framemaker 13 and 2015 release seperately on same device?

[miaw49360272]

hello,

I have to process FM13 files, but unfortunately the installation of FM13 became FM2015 with updates. (It's been a while and I don't remember how exactly).

I have older versions of FrameMaker installed, and they all can be started seperately as seperate versions of the program, but Framemaker13 seems to have vanished. I need the program to work with scripts provided by the customer, and they should not be edited in a higher version.

Is there any way to have FM2015/FM2017 and FM13 on the same computer without problems, preferably with the old license key?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Jeff_Coatsworth · Accepted solution]

IIRC, FM13 is FM2015 - the internal version numbering didn't change, just the public name. You can have separate installs of FM2015 & FM2017 on the same machine.

[Barb Binder]

Jeff's memory is better than mine—I don't remember the branding change in the middle—but I agree that Fm 2015 is version 13, just as Fm 2017 is version 14.

~Barb

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

More like a branding change at the beginning...FM13 wasn't released as such; it was always FM2015.

[miaw49360272]

Thank you for your answers.

I couldn't remember, and the customer claims he can't open FM 2015 files.

Maybe he's just missing an update.

[Barb Binder]

I couldn't remember, and the customer claims he can't open FM 2015 files.

I'd start by asking him to choose Help > About FrameMaker and telling you exactly what version he is on.

~Barb

[Bob_Niland]

JC: More like a branding change at the beginning...FM13 wasn't released as such; it was always FM2015.

My impression at the time was that someone was superstitious abut having a release 13, so went to year branding, but it might have been just part of a company-wide rebranding.

In any event, having the marketing release ID be completely discordant with the About release number has caused nothing but confusion.

If the next major release of FM and/or TCS is FM2018 or FM2019, I would strongly suggest that the internal release number be accelerated to 18.0 or 19.0, and skip over 15.0-17.0 altogether.

[Barb Binder]

The CC apps don't do that. For CC 2018, Photoshop is 19.1.2, InDesign is 13.1 and Illustrator is 22.1. This leaves me with a 0% chance of remembering any version number, anytime.

I hope you can convince the TCS team to follow your logic, Bob.

~Barb

[Bob_Niland]

Barb: I hope you can convince the TCS team to follow your logic,

Well, having major release numbers that look like contemporary calendar years is inherently troublesome, particular for suites, where not every component gets a major update on the same schedule.

Plan B might be for the next major of each product to jump its major# by +20 or more, so as to be unambiguously not the marketing model year.

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

Historically, you can look to the mothership CC family (and Photoshop in particular) to predict trends, including interface, version number, and licensing model. I don't see them skipping version numbers because it'll just mean explaining to folks that this, that, or the other version simply doesn't exist.

In this case, as Photoshop CC 2018 is version 19, my money is on a continuation of the current numbering system with TCS products.

Personally, I don't miss the secret decoder ring I needed to explain that TCS3 included Fm10, Rh9, Captivate5, and Acrobat X (10!)

And, yes, I had to look up those numbers...they were not ever intuitive until Adobe followed the Microsoft model and went to referring to the year instead of the "actual" version number. Oh, except for Acrobat, which remains an outlier for some reason!!

In a few years, Photoshop's numbering system will seem to match the release date, and then it will seem out of sync as well.

[Ian Proudfoot]

The confusion will start when we get the next version of FrameMaker which will have a version number of 15.0 some people already refer to FrameMaker 2015 release as FM15.

Acrobat is particularly confusing because there seems to be two identical versions with different version numbering. TCS2017.1 installed Acrobat Pro 2017, while my Creative Cloud shows Acrobat DC installed and up to date! However, it's all working nicely right now, so I'll just let that one remain a mystery...

Ian

[Barb Binder]

That one I can clarify for you, Ian. The CC version of Acrobat Pro DC is Continuous (meaning with the subscription it gets continuous upgrades) and the TCS is Classic (doesn't get upgraded on the same schedule). There are features in Continuous that have yet to appear in Classic. It's a nightmare for teaching large groups because of course there will be a mix of versions, even if you try really hard to make sure there won't be.

~Barb

[Stefan-Gentz]

Exactly.

There was never officially a "FrameMaker 13" - only "FrameMaker (2015 release)", which was released in, well, 2015.

After FrameMaker 12, the next version was "FrameMaker (2015 release)", after that "FrameMaker (2017 release)".

The official naming is based on the year of release since 2015. Version numbers like 13 or 14 are only used as internal version numbers.

[miaw49360272]

Thank you!