Merry meet!
Please accept my sincere apologies for the lateness of this scry. My life has been such a whirlwind lately!
This much belated and far too long overdue February scry is meant to address some rumors that have been recently circulating.
For starters, take a look at This Link.
Some of you are aware of an E-Mail list known as HATT. The acronym HATT is derived from "Help Authoring Tools and Techniques". The list is run by YAHOO groups. If you are so inclined, you can click this link and learn more about HATT or even subscribe to it. A good portion of this scry involves assorted posts and whatnot that have been observed on the HATT list.
The king is dead!
Back in March 2005, a gentleman by the name of Joe Welinske made a rather ominous public announcement at his famous WritersUA conference. Joe politely announced that since Macromedia had acquired E-Help, RoboHelp had been sunset. As RoboHelp was widely accepted and touted by many to be the leading Help Authoring Tool in existence, this naturally caused quite a stir in the authoring community. The gist of the announcement can also be seen by Clicking here.
This finally spawned a response post to the Macromedia RoboHelp forum by someone named Miriam Geller. While Miriam's post did nothing to abate the chatter or answer any real questions, it did at least show that Macromedia did pay some attention to the help authors out there.
Because of some history of RoboHelp and the HATT list, there are many individuals that are rather gleeful with quick replies to any question about which tool to choose. RoboHelp is dead! Choose this tool or that so you won't "get stuck" with a defunct tool!
To make matters worse, the new MadCap Software company has begun an advertising campaign of sending E-Mail messages with a Subject line reading: Goodbye, RoboHelp. Hello, Flare.
My views
Because of this site and my fondness for RoboHelp, I've been asked on many occasions what my personal views are on the situation. So here goes.
RoboHelp works just as well for me today as it ever has. Just because Joe Welinske announced it may be sunset doesn't make it any less useful than it was before his announcement. So you have existing projects. If RoboHelp were to stop functioning altogether, the content is STILL in HTML format and can be ported to other systems if need be.
The IE7 factor.
One of the big worries about the future viability of RoboHelp was that IE7 would break it. To many folks' dismay, it doesn't seem to have done this. The fears and hopes appear to be unfounded. DarniTol! ;)
The Windows Vista factor
Indeed Microsoft is charging full speed ahead with Windows Vista. Last speculation I heard was that it may begin appearing sometime around Christmas season of 2006 as a preinstalled operating system on PCs. Will Vista make the actual RoboHelp application stop working? I'm pretty doubtful it will. However, the big factor here is not whether Vista will cause RoboHelp to stop functioning, but what will happen with RoboHelp output once Vista begins taking hold and becoming as widespread as Windows XP is.
Well, Vista will be sporting a new help system (along with a new help format). Assuming RoboHelp isn't being developed, it likely will not produce help files in the new XML format Vista uses.
However, keep in mind that:
Companies are typically very slow to adopt technologies such as operating system upgrades. Heck, I'm still seeing many folks that are still using Windows NT and Windows 2000. XP has been out a while. So methinks the Vista factor isn't a valid sticking point. Not only the reluctance to upgrade to Vista is at play here. Vista will impose some new hardware requirements. Some, maybe even many, will find it is more cost effective to simply purchase a new PC with Vista on it, as opposed to upgrading an existing machine to run Vista.
Vista WILL still support HTML Help (.CHM format) help files. As RoboHelp still produces these with ease, I don't see a problem.
Cap'n, she's takin on water! Jump Ship!!!
To be very honest, I have been amazed and appalled at the behavior of otherwise seemingly intelligent individuals over this whole issue of possible sunset of RoboHelp. One would surmise that just because Joe Welinske speculated, we should all immediately drop RoboHelp in favor of the next big thing.
The bottom line is to use some common sense. Does RoboHelp currently fit your needs? If so, then what is the rush to drop the tool for something different? Keep in mind that one of the reasons RoboHelp was/is so popular, is the ease with which you can use it. There is a very small learning curve. I've not seen the same ease of use in other tools.
The Flare factor
Indeed, many of the former RoboHelp development team as well as the former RoboHelp Product Manager Michael Hamilton have banded together and formed their own company. The company name is MadCap software and their new product is named Flare. Flare is thought by many to be the "natural evolution" of RoboHelp. I'm hoping to secure a copy of Flare and provide a rundown on it in a future scry.
Back, to the future!
Ahhh yes, I did love Christopher Lloyd in those 1980's films! But that's not really the reason for this section. Instead, I'm referring to the future of RoboHelp.
What? I thought RoboHelp was dead? Joe Welinske said it was! Joe couldn't possibly be mistaken, could he?
No, this isn't a personal attack on Joe. I don't know him well enough for that. I wish him all the best with his WritersUA gatherings he runs.]
The bottom line is this. I've heard from many different sources that since Adobe has entered the picture, RoboHelp development may resume! (if it hasn't already) I've also heard that Adobe has planned on a presence at Joe's next WritersUA event. So if I were a betting person, I'd certainly not count RoboHelp down and out. Not just yet. Let's at least see what the future may hold.
That wraps it up for this month.
Until next month...
Merry part!
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