR>memory. Why is memory usage for Framers such a secret? How comes Frame dumps<BR>4,000 scratch files every time it crashes. Are there enough handles? The<BR>"Cannot display imported graphics" message are becoming more frequent as my<BR>tiny jpg files get smaller and smaller. Despite specially purchased graphic<BR>memory it's the GUI that falters and then Frame fails 5 minutes later.<BR><BR><BR>Please let us not get sentimental about FrameMaker. I fervently hope a<BR>better mousetrap will soon be here. I will be very glad to be rid of 2012,<BR>ruined for me by TCS4 FrameMaker and its "scammy" advertorials.<BR><BR><BR>Rob Shell<BR>Windows Seven<BR>FrameMaker 11 patched<BR>4 GB RAM<BR>3 TB hd<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR><BR><BR>You are currently subscribed to framers as rebecca.officer@alliedtelesis.co.nz.<BR><BR>Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com.<BR><BR>To unsubscribe send a blank email to<BR>framers-unsubscribe@lists.frameusers.com<BR>or visit <A href="http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/rebecca.officer%40alliedtelesis.co.nz">http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/rebecca.officer%40alliedtelesis.co.nz</A><BR><BR>Send administrative questions to listadmin@frameusers.com. Visit<BR><A href="http://www.frameusers.com/">http://www.frameusers.com/</A> for more resources and info.<BR></DIV>
<FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>
<HR>
<FONT color=#808080>Scanned by</FONT> <FONT
color=#4f1f91><STRONG>MailMarshal</STRONG></FONT> <FONT color=#808080>- M86
Security's comprehensive email content security solution.
</FONT></FONT><BR><FONT color=#400080><STRONG></STRONG></FONT><FONT size=2>
<HR>
</FONT></FONT>
<P><BR>NOTICE: This message contains privileged and confidential<BR>information
intended only for the use of the addressee<BR>named above. If you are not the
intended recipient of<BR>this message you are hereby notified that you must
not<BR>disseminate, copy or take any action in reliance on it.<BR>If you have
received this message in error please<BR>notify Allied Telesis Labs Ltd
immediately.<BR>Any views expressed in this message are those of
the<BR>individual sender, except where the sender has the<BR>authority to issue
and specifically states them to<BR>be the views of Allied Telesis Labs.</P>
<P> </P>
</BODY></HTML>