I have followed and used Author-it pretty much from the beginning. I have to admit often being confused at family barbeques with the technical aspects, but maybe it was just the beer..?  However, conceptually, Author-it has always been ahead of its time and a breath of fresh air. I first used Author-it in 1999 for a military application in East Timor and ever since it has been my primary authoring tool. When the opportunity to represent Author-it in the Middle East came up several years ago, I gladly took up the challenge.

One of the things that became clear at the time was that I did not know much about the Information Management field. So I set out to rectify this. I researched courses that could educate me and provide me with an informed and balanced view of the industry. I chose to undertake the Graduate Diploma of Information Design at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology in New Zealand. It was a tough course that probed deep into this field and kept me very busy for a couple of years. I expected this course would arm me with the knowledge to understand how Author-it fits into this industry. What was unexpected was that Author-it would be covered in two of the six papers on the course.

The first time was in the Research and Theory paper. This paper mentioned Author-it in the context of changing the standard mould and being an industry leader with new concepts. Author-it’s single-sourcing and component content management concepts were explained and highlighted as the next big evolution in information management. This was produced in the context of historical theory of information management.

The second time was two semesters later in the Information Design paper. The context this time was the techniques used to produce professional documents. Author-it was specifically highlighted as one of the first end-to-end solutions to provide a single-sourcing solution to the industry. Single-sourcing concepts were covered in depth as obviously this is seen as an important evolution of the way we manage information.

I am personally impressed that Author-it and associated concepts are being recognized in these courses. It is confirmation that Author-it is indeed an industry leader and that conceptually they are on the right track. I think the ongoing developments (Author-it Live, Xtend, Publishing Profiles, Structured Authoring, Aspect, Assist etc.) that have come out of Author-it are a tribute to them also. It is one thing to be an industry leader, however staying on the leading edge is an even greater challenge. Author-it is doing this well.

Posted by Mark Trotter, Author-it Certified Consultant, TrotterShaw LTD

Tuesday 19th May was Workchoice Day for many year 12 high school students around New Zealand. Workchoice Day is a day Year 12 students (16-17yo) spend cruising through companies with the hope of getting a better understanding about the wonderful world of employment that lies ahead of them.

Author-it Software Corporation signed up to donate its office and its time this year as part of a community service. A fabulous volunteer team, headed by our HR Manager Amanda, put together a fun and informative agenda ready for the arrival of the students.

Macleans College was our first school to visit, with a mixed group of around 15 students. Both Julia (Accounts Assistant) and Richard (Business Development Manager) attended Macleans College back in their school days, so Julia met with the students, giving them a brief overview of what she’d done with her life since leaving Macleans. And afterwards, Richard did a short talk and basic demonstration about Author-it and how it works. An overview of the company and personal employment history was given by the company President Steve, as well as Amanda and Sarah (Reception/Admin Manager). A tour of the offices saw the students interacting with all the staff, asking questions about the various roles that interested them. A group lunch followed, where again the students talked to those whose jobs interested them the most.

After a quick clean-up, our next group arrived, a slightly smaller group of girls from St. Cuthberts College. Although shorter on time than the previous group, Steve, Amanda and Sarah did another company overview and personal working history, and another tour of the offices was given along with more questions (and plenty of giggles).

The students, supervisors and Workchoice Day co-ordinators alike gave us fantastic feedback. They were blown away by our culture and our people. Some of the comments we received, during and after the day: “Has opened my eyes to different careers in finance.” Another student said that what they found most interesting was “The emphasis placed on work culture”. Barbara, the supervisor from St. Cuthberts College, said that “you did convey a very enlightened culture and a happy and supportive workplace.” Since being involved with these schools, Amanda has been invited to speak at a Careers Evening held by St. Cuthberts School. A real credit to her and the efforts she took to make this day a success.

Thank you to all the volunteers, including Steve, Amanda, Richard, Danielle, John and Julia, who took time out of their working day to be with the students. Another big thanks to everyone in the office for being so accommodating with the student’s questions and willingly having your quiet working day interrupted. We look forward to another successful Workchoice Day next year!

Posted by Sarah Smith, Reception/Admin Manager, Author-it Software Corporation

The year 2006 was an exciting year, for all sorts of reasons. It was an exciting year for Author-it Software Corporation when Author-it 4.3 was released with support for the still-embryonic DITA standard. Who knew, in 2006, that DITA would come so far? (Well, we did, obviously.) As Author-it is a controlled authoring tool, built on top of a component content management system, with a multi-channel publishing engine back end, we were pretty much the first end-to-end DITA solution. (After all, end-to-end is such a fluid description. Just because we have more at the starting end (authoring), the finishing end (publishing), and that lumpy bit in the middle (content management), what’s to stop someone else from picking up the pegs and moving them closer together to create their own definition… sigh).

The independent CMS Watch published an industry report in 2008 covering DITA tools, XML, and component content management systems. As one of the few vendors providing a end-to-end DITA solution Author-it rated very highly. High praise indeed. Author-it being an out of the box solution that requires no third party tools or programming certainly helped. Interested in the report? If you are reading this you should be*. 2009 version out soon, I believe.

I don’t want to sound fussy, but first usually means… first. And 2006 is definitely before 2009. So unless I’m missing a very finely tuned definition of ‘First Authoring Software to Support DITA Publishing With No Programming or Third-Party Tools Required’ that somehow magically makes 2009 occur before 2006, I think someone at MadCap is taking liberties with the truth. Now I like Lewis Carroll and George Orwell as much as the next person but such blatant and farcical manipulation of the truth should remain in works of fiction. Or people should hire PR companies that do their homework.

Or, we could agree that MadCap has never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Lovely folks at MadCap, and Flare works very well and lots of people like it, but if no one else is going to call them on the blatantly inaccurate press releases seen over the past year, I will.

Posted by Matthew Armstrong, Sales Director Asia Pacific, Author-it Software Corporation

*From the CMS Watch website:
About the Report
The XML & Component Content Management Report 2009 provides an overview of leading CCM products as well as XML editing tools, including detailed comparative evaluations of 25 CCM vendors XML editing products.
How it will help you
The report can help your team:

• Save time in the selection process
• Create an effective vendor shortlist
• Avoid selecting the wrong product
• Budget more accurately
• Avoid painful setbacks

Who needs this report?
Check out this report if you are considering to undertake any of the following projects:

• Complex content re-use
• Extensive content translation
• Technical Documentation and other DITA projects
• Structuring common office documents
• Multichannel publishing
• Structured authoring with XML editors
• Managing information components at an enterprise level