Today I got a mailer (snail) from Quark with a $299 offer to upgrade Quark Xpress from version 4 to 5 ($399 to go from 3 to 5). And the buyer would then automatically qualify for a free upgrade to version 6. As you may not know, version 5 only runs on Mac OS 9. And while I won't rant about Quark's customer service history with me and my old agency, but to be blunt, it sucked. And my experience was not isolated.
I had to laugh when I got the mailer. I don't do much page layout myself, but if I do need to bang something out I'll use Adobe InDesign. It's native in OS X and it's simple, sleek and powerful.
The Quark mailer comes right on the heels of Quark's press announcement earlier this month that is actually had an OS X version of Quark in development. But with my experience on Quark and its update history I think waiting for Version 6 will make my waiting game for this PowerBook be a walk in the park. I have no hope or patience for anything Quark does. The press announcement was just a well choreographed effort to convince the league of users still hell bent on Quark but living in the past versions of 3.32 or 4.11 or something like that.
Check out John Grubel's excellent interpretation (rather, his translation) of Quark's press announcement. I don't think I've seen a better tongue in cheek stab at Quark's poor policies and its attitude toward customers in a long time. And Dean Allen chimes in with more about InDesign and why Quark still can pull off it's flippant attitude without customers running for the nearest exit.
For me. I'll use InDesign. Unfortunately my art directors and production team are afraid to loosen their grip on Quark.
