RoboHelp 6 finally arrives, and it’s craptastic

So, I arrive to work this morning, and am deluged with emails from Adobe, message threads in the HATT list and RSS feeds barking at me about Adobe’s “surprising” and long-awaited release of RoboHelp 6.

One blogger I really respect claimed, “Congratulations to Adobe for getting this out technically ahead of time!” Another wrote, “Well, the ‘RoboHelp is dead’ crowd will be disappointed to note their predictions were wrong.”

As a long-time RoboHelp (RH) user, I excitedly rushed to download the trial update, eager to see what five years, two corporate transitions, millions of dollars, and the motivational threat from new competitors (Madcap, AuthorIT) had done to my once-beloved RH.

I installed the update, launched the software, clicked the “Continue to 30-Day Trial” button, and…

…RH comes up. Hmm. Did I click on the wrong icon? I checked Help > About, and it confirmed version 6.

Seriously? No GUI changes? No support for dual monitors? No effort to bring it into the Adobe family using dockable tool palettes? We’ve decided to stay in 1995?

Okay, these are just first impressions. Calm down, monkey boy. I’m sure they at least they got rid of the proprietary Kadov tags, right? Create a new topic, add some fancy stuff… view source code, and…

kadov.jpg
Ah, heck nah!!!

So, what did Adobe do?

Well, for starters, they added a few features, like variables, command-line generation, and even Acrobat Elements to assist with printed output. Groovy. Props. The GUI, which had always been user-friendly, now sports drag-and-drop functionality. Groovy again. Adobe also spiced up the conditional build tag functionality, and made multi-author support easier. But as far as I can tell… that’s about it.

As far as output goes, I noticed nothing different from my old X5 topics. Same SSL folders, full of the same *.js, *.hh_, and *.vbs script files. The WebHelp skin editor is the same as X5, and there are no new flash skins.

I’m forbidden to have IE7 on my work machine, so I can’t test the output there. In IE6 there were no surprises. However, when I launched my sample FlashHelp file in Firefox 2.0, this popup appeared:

loadingFH.jpg

That looks pretty chintzy to me. Amateurish. I wouldn’t want a client seeing that, which means that this would go on my already-too-long list of After RH Generation Tasks — a list of things I always have to hack in the help system between compiling and delivery. (“Back door fixes,” if you will…)

Want some XML? You still have to go through the FrameMaker route (or use another XML editor).

Oh, and speaking of FrameMaker (this is just sad): no native FrameMaker support. You still have to MIF your files first, apparently. Oh, come on. This is just laziness. Even MadCap Flare lets you import binary FrameMaker files. Does that make sense? A competitor works with your files better than your own products do?

I could go on, but I’m too depressed. Maybe I’ll discover something awesome as I continue to play with it. If I do, I’ll let you know. But for now…

Verdict:
barf

79 Responses to “RoboHelp 6 finally arrives, and it’s craptastic”


  • Sorry to have to comment on a meta-comment, but I disagree with anon. I’m finding the discussion interesting and helpful. Regarding Picasso et al, I think Mike H inadvertently raises a good point. RoboHelp 6 might be something of a letdown (see CharlesJet’s comment), but when we compare it to Flare, we are really comparing, RELATIVE TO OTHER PRODUCTS IN THE INDUSTRY, daVinci to Michelangelo. Compared to tools available as recently as 2000, both are terrific. However, I do not use either currently. After using RH5 extensively and being on board with Flare from beta cycle 2 to first release, I chose Help & Manual (ec-software.com). You can think of it as Raphael. It has been a wonderful tool, and both customer support and the dev team have been wonderfully, impressively responsive. I’ve pushed all three of these tools to the limit, and I don’t see how one can go wrong with any one of the three.

  • anon,

    You insult my carefully thought through (albeit non-spell checked) response by stating that opinions shouldn’t be expressed.

