Beta Download: Adobe FrameMaker DITA and S1000D Application Packs

A little tardy, perhaps, but the much-anticipated FrameMaker 7.2 Application packs for Microsoft® Windows are today available for free download from the new Adobe Labs web site. Of course a beta version is a work in progress. Expect things to go wrong. Then, share your feedback with Adobe. They’ve created a discussion forum that ought to prove helpful to users and to the FrameMaker Application Pack development team.

According to Adobe, “regular updates to the software will be posted on the site and the final product is expected to be introduced in Fall 2006.”

A few blurbs from the press release:

“The new FrameMaker 7.2 beta Application Packs for DITA and S1000D enable customers and developers to harness FrameMaker 7.2 for authoring, publishing, and developing XML content using DITA and S1000D. DITA is an approved OASIS standard for topic-based authoring that builds content reuse into the authoring process. DITA defines an XML architecture for designing, writing, managing, and publishing information in print and on the web. The Technical Publications Specification Maintenance Group (TPSMG) manages S1000D, a specification traditionally used in defense and aviation that is designed to reduce unnecessary content rework and maintenance. S1000D is now a widely accepted XML-based specification for creating technical publications for complex processes and equipment.”
“Many organizations either do not know where to start when evaluating and integrating XML, DITA, or S1000D into their technical publishing processes, or are paying a premium for DITA and S1000D support, evaluation, and training,” said Don Walker, senior director of product marketing and business development for Print and Classic Publishing at Adobe. “To make it easier and more cost-effective for enterprises to take advantage of XML authoring to streamline their technical publishing efforts, Adobe and its development partners are delivering out-of-the-box DITA and S1000D support for FrameMaker 7.2 as well as additional tools and resources.”
“More than a dozen Adobe development partners and members of the Adobe Solutions Network contributed to the development of the FrameMaker 7.2 beta Application Packs for DITA and S1000D. S1000D experts iTP-X created the Application Pack for S1000D. Backspace Ink, Bright Path Solutions, Document Jones, Group Wellesley, Integrated Technologies, Leximation, Promptt, Publishing Smarter, Scriptorium Publishing, Text Structure Consulting, and Silicon Publishing created the Application Pack for DITA—all overseen and coordinated by Silicon Publishing. Independent consultants Tassos Anastasiou, Tobias Reif, and Andrea Sharp also contributed their technical publishing knowledge and skills to developing the new FrameMaker Application Packs.”
“Adobe and its development partners assembled some of the best minds in the technical publishing industry to create the FrameMaker 7.2 Application Packs for DITA and S1000D,” said Don Day, chairman of the OASIS DITA Technical Committee. Continuing its long history of strong support for industry standards, Adobe is once again demonstrating ongoing leadership within the XML content creation industry through the new Application Packs for FrameMaker 7.2.”

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