Since our Kouroo project now has an effective workaround for the fact that the hypertext linkage between FM8 and PDF files has not yet been implemented (by way of first saving a FM8 file as a FM7 MIF file before distilling a PDF), the initial panic has subsided. It turns out that it's not a big deal and our project can wait patiently for Adobe to fix this.
I've noticed something else, however. I've always been in the habit of using the locking/unlocking feature of FM, using the keystrokes "Ctrl F l k" to transit the files back and forth between a locked "use condition" to an unlocked "edit condition." However, in FM8, if you do a "Ctrl s" save before you do the "Ctrl F l k Ctrl w" to lock and close a file, your "Ctrl F l k" is wasted effort as the file simply doesn't stay locked. (If you can remember *not* to do a "Ctrl s" before doing your "Ctrl F l k Ctrl w," then locking still works in FM8.) So, is this a bug, or a feature, of FM8? In the old days, there was a free thingie called "Frame Reader" or something like that, that your users could use to access your work product. It was a full version of FM free for download, but it was save-disabled. Later on, when you printed from this, it came to be that each printed page would bear a gray diagonal "trial copy" marker. This reader product became harder and harder to find on the Adobe website, and eventually disappeared. More recently, when a user downloads and installs a save-disabled trial version of FM, this trial version is good for only a month. Meanwhile, Adobe has been developing Acrobat and replacing Frame Reader as a way to deliver our content to our customer -- and has gradually been removing more and more of the limitations of Acrobat. Back in the days of this "Frame Reader," there was a purpose to the locking/unlocking feature of FM. Now, however, with this bug (or feature) in FM8, I'm not even bothering to lock and unlock the files anymore! I'm simply telling my users, "For hypertext in an Acrobat document, you can just click on a button, but for hypertext in a FrameMaker document, you'll need to remember to hold down the control key while you click on it." Can anyone think of a reason why we need to file a bug report on this? Can we now just let go of the lock/unlock thingie -- consider it as a piece of our evolutionary history?
