Comments on: About being the “First Authoring Software to Support DITA Publishing With No Programming or Third-Party Tools Required”

By: Matt Armstrong

Matt Armstrong — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:42:45 +0000

It gets better. I see that Bluestream are now also making the sames comment about being the only ‘out of the box’ DITA CMS. They’ve cunningly included other people’s software to provide authoring and publishing - something their client’s would have to do anyway. Not sure this is really what is meant by ‘out of the box’, though.

By: David Locke

David Locke — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:55:27 +0000

Good point, Matt — maybe less blunt than the issue merits.
It’s part of a longer, larger pattern (e.g., fake ‘tecwriter’ websites with ‘neutral’ evaluation of authoring tools). As for Madcap’s current efforts: look at the sponsored results if you Google author-it. I’ve complained to Google. Something’s fundamentally out of whack when a search for a registered product name brings up a competitor’s sponsored link.

By: Mark Trotter

Mark Trotter — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:50:18 +0000

Nice work Matt. It is worth pointing out the hard earned truths and highlighting when what we are told is just not quite right…

By: Emma Harding

Emma Harding — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:01:03 +0000

Quite right, Matt - it’s confusing enough for folks trying to make an informed purchasing decision - without being told porkies into the bargain. It’s another example of why you have to look beyond the hype and seek out substance. Sometimes that means paying for a report, written by well-informed, objective professionals.

By: Alan J. Porter

Alan J. Porter — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:32:00 +0000

Interesting post Matthew. You raise some valid points. In fact you inspired a blog post of my own.