should Apple buy Quark

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Quark is acting like an ass slowing OS X releases of their app. Now the CEO is blabbing how great .net is.



Why doesnt Apple buy them to get cooperation. Anyone know what Quark's market capitalization is?



[ 11-27-2002: Message edited by: Brad ]</p>
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 38
    Quark. Is. Evil.



    Use InDesign.
  • Reply 2 of 38
    I changed your title because it sounded more like an announcement than speculation.



    That said, I think this would be a bad idea. Apple would probably have to rewrite Quark's software from scratch to get it up to snuff and that would take ages. It's not worth the effort. Adobe's InDesign is here now and people are already jumping ship from Quark to Adobe.



    See this thread too:

    <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=001874"; target="_blank">Quark Prez: "Waiting on OS X Quark? Then switch to InDesign!" - naked mole Rat</a>
  • Reply 3 of 38
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    [quote]Originally posted by Brad:

    <strong>I Adobe's InDesign is here now and people are already jumping ship from Quark to Adobe.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Sorry, but do you have any proof? While I have issues with Quark, they still are so entrenched that I'm not sure InDesign is actually making a dent.

    Practically every design firm uses Xpress and don't need the required cost of re-training staff on InDesign.
  • Reply 4 of 38
    Did you click the link I posted? There are 5 examples of switchers right there.



    I'm not saying that *everyone* is abandoning Quark -- I mean that Quark's time as the king of the hill is over. Some people *are* gradually converting their files to use InDesign. I expect this trend to accelerate as time passes, especially when next years' new computers are introduced that won't be able to boot into OS9.



    Times change. Empires fall. Old technologies grow old and lose support. People will HAVE to adapt to newer things or else grow obsolete themselves.



    [ 11-27-2002: Message edited by: Brad ]</p>
  • Reply 5 of 38
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    Obviously, there are people switching to InDesign...but, just as there are people who instead choose Quark.



    All I'm saying is that the jury's still out on whether or not InDesign has what it takes to unseat Quark. How many versions of PageMaker were dubbed a Quark killer only to see users stick with Xpress?



    And it wouldn't surprise me to see many flocking back to Quark once it's OSX version is released.
  • Reply 6 of 38
    In case you or anyone else missed the NMR report:

    [quote]Publishing professionals who attended a Quark-convened ?executive summary? in New York last week are still abuzz over the performance of Quark CEO Fred Ebrahimi, a gentleman whose outbursts make Steve Jobs seem like Captain Kangaroo.



    The ostensible topic du jour: the pending integration of Quark Publishing System and Digital Media System within a framework of Microsoft?s .Net and SQL Server technologies. Notably absent from the roadmap: any support for Mac OS X Server.



    Indeed, these witnesses attest, audience questions about Mac OS X provoked an Ebrahimi tirade of Old Testament proportions: Quark?s Dear Leader told his squirming guests that ?the Macintosh platform is shrinking,? and that ?publishing is dying.? He suggested that anyone dissatisfied with Quark?s Mac commitment should ?switch to something else,? although he insisted that making the move to Adobe?s long-Carbonized InDesign package is ?committing suicide.?



    ?Everyone was stunned, and most folks left by noon,? one attendee reported. ?It was awful.? Although many of Quark?s hapless visitors were lured to the gathering by a promised demo of XPress for Mac OS X, Quark provided precious few details and no time line.<hr></blockquote>
  • Reply 7 of 38
    Apple should buy Macromedia and merge with Adobe....and work with sun to come out with a kick ass office suite....oh yeh and buy Waves and Native Instruments and Ableton software...amd a 3d app.... I Believe some of these will happen it is just a matter of when and if these companies would agree....
  • Reply 8 of 38
    quickquick Posts: 227member
    Because a lot of design companies rely heavily on the Quark Publishing System and also on some 3rd party extensions they can't switch to InDesign even if they would like to.
  • Reply 9 of 38
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    i use quark 4.11 or whatever and i love it...havn't uses indesign seriously, but i will test it out over this weekend, i know how to use quark though and it is very powerful contrary to what people believe.



    if indesign is intuitive enough for me to pick up then i will report back, otherwise i dont really care
  • Reply 10 of 38
    InDesign is definitely a better app than Quark -- the only question is whether enough printing industry players will support InDesign. It's a "chicken or egg" thing. People won't use InDesign if they don't think the people downstream from them will support it, but the service bureaus and printers won't support it if their designers or clients aren't working in it in the first place.
  • Reply 11 of 38
    Logan Cale is right and i'm surprised more people don't see it:



    Quark IS evil.



    the more reason print houses get to switch to InDesign the better.



