Digital Home Thoughts: Adobe Drops FrameMaker for Mac

"Adobe Systems announced on Tuesday that it plans to drop the Mac version of FrameMaker, the latest sign of eroding support for the Apple Computer operating system.

The San Jose, Calif. company said it will stop selling the Mac edition of FrameMaker, a set of print and electronic publishing tools commonly used to create complex documents such as technical manuals, as of April 21. It will continue to support the Mac version for one year after that."

Ouch! That's gotta hurt! :oops: Actually this news doesn't come as a surprise. FrameMaker as a whole has declined somewhat. As such, it makes little sense to develop software with such limited market share to an even smaller customer base.

Apple is taking the risky path towards becoming a wholly vertically oriented company, offering a total package in both hardware and software, while stepping on the toes of its partners. In nearly every major software category, Apple has a product in direct competition with third party vendors. FinalCut Pro is one good example. Adobe discontinued the Mac version of Premiere partly due to rivalry with Apple. The same is true with the company's self branded retail store strategy, where Apple now competes head to head with Mac resellers.

Personally, I think this approach is suicidal in the long run. Apple makes fantastic products, but if this strategy drives away developers (both hardware and software) who will benefit? More importantly...who will want to buy a Mac without third party support? Can Apple succeed at being all things to all people, both professional and consumer? :?