    “We are all intelligent enough to make choices based on what is presented to us”

    This only works if the information presented to us is accurate. If it’s not, then once again I fall back on cluetrain to provide the answer:

    Thesis 12: There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.

    http://www.cluetrain.com/#manifesto

  • I would also agree with the other anonymous poster. Here’s why.

    I have similar feelings come election time. I have learned to dread it and refuse to watch TV. By the time it’s voting time, I will almost vote for an unheard of candidate because I’m just so sick and tired of hearing all the “He did this and he’s bad” or “She did that and she really sucks”. I see Madcap’s approach as being eerily similar. I’m almost more inclined NOT to purchase a product if the company is on a constant mission to slam or undermine its competition. Let your product speak for itself. If it’s so much better, then it will sell itself. But if it takes slamming the other products in order to make yours seem better, it’s probably not as great as you are saying it is.

    eHelp had a very agressive reputation for sales. And I remember that it often made many in the Tech Writing profession angry. Particularly when they would mail out claims that “Developers can produce effective help - Just by buying our product. You don’t even NEED an expensive Technical Writer!”. Mr. Hamilton is claiming that they (Madcap) know the help development business better than anyone out there. After all, they developed RoboHelp for so long. And while it’s true that just because one purchases the equipment that Picasso used, they don’t have the same skills and won’t produce the same work that Picasso did. But what if the new tool owners are every bit as savvy? Or, gasp, dare I even suggest, possibly MORE savvy?

    Personally, even with all this “experience”, I would find it odd if the Madcap developers were able, totally on their own with no feedback from the true subject matter experts (the tool users) were able to deliver exactly what I wanted in a tool. I’m afraid I’d end up receiving a tool that only a developer could use effectively and didn’t do what I as a help author wanted it to do. This isn’t to say that Flare is a bad tool. Just that it takes much more involvement than developers in order to create a tool that does a good job. Incidentally, one page I follow from time to time lists a very interesting bit about Madcap making a HUGE blunder by announcing a new product dealing with translation (Lingo) while at the recent STC conference. ( http://www.scriptorium.com/palimpsest/ - It’s near the bottom of the page. Search for the word “blunder”) How odd is that? These guys that claim to have all this inside industry knowledge totally space off the fact a company bearing the same name as their shiny new product exists? I guess they may have been too busy coding to conduct a Google search before naming their new product.

    Finally, I suspect a large part of Mr. Hamilton’s anger towards RoboHelp and its current owners is due to an expectation that after the layoffs and no development with RoboHelp, they fully expected to waltz in and have a wide open market to fill with a new tool to replace RoboHelp. But since Adobe has decided to put more development effort into RoboHelp, it could be impacting sales more than Madcap would ever publicly admit.

  • Hrmm.. My post didn’t get put up. My guess is it’s because of too many hyperlinks. I’ll try again…

    Anonymous, I just finished quite a bit of research work regarding Intellectual Property (IP) and rights management in software for a game concept I’m collaborating on - http://msdance.3nw.com if you’re interested. So this issue comes on the heels of my recent IP research.

    >>>Incidentally, one page I follow from time to time lists a very interesting bit about Madcap making a HUGE blunder by announcing a new product dealing with translation (Lingo) while at the recent STC conference.>>These guys that claim to have all this inside industry knowledge totally space off the fact a company bearing the same name as their shiny new product exists? I guess they may have been too busy coding to conduct a Google search before naming their new product.>>eHelp had a very agressive reputation for sales. And I remember that it often made many in the Tech Writing profession angry. >>Personally, even with all this “experience�, I would find it odd if the Madcap developers were able, totally on their own with no feedback from the true subject matter experts (the tool users) were able to deliver exactly what I wanted in a tool. I’m afraid I’d end up receiving a tool that only a developer could use effectively and didn’t do what I as a help author wanted it to do.

  • Hrmm.. My post didn’t get put up. My guess is it’s because of too many hyperlinks. I’ll try again…

    Anonymous, I just finished quite a bit of research work regarding Intellectual Property (IP) and rights management in software for a game concept I’m collaborating on - http://msdance.3nw.com if you’re interested. So this issue comes on the heels of my recent IP research.

