RoboHelp 7: Name SNAFU Still Confusing Users
Adobe is never going to live down the naming convention issue with RoboHelp. Maybe after they pass the new/old RoboHelp 9… I think of the naming SNAFU like the Sierra Club thinks about a spotted owl. You know, the indicator species for an entire ecosystem.
If Adobe couldn’t get the name right, how much could they have cared for the entire ecosystem?
As for the reason that RoboHelp’s naming convention became a SNAFU, I’m just as much on the outside of that as the rest of you are. There has never been an official reason given by an Adobe employee.
So it comes down to Occam’s Razor between two theories. First, the Emperor’s new clothes weren’t worth someone losing their job over or second, the Product Manager didn’t see fit to ask.
From one poor soul on the HATT:
I was looking in Amazon.com for a book on RoboHelp 7. They listed a used copy of RoboHelp 7 for Dummies from the year 1999. Is this an error?
Rick Stone answered. I responded, not without a little tongue in cheek and a link to the RoboHelp Dead-again post. Please understand that I totally dig Rick Stone’s RoboHelp experience and his site is the best resource for RH users anywhere. He asked me to change the subject and talk about my time with eHelp…
I believe you used to be an official eHelp employee at one point didn’t you? Seems I recall you worked in the support center. Why was it you left?
Of course you can read that here on my About page… The rest of the conversation is on the HATT list…
Rick why not ask RJ Jacquez why he never brought up the name change; he’s been with eHelp, MACR, MadCap, and ADBE plus he is the RoboHelp Product Evangelist. If anyone should have been in the loop it should have been him.
Maybe he was working for MadCap at the time and wasn’t around. You know, before he went back to Adobe.
Posted by Charles in Corporate Authenticity, Software | 4 Comments »
April 30th, 2008 at 6:26 am
From the thread on HATT, the only person it really seems to be bothering is you.
April 30th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Bill, I’m not bothered by it. I’m documenting other people’s confusion.
In fact, I did respond to one of your posts, but it didn’t make it up there. Odd. Probably just a glitch somewhere.
My point is, it’s confusing. It shows an ignorance of the version of the tool. And it wasn’t the only issue with the new product.
But thanks for commenting!
April 30th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Only one person had any confusion at this time. When v6 was first released, there was some confusion, which was quickly addressed. In the meantime, I don’t remember seeing any posts about it. Most folks seemed to get over it pretty quickly. It happened, it’s done.
It could be dragged on into a long conversation, but I’m not sure what the goal would be…I doubt that Adobe is going to go back and rename v6 or v7. Or am I missing something?
May 1st, 2008 at 9:26 am
Hi Char, welcome to the site!
First, my goal is not to change anything that’s already occurred. I’m just documenting the problem and providing an opinion on it. My thoughts are clear in this post and my disappointment with Adobe product management was made clear previously.
My core question has always been of how dedicated Adobe is to RoboHelp and the market. I’m still investigating that, and feel free to comment in those posts as well.
I agree with you that only one person posted on the HATT. All that means that one HATT member or one person who found the HATT signed in and asked the question.
Reasonable deduction would say that this person is not alone, and they arean indicator of the market confusion that’s been in place.
This confusion will likely be in place for the next two RoboHelp releases until RH10. Unless of course people google and find my site with the answer of ‘why’ first.
Adobe never really answered that question, as silly as the question may be it’s still somewhat like the little boy pointing out that the Emperor has no clothes.
I welcome dissenting discussion.