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Subject:Re: Why should I be worried about the merger? From:Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 18 Apr 2005 20:37:53 -0400
> Aside from a general dislike of monopolies, one reason why I would be
> concerned is that many of the main tools for technical writing are now
> owned by a single company. Add the fact that this company is known for
> making decisions that affect users without much regard for their
> concerns, and I'd say that the average technical writer has good reason
> to worry a little.
Well, I honestly see more of a concern for web designers and graphic
designers than technical writers. The number of technical writing
tools available has grown significantly over the past several years,
thanks to a healthy open source movement, new companies growing around
a realized need for more diverse and agile content development and
management tools, and from offshoots of other companies.
> It doesn't affect me personally very much, because I generally avoid
> proprietary tools, don't do much tech-writing these days, and work on
> Linux most of the time. However, I do wonder whether Adobe is less or
> more likely than Macromedia to release the Flash format
> an open source standard. There's been some rumors about the possibility
> in the last few months, but it's a whole new game now. My guess is that
> the takeover won't change the chances much anyway -- they're still
> fairly slim, I suspect.
I don't see the proprietary nature of Flash to be a monumental issue
plaguing the technical writing community.
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