    [anony sez:] Incidentally, one page I follow from time to time lists a very interesting bit about Madcap making a HUGE blunder by announcing a new product dealing with translation (Lingo) while at the recent STC conference.[end]

    Not to be offensive, and just to clarify the referred ‘Blunder’ question you brought up about the appropriateness of the naming for Madcap’s Lingo product…

    [anony sez:] These guys that claim to have all this inside industry knowledge totally space off the fact a company bearing the same name as their shiny new product exists? I guess they may have been too busy coding to conduct a Google search before naming their new product.[end]

    After reviewing the offered blog link and the ‘blunder’ products found in the google search for ‘Lingo translation’ I found primarily four companies and checked each one. They are services companies, not software companies. They are not selling a software product that does the same thing as Lingo offers, therefore there is no conflict. So that sort of kills the ‘Ummmm, you’re in troubbblllleeeeee’ finger pointing.

    The term ‘Lingo’ is in too common of usage. It’s not Xerox, or Kleenex, or as you used, Google (to define your search) and having Yahoo advertise ‘googling’ by using Yahoo. To think otherwise would be akin to restricting the use of ‘Language Translation’ with a copyright. If there’s other Lingo branded software doing the same purpose, I could be wrong. I couldn’t find it though.

    So, no blunder found. At least not one enforceable in American or most international courts. Maybe it’s something that could be brought up in Tunisia, or Luxembourg, or Malta.

    Some other things confused me about this latest post:

    [anony sez:] eHelp had a very agressive reputation for sales. And I remember that it often made many in the Tech Writing profession angry. [end]

    Yeah, I remember that also. Then again, eHelp was dealing with a $30 million a year market and making that market it’s prison b—-. They were the major big gorilla in that market. Cool thing was, they could call it ‘Babe Ruth style’ and swing for the fences because they still did a tremendous amount of innovation. Features were added every year like clockwork and refined several times annually in free point releases (think v1.4 or v12.7 - see, the point equals the period in the version number). Code bloat of RH made it harder and harder to integrate those new features without consequences, which makes me wonder about how Adobe’s going to handle RH’s legacy code management.

    I’m thinking MadCap’s focus is a bit beyond eHelp’s model of ‘sell a lotta copies of RH, and make everyone in the company learn to use it in order to modify the help system’. I don’t see Jorgen Lien, founder and CEO or any of the former eHelp Marketing VPs working over at MadCap so I’m guessing those tactics aren’t in favor over there.

    Instead, MadCap is appearing to examine the workflow and analyze what can help each company keep theirs working cleaner. It’s appearing to be a different business model that results in a cheaper and more efficient end product. MadCap’s making nice-nice with MSFT which means Word users won’t be alienated. Since Word is taught in Junior High / Middle School typing classes nowdays, that’s what I think is a good strategy. Adobe is head to head with MSFT…

    [anony sez:] Personally, even with all this “experience�, I would find it odd if the Madcap developers were able, totally on their own with no feedback from the true subject matter experts (the tool users) were able to deliver exactly what I wanted in a tool. I’m afraid I’d end up receiving a tool that only a developer could use effectively and didn’t do what I as a help author wanted it to do. [end]

    Hmm. Easy way to confirm / deny this theory that Madcap doesn’t care about the Help Author tool-using community is to take a look at their peer to peer support forums. I suggest anyone with questions to use their own judgement - http://forums.madcapsoftware.com and what I found there was an active community consisting of many layers of user experience. Not just Dev gurus.

    The second part of this issue deals directly with innovation. Anyone knocking MadCap’s efforts has yet to point directly to other product features which are more innovative than Flare’s.

    I’m looking for stuff that is really hot and compelling. Not just price point. Not ‘just as good’. I want smoking, hot features for my dollars.

    The third part is purely opinion. Having personally known the lead team at MadCap, some of them over ten years, I know that they’re currently reveling in their opportunity to provide feature sets that the market’s been looking for years to use.

