I seem to recall a company that was working on an HTML editor in Java. If
this is true (i.e. not a dream I had) then this type of editor would run in
any environment that supports Java... namely browsers. Of course I can't
remember the name or any actual useful information.
Another thought: If this isn't true it sounds like a possible market. Why
don't some of us get together and write a robust HTML editor in Java.
Doesn't sound too hard does it? :)
Dean Harris
At 09:45 PM 8/3/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Oh joy...we'll need to consider the options including getting GoLive
>CyberStudio Personal Edition for all our Visual Page copies to evaluate.
>
>Thanks for the message, John.
>Belinda
>
>
>On Mon, 3 Aug 1998, John B Harlan wrote:
>
>> >Closing the Book on Visual Page
>> >-------------------------------
>> > by Adam C. Engst <[log in to unmask]>
>> >
>> > Normally in TidBITS we try to be calm and well-reasoned, but every
>> > now and then, we hear about a move so stupid that it makes our
>> > stomachs hurt. That's happened recently at Symantec (motto: "If
>> > you can't beat the competition, buy them and kill their product")
>> > with their highly regarded HTML authoring tool Visual Page. We've
>> > written about Visual Page a number of times in TidBITS, and it's
>> > fared well in all our comparisons of basic HTML authoring tools.
>> >
>> ><http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbtxt=Symantec%20Visual%20Page>
>> >
>> > Visual Page was a perfect middle ground between a text-based HTML
>> > editor like BBEdit and the high-end as represented by GoLive
>> > CyberStudio, Macromedia Dreamweaver, or NetObjects Fusion. The
>> > fact is, most people would probably prefer not to learn the
>> > details of HTML, nor do most people need the burgeoning feature
>> > sets offered by high-end programs.
>> >
>> > Add to this the fact that Adobe seems to be ignoring the Mac with
>> > PageMill 3.0 (currently available only for Windows) and that Home
>> > Page has disappeared into the gaping maw of FileMaker, and you
>> > come up with a situation where Symantec was, as it has been said,
>> > faced with insurmountable opportunities.
>> >
>> > When faced with such a loss of competition, would you immediately
>> > decide to refrain from additional Macintosh development? I didn't
>> > think so. However, the official word, as relayed on Symantec's
>> > support newsgroup by Scott Morrison, Lead Technician for Internet
>> > Tools Technical Support, is "We have no plans for any future
>> > upgrades to this product." Of course, the Windows version of
>> > Visual Page 2.0 just shipped, where it will have to do battle with
>> > Microsoft FrontPage, which is bundled with everything short of
>> > breakfast cereal.
>> >
>> > Scott Morrison, by the way, does deserve a golden apple for his
>> > work in Symantec's newsgroups. He was unfailingly honest about the
>> > situation, managed to remain polite while replying to irate Visual
>> > Page fans, and even offered the professional courtesy of
>> > recommending that people check out GoLive CyberStudio, which now
>> > has a Personal Edition that Visual Page owners can pick up for
>> > free (see "GoLive CyberStudio Gets Personal" in TidBITS-433_).
>> >
>> ><http://www.golive.com/>
>> ><http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04922>
>> >
>> > Our colleague Neil Robertson, a professional Web designer at
>> > Phinney Bischoff Design House and a frequent speaker at Web design
>> > conferences, seconded the pointer to CyberStudio. "I was already
>> > seriously looking at GoLive Cyberstudio since Symantec was taking
>> > so long to upgrade Visual Page, so it now looks like Symantec has
>> > lost my business and any future recommendations I might have
>> > made."
>> >
>> ><http://www.pbdh.com/>
>> >
>> > When I asked Scott Morrison if there was anything Visual Page
>> > users could do, he encouraged people to leave messages in the
>> > Symantec technical support newsgroup, where he plans to collect
>> > them for presentation to upper management. So, if you're a Visual
>> > Page user, check out the Web interface to the Symantec newsgroups
>> > and offer your opinion. Make sure to include quantifiable numbers,
>> > such as the number of copies your organization owns, the number of
>> > copies you caused to be bought, and the number of Macs for which
>> > you're responsible. And if you're an individual user, your
>> > opinions count as well, perhaps even more so than before with
>> > Apple's renewed focus on the consumer market with the iMac.
>> >
>> ><http://service.symantec.com/cgi-bin/newsgroups.pl?count=50&sortby=
>> >BYSUBJECTA&group=symantec.support.devtools.mac.visualpage.announce&
>> >Submit=Browse>
>> >
>> > I think what tweaks me off the most about this entire situation is
>> > that all these programs originated on the Mac, starting with
>> > PageMill. They came from small start-ups inhaled by larger
>> > companies, who have either let the products languish or refocused
>> > their entire attention on the Windows world. Companies that have
>> > remained independent and focused on the Mac, such as GoLive
>> > Systems and Bare Bones Software, seem to be doing fine, so I don't
>> > believe the market has changed all that much.
>> >
>> ><http://www.barebones.com/>
>> >
>> > I think we're staring into the twisted visage of corporate greed
>> > here. Sure, the Mac market isn't as large as the Windows market,
>> > but as has been pointed out ad infinitum, Mac users buy more
>> > software and tend to be more brand loyal (even considering the
>> > Apple soap opera of 1997). Loyalty would seem to be a concept lost
>> > on companies like Symantec, Adobe, and FileMaker, and as long as
>> > they don't get it, I see no reason they deserve any loyalty from
>> > the user community.
>> >
>> >
>> >Cleve Callison <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>> >General Manager, WMUB Public Radio
>> >Williams Hall, Miami University, Oxford, OH
>> >513-529-5958, 513-529-6048 FAX
>> >http://www.muohio.edu/wmub/
>> >
>>
>> Miami University
>>
>> John B Harlan
>> Campus & Community Wide Information Systems (CWIS) Coordinator
>>
>> Client Services
>> Miami Computing & Information Services (MCIS)
>> 201 Gaskill Hall
>> Oxford, Ohio 45056-0000
>> (513) 529-5330 voice (513) 529-1434 fax
>> [log in to unmask]
>> http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~harlanjb/
>>
>
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