Adobe Ends Linux FrameMaker Beta Trials, Scraps Plans to Release Final Product

[ Thanks to Nigel and Matthias Kleine for contributing. ]

Members of the Beta Program for Adobe's port of FrameMaker to Linux were informed today that the company has concluded its beta testing, the timed betas have a little over a month to run, and that any documents they created using the software will have to be opened using FrameMaker for Windows, Mac, or UNIX once the Linux beta versions expire on December 31.

A letter the company sent out, quoted below, said Adobe will not release a commercial version of FrameMaker for Linux at this time:

Thank you for participating in the FrameMaker 5.5.6 on Linux beta
program. The beta program has now completed, and the beta software is
no longer available for download. The beta licenses will expire on 31
December 2000, and you will be unable to use the product after that
date.

The FrameMaker product team appreciates your feedback and
participation in Adobe's investigations into the Linux market for
FrameMaker. From this study, Adobe has determined that it will not,
at this time, release a commercial version of FrameMaker or
FrameMaker+SGML on the Linux platform. Of course FrameMaker 6.0 and
FrameMaker+SGML 6.0 software continues to be available for the
Windows, Mac and UNIX platforms.

If you have documents created with the FrameMaker 5.5.6 beta on Linux
which you wish to continue to use, you have two choices. Documents
created with the FrameMaker 5.5.6 Beta on Linux software may be
opened with FrameMaker 5.5.6 or 6.0, or FrameMaker+SGML 5.5.6 or 6.0,
on a Windows, Mac or UNIX platform. Alternatively you should save any
documents created with the software to text before 31 December 2000,
for that content to be accessible to other applications after 31
December 2000.

Comments on the FrameMaker 5.5.6 on Linux beta program can be sent to:

fmlinux@adobe.com

Thank you again for participation in this program.

Best Regards,
The FrameMaker Product Team
Adobe Systems Incorporated

Related Stories:

• LinuxPlanet: Product Review: FrameMaker 5.5.6 for Linux(May 08, 2000)
• LinuxWorld: Frame and fortune, Get the skinny on Adobe's FrameMaker beta for Linux(Jan 21, 2000)
• TechWeb: Adobe's Rise And Fall: Income Climbs, President Retires(Dec 17, 1999)
• PC World: Software heavyweight moves FrameMaker, Acrobat to open-source operating system.(Dec 17, 1999)
• InfoWorld: Adobe details its app support for Linux(Dec 17, 1999)
• PRNewswire: Adobe Announces Initial Support for Linux Platform(Dec 15, 1999)