    And the fourth and final part of my objection to that statement about is that technical writers who are able to provide source documentation in Word 2007 don’t really need to know the Flare system to take advantage of it. That’s where the HAT expert user can shine.

  • Well, I won’t comment on the past of RoboHelp as others know that better than I do. I do question Macrobe’s commitment to anything that came from the eHelp/Macromedia line. I use Flare and Craptivate. While I get first class service for Flare calling Macrobe for Craptivate support is a bigger challenge than getting an answer from the IRS. And how committed is Macrobe? I help maintenance contracts since day 1 for RoboHelp and the last time I checked the contract stated that I will get the next version even after the contract expired. I am still waiting for my RH6 copy to arrive, not that I’d plan to use it.
    Commitment doesn’t start when one buys another company, but also includes what happened before. And regardless if the Macromedia folks or the guys running Adobe are at fault, fact is that during the time Macrobe claimed to be fully committed to RoboHelp all RoboHelp-savvy staff was canned. Wow! What a commitment! We have nobody who knows what is going on, we don’t give a damn about supporting our customers, we fire everyone who knows anything about this product line, but we claim to have made a great achievement by cranking out at “craptastic” version by the help of dozens of Indian developer bees. Yes, every RoboHelp user must have a warm and fuzzy feeling now.
    If the code really was in such a bad state, why not show some real commitment and create a new version from scratch. A small shop like MadCap managed to get Flare out in a year, so why didn’t the gigantic company of Macrobe manage to do this? Because they are really so strongly committed to RoboHelp?? Gimme a break!

  • I’m an old-hand with FrameMaker, a past user of RoboHelp, and a current Flare user.

    Adobe hasn’t done much for FrameMaker, IMHO. I’ve been using FrameMaker since V3. Adobe has kept up in it’s own awkward way and done a so-so job. But still, there’s neither rhyme nor reason to the way files are sorted in dialogs, it still crashes at awkward times, there’s still no way to repair a corrupt file, no margin releases, etc. Many of the simple things that Ventura Publisher provide in the early 90′s are still not available to FM users.

    Adobe’s Support is still problematic and no where close to the level that was available from Frame prior to Adobe’s acquisition of FM.

    IMHO, Adobe pumped out RH6 simply to maintain product visibility. Feature-wise, RH6 was not a worthwhile release. They would have been money ahead had they just waited until they had something polished and up to today’s expectations (MDI, source control, standard html, etc.).

    It really isn’t about what code now is behind Adobe’s RH release or where it came from. That’s a moot point. RH remains hard to use for large scale help systems, the output is still non-standard, and Adobe puts out their hand as often as they can manage.

    Don’t misunderstand, I’m a staunch Adobe supporter. I love FrameMaker. However, I also love Flare. I used RH for years. But getting Flare was such wonderful relief. Adobe may not manage to salvage RH after this.

  • Please stop the ethnic slurs ramon!

  • “Indian developer bees” is not a racial slur. The term speaks to economics, not ethnicity. It could just as easily be African developer bees, Mexican developer bees, or even, were the economics the same, American developer bees.

  • RamonS brings up a good point I did not consider:

    [Ramons writes:]
    And how committed is Macrobe? I help maintenance contracts since day 1 for RoboHelp and the last time I checked the contract stated that I will get the next version even after the contract expired. I am still waiting for my RH6 copy to arrive, not that I’d plan to use it.
    [end]

    This would be a major oversight for Adobe to not enforce this contract stipulation. I would be willing to understand that they would immediately remedy this by mailing out box sets or download links to everyone with a valid upgrade to X5 now that they’ve been made aware of it.

    OR, RJ - should everyone use your provided phone number and request their copy through you?

    [RJ Jacquez wrote:]
    I’m RJ Jacquez, a senior product evangelist at Adobe.

