MadCap DITA Teaser Email

[Paul Griffiths]

Have you received it yet? Interesting! Speculation?

[helen]

Isn't it just. Flare 4.1 perhaps, or just Blaze?

[Paul Griffiths]

My guess, FWIW, is that it'll be a separate application within the MadPak suite. But maybe integrated with Flare/Blaze in some way?

[NorthEast]

Yep, if it has its own logo and marketing, I'd guess it's a Flare add-on that you buy extra.

[helen]

Pft, I hope not.

[Paul Griffiths]

Even the "Flare add-on" bit might turn out to be wishful thinking. For MadCap DITA 1.0, I'd anticipate a DITA editor based on the Flare/Blaze base code. (Of course, I'd love to be proved wrong.)

[RamonS]

What's all this DITA and October 29th talk about? Did I miss something?

[Paul Griffiths]

There's an enigmatic email from MadCap that seems to have hit Europe before the rest of the world. You'll probably get it soon. It consists of a new MadCap DITA logo and the date 10-29-08. And that's all ...

[NorthEast]

What's all this DITA and October 29th talk about? Did I miss something?

An email, just with this in it:
http://www.madcapsoftware.com/email/200 ... aemail.jpg

[RamonS]

Ah, I eventually made it to the rest of the world (means my inbox). And it was sent to Europe? So when the numbers are supposed to be a date it is noted wrong. Same for sending it to Canada. That date notation may be understood in the US, but it is confusing for the rest of the world. Nice logo though....just waiting for the one that references ODF.

[lacastle]

Oct 29 is the first day of the DocTrain East conference. Maybe it coincides with that.

http://www.doctrain.com/east/

[NorthEast]

Ah, I eventually made it to the rest of the world (means my inbox). And it was sent to Europe? So when the numbers are supposed to be a date it is noted wrong. Same for sending it to Canada. That date notation may be understood in the US, but it is confusing for the rest of the world. Nice logo though....just waiting for the one that references ODF.

Me too, this time I was smart enough to work out there aren't 29 months though.

[RamonS]

Yea, but I am still not sure if the year is now "10" or "08". Following ISO standard it would be 10 and formatted wrong.

[LTinker68]

That's weird, I had no problem interpreting the date at all.

Maybe next time they'll spell out the date (Oct. 29, 2008) so Europeans and you transplanted Europeans won't be confused, even if the spelled out date is still backwards from what you're used to. Although the spelled out date isn't as dramatic as 10-29-08.

BTW, David, you've heard the expression "when in Rome". Well, you're in Rome (so to speak), so get used to how we write dates in the U.S.

[RamonS]

The correct way to write it is 2008-10-29 and as far as I know it is commonly used in Canada. I don't think the US or Rome are a good measure here, the folks here still use the English system that even the English ditched years ago because it is confusing, impractical, and a hindrance in the global economy. I recommend to get used to how the rest of the world does it.

[NorthEast]

By "When in Rome", do you mean drive like a maniac and whistle at girls?

[pcalnan]

Well if we're bringing the Romans into it, how about...

MMVIII-X-XXIX?



Now as for Darwin Information Typing Architecture, I have to admit my own ignorance in that I didn't know what it was. When I googled it, I got completely distracted as the first thing that came up was photos of Dita Von Teese in risquée lingerie which derailed my train of thought for a while...

,,,but getting back to the real DITA... anyone care to fill me in it's significance?

[RamonS]

It is yet another way to exchange topic-oriented documentation using a standardized, XML based format. For more information see here:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-dita3/

[NorthEast]

Perhaps MadCap have booked Dita Von Teese to provide entertainment at the DocTrain East conference.

[forfear]

Perhaps MadCap have booked Dita Von Teese to provide entertainment at the DocTrain East conference.

ooh a lil excitement...lovely.

[forfear]

IMHO, if madcap pulls this off it won't be unusual ...

it might be like ehelp in the early 90s trying to push the early HTML specifications for help systems authoring.

DITA has been hotly talked about on and off this forums purely out of curiosity....but i guess if they do start the ball rolling (as being a commercially viable feature in COTS product) and not something for heavy duty CMS publishing warehouse systems, a lot of people and other companies are paying close attention definitely.... way to go...

[pcalnan]

Perhaps MadCap have booked Dita Von Teese to provide entertainment at the DocTrain East conference.

OK, if I wasn't distracted before...

...

...what?

[forfear]

This is a firebrand of a post

[LTinker68]

DITA has been hotly talked about on and off this forums purely out of curiosity....

I didn't go to WinWriters last year, but the year before that they had half a dozen sessions that were DITA-related. I think I went to one that mentioned DITA, but as I didn't know what it was I kind of zoned out at that time. But it seemed to be a fairly popular topic at WinWriters.

[Andrew]

It was also a fairly major topic at the 2008 STC Summit.

DITA is "merely" another way to handle a lot of the things that Flare already does (with some additional capabilities above and beyond); it's an XML schema that describes structured, topic-based documents designed specifically for single-sourcing/content reuse. So DITA is

- an existing, well-thought-out standard structured authoring format which is well-suited to single-sourcing and content reuse; and
- it enjoys fairly broad industry support, so you can find a lot of tools and help for implementing and using it.

In addition, there are many professionals who are competant in its use.