This message is intended to point customers to the formal communication regarding PTC's end-of-product support for Arbortext(r) Publishing Engine(tm) on Solaris(r) and Linux(r) Operating Systems beginning with Arbortext Publishing Engine 6.0.
This also affects Arbortext Editor and therefore Print Composer as well.
The announcement states the decision is based on a review of product downloads and support calls. It seems to me that a more reliable indication would be obtained by looking at the number of active licenses for these products. Many customers do not update these products on a frequent basis for valid reasons (we are still on 5.2 M130), but they do renew their maintenance agreements year after year. There is no need to frequently download new versions, and the lack of support calls could be interpreted as an indicator of the stability of the products in use. (If I were of a cynical nature, I could say this decision to force customers off Solaris and Linux will likely increase PTC's Services revenue significantly.)
There are many good reasons for using Solaris and Linux environments to publish large and complex documents, foremost being the stability of these OSs.
PTC needs to re-think this plan and consult more effectively with their Arbortext customers before moving forward with this.
David S. Taylor
Project Manager, Structured Information Institute for Research in Construction National Research Council Canada Bldg. M-23A, Room 239 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6