    While I’m pleased that my eSeminar on RoboHelp has been receiving a lot of attention recently, I’ve noticed that there have been a number of questions raised regarding its content. I’d like to give personal attention to anyone who has such questions. So if you have any comments or questions regarding my presentation, please give me a call directly, on (858) 847-7410. If I’m not at my desk when you call, leave me your number and I’ll call you back.
    [end]

    I’ll be calling on behalf of my clients who have a valid claim on Wednesday when I return. RJ, I know this updates directly to your email so please post whether or not this is valid so people aren’t confused. I’m using you as a point of contact because first and foremost, you’re honest and a great guy. Second, you’re local here in San Diego.

    Another good source would be Vivek Jain whose blog is here - http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/

  • GuyH, me using the term “Indian worker bee” was not intended to be racist, demeaning, or derogatory in any way. It mere sums up a fact that I experienced while working with several Indian engineers. It also is pointed out in many publications, such as a the recent article in eWeek “Russian developers in search of partnerships” (see http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2150086,00.asp).
    In that article various experts bring one important point into the equation: cultural alignment. As stated before, I worked with Indian developers and they all had a very optimistic “can do” attitude. If they stayed around long enough to produce anything it typically showed what they really could do. They all were highly skilled and very knowledgeable programmers who knew all about the most recent technology (although mainly Microsoft). When we asked them “Can you do this or that?”, they always said “Yes” even when they had no idea what we are talking about. Indian culture forbids to say “No” to superiors and that is not how people take it in the US or especially in Europe. Many companies learned it the hard way and now rather look for talent in Eastern Europe. For example, Russian developers are as skilled as their Indian counterparts, but they do have a genuine interest in the business for which they are asked to create software. They ask the tough questions and bluntly tell someone if they are full of it.
    I dealt with Russian developers as well and their attitude is more like mine. Be honest and speak your mind even when it hurts, but have some darn good reasons for that. Indian developers generally do not enter a discussion, they do what they are told, and blindly follow specs even when those make no sense. Also, the turnover in India is insane, but explainable. I’d switch employers if the guy across the street wants to hire me and pays more per hour for the same work. At that point loyalty doesn’t pay as companies outsourcing to India also come and go. Mayn large companies such as SAP learned it the hard way. They still hire Indian talent, but tend to do so for commodity work, where a skilled, busy worker bee is at its best. I guess that the trend changes once Indian developers figure out that cranking out code as fast as possible isn’t what it is all about. It is about understanding what one needs to do way before a single line of code is written.
    My guess is that Adobe had the same misconception as many other companies. They took a “Yes” as what it means to us. Under that assumption laying off US developers and supporters and moving it all to India makes perfect sense. But taking the fact that RH6 code was done for the most part and that it still took almost three years to get a new version out are indications that exactly that happened what I think happened. Adobe heard the folks asking for a new RoboHelp, but since Adobe wasn’t fully committed to RoboHelp (although they always said they are) firing the US experts and dumping off the code in India was their way to go.
    Let’s give the Indian developers the benefit of the doubt that they really got into it, were more committed to the cause than Adobe, but didn’t get out of the gates due to shoddy source code and interface documentation, and layers of code crud that piled up around the real code throughout the years. If indeed Adobe was as committed as they always said, why didn’t one make a decision to ditch RoboHelp as it is and start from scratch? MadCap did that with probably just half a dozen developers taking a year to bring a product to market. OK, Flare 1.0 wasn’t as good as it could have been, but the bug ratio and stability problems were on par with RoboHelp X5. A year later Flare is a very reliable tool whereas the “brand new” RoboHelp 6 earns a “craptastic” at best. And RoboHelp still doesn’t work together with FrameMaker while others like Flare do that with ease. And with Blaze coming out some time this year it may just be that there is no point in using FrameMaker at all. FrameMaker is another example where Adobe just seems to sell off CDs instead of bringing one of their flagship products into the 21st century.
    Honestly, where is the commitment to customers? Where is the new stuff that Adobe claims they put in? It is sad to see that a big corporation with industry-leading products leaves its customers out in the desert for years and then cries foul when MadCap comes along with the soda truck and makes people happy.
    My guess is that Adobe is hellbent on saving a buck on every corner and tries to ride the wave of their name recognition instead of being really innovative and committed. Ever tried to get support for RoboHelp or Craptivate? Even with a valid support contract? Getting a straight answer from the IRS is easier. What the heck is wrong with Adobe? And not only Adobe, Corel is another example of braindead software company management. After pretty much killing Paradox, Corel now bought ULead to maliciously dismantle their great line of products, such as MediaStudio Pro. And look at the recent versions of PaintShop. There is a reason why I still use version 6.
    There are probably hundred good reasons to use RoboHelp, it’s just that I cannot think of any at the moment.