    InDesign at Version 2.0 is a more intuitive tool than Quark has ever been.
  • Reply 12 of 38
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    Who needs Quark. It's probably a good thing that their incompetance has driven their user base to InDesign.



    Barto
  • Reply 13 of 38
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
  • Reply 14 of 38
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> Best reply yet, Defiant <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />



    Producer: yeah, and while they're at it, buy out AMD, some Motorola factories, Discreet (3D Studio MAX company), Palm (so they get BeOS sources), ... <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
  • Reply 15 of 38
    macluvmacluv Posts: 261member
    [quote]Originally posted by Brad:

    <strong>I'm not saying that *everyone* is abandoning Quark -- I mean that Quark's time as the king of the hill is over. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Hi Brad.



    Every major magazine produced in the United States, as well as other countries, is produced using Quark Xpress 4~. Every major publishing house that produce the millions of books you see line the shelves every year use Quark Xpress. Every major advertising agency uses Quark Xpress to produce mechanicals for magazine, trade, billboard advertising, etc.



    Do you think these businesses are going to switch to InDesign?
  • Reply 16 of 38
    macluvmacluv Posts: 261member
    [quote]Originally posted by sizzle chest:

    <strong> the only question is whether enough printing industry players will support InDesign.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Which software is used is irrelevant as offset printing goes digital. PDFs are the required format for digital plates.
  • Reply 17 of 38
    macluvmacluv Posts: 261member
    [quote]Originally posted by Brad:

    <strong>In case you or anyone else missed the NMR report: The ostensible topic du jour: the pending integration of Quark Publishing System and Digital Media System within a framework of Microsoft?s .Net and SQL Server technologies. Notably absent from the roadmap: any support for Mac OS X Server.

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    The future of information exchange is XML and .NET-type technologies. InDesign has extensive XML features already in place.



    Considering Apple's board of directors was just named among the 8 worst in America by BusinessWeek, it's no wonder that opportunities like these are falling through the cracks.



    I think too many die-hard Apple are blaming Quark in this scenerio but indeed Apple has a history of missing opportunity. Perhaps we should be pinning Apple's problems on those who are really creating them--starting with Steve Jobs himself.



    [ 11-28-2002: Message edited by: MacLuv ]</p>
  • Reply 18 of 38
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    even if quark comes out with quark 2-4 years from now i dont see that indesign could overthrow quark. quark is deeply, and i mean deeply in the blood of all publishing.



    think of it like this...



    if the PC market (95% +/- 2%)

    were as die hard and dedicated as mac users



    xpress has the following base of a god, and the dedication of a niche product



    i know people that are still computer from the time of the apple II to publish things, because they havn't needed to upgrade. That is an extreme case but most people use 4.x and are happy with it..why not be, it does everything you need it to, just an update to OS X with bring apple good forturn and Quark followers in 2-4yrs when they want to try and upgrade



    all in all, i dont think apple should buy quark...why? because i just don't
  • Reply 19 of 38
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    Sure empires can fall...just look at Netscape's marketshare today compared to the 80% they had.



    But I suspect the comments made by Quark's CEO is speaking about Quark Publishing System and not the stand alone Xpress version. Macs are beginning to lose presence at large newspaper and publishing institutions who are all going PC.

    However, small creative design shops and ad agencies gravitate towards Macs and are firmly entrenched with Quark.



    Designers aren't easily convinced to mess around with something that works. They just want to use software as a tool that does the job. And if Quark ain't broke, why switch.



    I will however commend Adobe with it's promo to include a free copy of InDesign with the purchase of a Mac. Afterall, it stands a greater chance when it's given away for free.
  • Reply 20 of 38
    quickquick Posts: 227member
    [quote]Originally posted by satchmo:

    <strong>

    Designers aren't easily convinced to mess around with something that works. They just want to use software as a tool that does the job. And if Quark ain't broke, why switch.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I'm using XPress for 12 years now. I'didn't upgrade since v3.1 because it works fine for me. There's nothing in newer versions which would convince me to upgrade.

    It even works flawlessly with OS X in Classic (in 68k emulation <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> ).



    [quote]<strong>

    I will however commend Adobe with it's promo to include a free copy of InDesign with the purchase of a Mac. Afterall, it stands a greater chance when it's given away for free.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Hey Adobe, give free copies of InDesign 2.0 to everyone (not only with new PowerMacs) and then, if we like it, we can buy the next upgrade.
Sign In or Register to comment.