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>A book publishing client wants to buy Quark and an Xtension called Autopage
>that's supposed to handle long docs smoothly. I know FrameMaker can do the
>job he wants done, but he believes FrameMaker's days are numbered and Quark
>is the way to go - and he likes the other things Quark has to offer.
>
>Can anyone offer any wisdom? Has Quark made up the gap, and is FrameMaker
>really soon to be obsolete?
QuarkXPress itself hasn't changed much in the last decade or so. I'm not
familiar with teh plug-in, but I'd be sceptical about any claims that a
single plug-ing can add all the missing things to XPress.
As for FrameMaker becoming obsolete for technical documentation, there is
no sign that this is going to happen in the near-to-medium future. Longer
term things may be different, especially if Adobe continues to tinker
round the edges and shies back from upgrading the plumbing, but for now
there simply isn't a credible replacement in sight.
IF FrameMaker is going to be replaced, it sure isn't going to be by
XPress, which plays in a completely different market. In fact, I'd say
that XPress is in much more immediate danger of becoming obsolete because
InDesign 2.0 is - according to comments from people who should know - a
much better program for exactly the same applications. My impression is
that a growing number of people in the DTP business switch from XPress to
InDesign - I know for a fact that several large magazines in Germany do.
(And they do so happily because Quark has been one of the more user-
hostile companies around.)
Regards
Jan Henning
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Jan Henning
ROSEMANN & LAURIDSEN GMBH
Am Schlossberg 14, D-82547 Eurasburg, Germany
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