  • Full disclosure: I’m independent. Certified trainer/consultant in several tools and methods. Nobody’s agent; my own mouthpiece.

    This blog needs a truth filter. Maybe an accuracy filter. Maybe just a filter.
    It’s degenerated into flinging gobs of innuendo and promoting the SlyLie (an untruth slipped into a stream of text).

    RamonS just plain shovels the stuff, and some of it needs correction.

    From RamonS we get:
    ——————————————————————-
    ….Macrobe….
    ….laying off US developers and supporters and moving it all to India….
    ….RH6 code was done for the most part and that it still took almost three years to get a new version out….
    …. firing the US experts and dumping off the code in India was their way to go…..
    ——————————————————————-

    1) Adobe is not Macromedia.

    2) Adobe did not fire US RoboHelp developers. Macromedia did-well before Adobe purchased the assets of Macromedia.

    3) The Macromedia sale was completed in late January, 2006. Adobe released RH6 about 12 months later. Not three years.

    And there’s lots more stuff, bent and broken.

    But hey! RamonS knows this. RamonS is a moderator on Madcap’s Flare Forums-with something over 1600 posts, where he first used the soda metaphor about a year ago.

    MonkeyPi: enough of masquerades and posers, already.

  • Aha! Well, Adobe is Macromedia as Adobe bought Macromedia. Adobe did recently lay off the last members of the RoboHelp support staff way after Adobe bought Macromedia. The time between the release of RoboHelp X5 and RoboHelp 6 is about three years.
    I agree that there would be a benefit to hear from Adobe/Macromedia about the facts. So far, anything that Adobe/Macromedia put out was identified as not entirely correct or plain wrong.
    That aside, I am a user of both Adobe/Macromedia products as well as MadCap products. I use RoboHelp since 2000 and yes, I am still using it as I need to create .hlp files for a legacy system. I am also sure that if Adobe/Macromedia would have been both upfront and open about their plans with RoboHelp and showed true commitment I would still be a RoboHelp user. But I was one of the many RoboHelp fanboys who got kicked to the curb. I think that is reason enough to be upset about it.
    Adobe bought Macromedia and with that it bought the assets as well as the reputation. Since then I didn’t notice any change in behavior towards customers. Luckily the peer-to-peer forum has Rick Stone who is as a great help.
    True, I am one of the MadCap Forum mods. And that because I am a recognized as a customer. I also have a great relationship with the MadCap folks, but not because they made me a forums mod or buy me beer, but because they convinced me right from the start that they have the answers that Adobe / Macromedia didn’t want to give me, especially a new version of RoboHelp that has truly new features and bugs fixed. Uh, and something silly like real support and not some automated phone system that eventually gets me in contact with someone who has no clue about Captivate or RoboHelp.
    And what is so bad about autoplagiarism? I never insisted that my analogy was brand new. Nevertheless, it still holds true today as I am anxiously waiting for my RH6 copy that was promised to me by my last support contract with Adobe/Macromedia. And yes, Adobe also bought those responsibilities from the contracts Macromedia signed with its customers.

  • Ramon; the constant generalizations continue to make an ethnic slurs! These guys did not take anyone’s job and are all individuals.

