Quark delays native Intel Mac support

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
First on AI: Macintosh users eager to run an official release of QuarkXPress 7 natively on their new Intel Macs will be disappointed to learn that Quark has rolled back the Universal Binary release of the software by several months.



As expected, Quark on Tuesday began shipping the major upgrade to its market-leading design and publishing software world-wide. But contrary to comments made by the company at Macworld Expo in January and in previous marketing materials, the Macintosh version of the software is not a Universal Binary capable of running natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs.



Instead, the system requirements for QuarkXPress 7 state that the software will operate under Apple's Rosetta PowerPC emulation environment when run on Intel Macs.



The decision not to ship QuarkXPress 7 as a Universal Binary appears to have been made last minute. A close inspection of the QuarkXPress 7 retail boxes reveals that both "Mac" and "Universal" logos are printed on all copies. However, the "Universal" logos have been covered with a "Mac" logo sticker.



In continuing its development of a QuarkXPress 7 Universal Binary, Quark has renamed the Quark XPress 7 beta program to "Quark XPress 7 Universal Binary Beta."



According to a source familiar with Quark's product plans, a patch that will be released in August will update the shipping versions of QuarkXPress 7 to a Universal Binary.



Representatives for Quark were not immediately available for comment.



The QuarkXPress 7 upgrade combines new and enhanced design features with multi-channel publishing, collaboration, and job-driven workflow capabilities to simplify and speed up the creative development process for print and Web publishing.



Through Composition Zones, Job Jackets, transparency, OpenType, Unicode, and many other new features, the software also improves the ability for creative professionals to work together, optimize design, and minimize production errors.



QuarkXPress 7 will retail for about $750 with upgrades costing about $250. Official pricing has not yet been released.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by AppleInsider

    Macintosh users eager to run an official release of QuarkXPress 7 natively on their new Intel Macs will be disappointed to learn that Quark has rolled back the Universal Binary release of the software by several months.



    ...




    Actually, does anybody has first hand experiences concerning

    Rosetta and QXPess 7? Maybe i'll come back.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    robin hoodrobin hood Posts: 513member
    The race is on: Quark versus Adobe.



    Who can release a Universal Binary first? Amazingly, Quark is winning so far: they already have a public beta of Quark 7 as a universal binary available, which I've done some testing with and, surprisingly, it seems to work well.



    But perhaps Adobe can catch up, especially now that Quark stumbled?



    I, for one, am excited!
  • Reply 3 of 11
    eckingecking Posts: 1,588member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Robin Hood

    The race is on: Quark versus Adobe.



    Who can release a Universal Binary first? Amazingly, Quark is winning so far: they already have a public beta of Quark 7 as a universal binary available, which I've done some testing with and, surprisingly, it seems to work well.



    But perhaps Adobe can catch up, especially now that Quark stumbled?



    I, for one, am excited!




    Quark in this case, Adobe can't drop by august it's just not in the cards.
  • Reply 4 of 11
    charlesscharless Posts: 301member
    Quote:

    Quark delays native Intel Mac support



    Well there's a big surprise right there...
  • Reply 5 of 11
    wilcowilco Posts: 985member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Robin Hood

    Who can release a Universal Binary first? Amazingly, Quark is winning so far:



    How is it amazing? Quark has one product to put out, while Adobe has an entire suite.
  • Reply 6 of 11
    Quote:

    Originally posted by wilco

    How is it amazing? Quark has one product to put out, while Adobe has an entire suite.



    It's amazing because Quark are generally pretty slow when it comes to anything. They only just realised that people hate them and are moving to Adobe.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    August, eh?



    Quark generally knows more about what's happening inside Apple than most companies. They're still very important in publishing even if they do deserve to have their automatic external defribulators hooked up to their license management system.



    So, I'm betting they decided to wait to ship a 64-bit version for the new MacPro's with the universal binary. The timing's just too good.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    clonenodeclonenode Posts: 392member
    Well, this is just another reason to NOT to upgrade from 6.5. And I'm a G5 user, so the Universal Binary doesn't matter - but still, I will wait for the inevitable version 7.1 - UB or not.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    A further problem with adopting or returning to Quark, for European users, is the pricing. Conversions from British Pounds and Euro to US Dollars were done on xe.com.



    US Apple Store:

    QuarkXpress 7 - $749.95

    Passport Edition - $1499.95



    UK Apple Store:

    QuarkXpress 7 - £879.01 (≈$1657.71)

    Passport Edition - £1049.00 (≈$1977.96)



    Ireland Apple Store:

    QuarkXpress 7 - ?1299.00 (≈$1683.97)

    Passport Edition - ?1549.01 (≈$2008.08)



    So, for the basic version of QuarkXpress 7 the UK customer pays an extra $907.76, a mark-up of 121% on the US price. The Euro customer pays an extra $934.02, a mark-up of 124% on the US price.



    If my figures are correct, and I think they are, then it would be cheaper for me to get a flight from Europe to the US, buy a copy of QuarkXpress 7 there, and then fly home to Europe than it would be to buy the thing in Europe in the first place.



    Can anyone explain this? Is the product offered to UK/Eurozone customers sufficiently different from the US version to justify this price difference? Are Quark buying an individual airline seat for each and every copy they ship to Europe?



    See also:

    http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index...e=1&pagePos=16
  • Reply 10 of 11
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Part of it is the inclusion of VAT (US prices exclude this), part of it is EU customs. The rest of pure arrogance on the company's part.



    Sadly, this isn't unusual. Adobe prices, for instance, frequently suffer the same problem.
  • Reply 11 of 11
    More on this pricing issue from MacWorld:



    http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index...e&NewsID=14848



    It sounds as if Quark are just ramping up the price to the maximum point where they think they can get away with it. And you're right - Adobe seem to do something similar. (I think you're right about the arrogance, too.)
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