OS X is rapidly gaining ground, and Apple is cracking the whip by
more or less eliminating OS 9 booting in their latest machines.
Software developers are hopping on the OS X party wagon and
releasing software for OS X like there's no tomorrow.
So where's Quark in this? It's not news that Quark is a laggard
when it comes to software development. Quark's XPress is likely the
only piece of productivity software that goes for years between
significant updates. In previous years, this lack of speed only hurt
Quark users. Now, however, the game has changed and Quark's tardiness
may be affecting Apple's sales. The common thread goes like this:
"Quark has a stranglehold on the publishing industry. The publishing
industry is holding off on hardware upgrades until Quark releases an
OS X version of the software."
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Apple gets the short end of the stick in this scenario. They are
being deprived of sales while users wait as a truly essential piece
of software takes its sweet time getting to OS X.
Is Apple really at a disadvantage here, though? I'm beginning to
suspect that there may be a silver lining in the dark Quark
cloud.
Quark has been a perennial slacker in the software world. A
company that doesn't give a fig for its users because it honestly
believes it has a product that no one will desert for love or
money.
While that may have been true before Adobe started taking desktop
publishing seriously again (PageMaker owned the market before
XPress), it's a whole new ball game with InDesign on the scene.
Reports indicate that InDesign is making serious inroads into Quark's
domain. I'm assuming that the majority of these gains are not because
of the inherent superiority of InDesign but because of Quark's
tardiness in producing an updated product.
Where's the silver lining? Simple. Apple has been hurt by Quark's
slothful attitude to product updates. Quark is a bit of a millstone
around Apple's neck. Without Quark holding things up, Apple could
likely get more people to upgrade their hardware at a more consistent
pace. Quark's foot-dragging damages Quark more than any other company
and slowly erodes Quark's market share. This is good news for Apple,
because it will mean that more users are switching to Adobe, a
company that is firmly in OS X's corner.
I'm not interested in seeing Quark disappear completely.
Competition is a good thing. I do think, though, that a smaller,
humbler Quark can only be good for Apple. Fewer of their eggs will be
in the Quark basket, and this will allow them to pursue a development
timetable with developers that are willing to work with them instead
of against them.
Stephen Van
Esch is the founder and president of
the
E-learning Foundry, an online training
resource for Mac users. Steve loves the Mac and is doubly bilingual,
since he's also fluent in Windows and French.
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