  • GuyH, if they did or not is in the eye of the beholder. Those developers who got laid off in the US may think otherwise. I for sure see no malicious intent of those who now do the work. They do it for their living and not to ruin someone’s life. And then there is a degree of how sensible one is. I was called everything from “Kraut” to “Nazi”. I’d be quite flattered if one calls me a “worker bee” or considers my talent good enough to give work to me rather than to someone else.
    My generalizations are as good or bad as any generalization. Do they apply to everyone without exception? Of course they don’t. But my experiences are identical with reports from other reputable sources and may just hold true in the case of RoboHelp.

  • Your frequent derogatory comments suggest that India workers are not as good as US workers. I’m outta here!

  • GuyH, I never stated nor intended this, quite contrary. I guess the case is closed anyhow.

  • this is good but mast be better

  • GuyH,
    Your comments are destructive, and I find your attempt to slander and censure RamonS deeply offensive. Perhaps you are insecure about your ethnicity, but RamonS’s comments have NOTHING to do with ethnicity and EVERYTHING to do with U.S. companies giving U.S. job to foreign workers. If the workers to which he refers were in Switzerland, I am sure RamonS would have called them “Swiss worker bees.� His words implied nothing of what you suggested. Please try to read the words for what they say. If you really can’t see what they say, then I would suggest that your mind is not of a sufficient caliber to deal with social issues, your “contribution� just more sand in the social machine. Regardless, please do try to keep your simplistic understanding of race issues out of IT. If you need an outlet or have compulsion to find a racist bogeyman around every corner, you should tune in to one of the many polemical radio talk shows on the air.

  • Hey monkeypi - are you (madcap) responsible for yet another childish prank?

    ‘TecWriter is your single solution for Help authoring news and product reviews.’

    http://www.tecwriter.com/

  • I’ve just installed the trial of RoboHelp 6.

    Totally underwhelmed.

    It’s every bit as annoying as RoboHelp 5. The trial not only has a time limit, but also has a cap on the number of topics. So importing old projects, and then testing how well the Create New Topic feature works is not possible.

    In summary: it sucks just as much as Version 5. What the heck they been doing all this time?

  • Trackback:
    http://charlesjeter.com/2007/08/10/backlash-grows-from-high-cost-poor-quality-adobe-technical-support/

  • When is Robohelp X7 released?

  • As both a RoboHelp / Flare trainer, I am not surprised to see this amount of discussion over the two tools.

    RoboHelp 7 is about to come out. That means Adobe is still continuing support of it. I have seen and ran all the betas. It works just dandy.

    Flare 3 is also out. It is pretty good as well.

    So really, take your tomato and run with it based on your content, your desired featureset, and ease of learning curve for each tool.

    And Hi Ramon, I have not been on the MadCap forums in a while…but on my end anyway its been more Robo training than Flare of late.

  • Adobe Robohelp 7 is finally out…. let the reviews begin!

  • Wow! A massive release. Respect to Adobe!

  • I am still waiting for my upgrade to v6 - promised in my platinum support package form almost 2 years ago!!

  • Hi Rick,

    Sorry for the delay in the reply but I have so many people to chew up that it takes time! ;-)

    You said:
    “I would seriously have to question how in the world they have managed to remain in business and make HUGE acquisitions such as Macromedia. But that’s just me.”

    That’s what I keep saying. Once in the corporate mole you could deal actual SHIT and people will still deal it, cause you have a corporate name. When they started I’m sure they didn’t make the goofs they presently do or they wouldn’t be where they are. But now, that’s another story, each and every goof is income deductible, so it is very paying to do such flops…

    You also said:
    “It may surprise you to hear that I totally believe I AM God. But then again, I also believe that You and MonkeyPi and all the other billions of people in this realm are God. We are all simply God expressing itself in billions of different ways. God is in us, as us and through us. Within and without. No angry old man in the sky in serious need of mood stablizers, just an ever loving presence permeating the universe, seeking to express in many ways.”

    Love this part!! I have similar beliefs ;-)

    you said:
    “Namasté… Rick”

    I’m surprised here…Namaste! What tribe?

  • I like Help & Manual best. It is simple and it works. I can create a variables file for all my product info and run it from the command line. Finding support information on H&M is much easier than RoboHelp also.

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