[X4U] "Backwards Compatibility"

[Linda]

On 6/18/08 2:26 AM, Christopher Collins wrote:

> keep Classic Mode just
> to support 1 program for 1 person.

I've got one client, a major publisher, that requires the use of an XTension
that runs only in XPress 4. So, I have to fire up Classic on my computer a
couple times a week.

SO that's two programs for two people. And I'm not alone.

Framemaker for Mac was never released in an OS X version. There's nothing
quite like it out there -- not even after Adobe swallowed it and we'd hoped
that Frame's best features would show up in InDesign. They didn't. So Frame
lives on as a completely unique layout program, that, if you're using Macs,
requires... Classic. Now we're talking *tens of thousands* of people, if not
hundreds of thousands.

There are plenty of examples of software like this. It's really not just "1
program for 1 person." My personal choice about the hard- and software I use
might be different than the choice I have to make in order to make a living
and do my job. You can admonish people like me to "Move with it!" but you'd
be better off to direct that at my clients, and at guys like Adobe and the
XT maker who didn't "move with it!" update the software...

Will the day come when I have to dump those clients? Sure. But, you know
what? It's hard enough to make a living working for yourself without
*inviting* that kind of trouble. :¬)

~Linda