Re: Robo vs Flare

[Kathleen MacDowell <kathleen -dot- eamd -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Rick,

Perhaps most of us do not know the inside story of what happened with RH
after it moved from the original development company. Even if we did, we
all are subject to selective memory :-)

What I recall is a flush of comments about whether RH would be maintained,
ongoing concerns about same, agony because MM appeared to be ignoring it,
and the same for several years after Adobe took it over.

Most of the time after Adobe took it over I ignored any comments because I
wasn't working with Help, so I can't say I have a clear timeline of
changes. By this time, I'd also decided that if I had any decision-making
abilities in procuring a Help program I'd stay away from RH, just on the
basis of comments about support on the lists.

Over time, Adobe has finally (so far as I can tell from list comments and
webinars) started supporting RH, which I can only applaud.

I still haven't worked with Help on an on-going basis, so I can't comment
on any improvements, except to say that Madcap has been steadily working on
their customer relations and service since inception. Adobe seems to be
trying to catch up--I can attest that any kind of support or documentation
as of RH 8 was abysmal. I bought a single user copy, very expensive, and
was appalled (as a technical writer), by the documentation.

I deeply appreciate the work you and others put out to support this
software, as independents. That has nothing to do with the actual level of
support that Adobe or any other company has exerted to support or develop
it.

Caveat: My personal preference is for Flare on the basis of their support.
However, I would encourage people with the time and interest investigating
other tools.

Kathleen



On Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 6:54 PM, Rick Stone <rstone75 -at- kc -dot- rr -dot- com> wrote:

> LOL, you haven't forgiven Adobe? What did they have to do with anything?
>
> macromedia was the group responsible for all the hullabaloo. Of course,
> Madcap was mad as heck at Adobe for reviving RoboHelp and severely eating
> into their perceived market, so I'm sure they would love it for you to
> blame Adobe. :)
>
> I'm sure Flare is a fine tool for those that like it. But in my mind Adobe
> should be cheered for resurrecting RoboHelp. I've always loved using it
> myself.
>
> Cheers... Rick :)
>
>
> On 6/4/2013 11:45 AM, Porrello, Leonard wrote:
>
>> Sorry to muddy the waters, but you may want to also look at Help&Manual
>> as well. People on this list who have used H&M, Flare, and RoboHelp in the
>> past have preferred H&M over Flare or RoboHelp. When I was using H&M thee
>> years ago, it was "super-intuitive", more so than the other two. I couldn't
>> tell you how it stacks up today.
>>
>> Having said that, I have been in group that uses Flare for the past three
>> years. It is a very powerful tool and works well most of the time. I enjoy
>> using it (when it is behaving). I would not return to RoboHelp because I
>> have not forgiven Adobe for leaving me hanging in the wind after they let
>> go the RoboHelp development team and went dark for over a year regarding
>> whether or not they would continue to support the product. I have nothing
>> against off-shore developers, but when a company lays off the U.S.
>> development team and offshores a product--while the laid-off development
>> team goes on to develop and successfully market a better product in the
>> exact same niche while remaining in the U.S.--I can't bring myself to
>> support the product that was offshored.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=ill**umina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com<illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>[mailto:
>> techwr-l-bounces+**lporrello <techwr-l-bounces%2Blporrello>=
>> illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- **techwr-l -dot- com <illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>] On
>> Behalf Of Heider, Heidi
>> Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 8:36 AM
>> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>> Subject: Robo vs Flare
>>
>>
>> HAT lovers, pls forgive me if this has been hashed & rehashed to the
>> ground.
>>
>> I DID search the archives first, and found out that some believed that
>> Flare 7 was better for content management and Robo 8 performed better for
>> Interactive content.
>>
>> But now Flare 9 and Robo 10 are here. I'm going to see demos from both
>> companies this week, so I want to hear what yooz guyz-the peeps who use
>> these tools-think.
>>
>> Personally, I like user-friendly super-intuitive products. The more I can
>> just figure it out and guess as I go, the happier I am. (Do all tech
>> writers hate reading user manuals, or is it just all humans? ;-)
>>
>> Which do you prefer, and/or for what purposes? And if you can't stand
>> talking about these tools any more, no offense taken-pls point me in the
>> right direction.
>>
>> Thanks comrades! ;-)
>>
>>
>>
>> Heidi Heider
>> Content Manager | Portals Marketing
>> Time Warner Cable Business Class
>> 2551 Dulles View Drive | Herndon, VA  20171
>> (703) 713-9204 (o) | (202) 277-7687 (m)
>>
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Kathleen MacDowell
kathleen -dot- eamd -at- gmail -dot- com
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