Adobe dipping toes into desktop Linux waters

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Adobe was not serious before: Adobe has never made a serious attempt to sell any desktop product for Linux. They did release a time-limited beta version of FrameMaker several years ago, but IMO made some serious mistakes in trying to determine the interest. They made the beta available to current Linux users at the time and surveyed them to determine how many would purchase the product and how much they would be willing to pay for it. Since nearly all desktop Linux users at the time were students and hobbyists, there was very little interest among those users in purchasing it at the price charged for either MS-Windows or Unix versions. I always thought they should have surveyed existing customers, especially customers of the Unix versions, to determine how many would be interested in switching platforms if a Linux version were available. From the forums that I read at the time, there were a few such customers that did participate in the beta test and would have purchased dozens or more copies if it had ever been offered for sale, but they were never given the opportunity.
The other problem that I've had is that most of Adobe's products are not offered at a price that makes them attractive for personal use. I used FrameMaker for Sun on my job back in the early 90s and had access to an MS-Windows version in the mid-90s, and none of the other products I've had an opportunity to use since then (especially MS Word) were anywhere near FrameMaker for developing technical documents, I would definitely buy a Linux version if it were available for personal use (with little or no support) at a price comparable to the price they give students, and I might consider paying that for the MS-Windows version if I could get it to work with WINE, but I don't do anything at home that would justify paying full price for it, and despite several attempts, I haven't succeeded in getting my employer to get me anything better than MS Word for use on the job, even though it seriously affects my productivity when writing technical documents.; Posted by: criderja Posted on: 11/03/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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