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andi*pandi · Jun 19, 2003, 05:02 PM

I've been volunteered to be on the font testing group for my department's jump to OSX, which could take place as soon as 3 years from now. Kidding.

Anyhow, I've seen some of what you post... seems like there's not much out there. Suitcase, Font reserve, and no one likes either.

Anybody use the font server option for either program? I think that's what my company is going for. :/ yeah, it should suck.

Any advice or moral support as I get tossed into the supreme hell of product testing?

::maroma:: · Jun 19, 2003, 05:38 PM

Well, if it's any consulation, I work for a VERY large company with a very large in house design team. We're just now in the process of switching everyone over to OS X. And we went from using ATM Deluxe in OS 9 to using Suitcase in OS X.

I'm still waiting for my OS X upgrade, but others who already have it say that it's fine. We haven't had much time to evaluate. But maybe the fact that they chose Suitcase over the other options will offer some comfort.

Of course, I really have little faith in our IT department. I usually find that they make some odd decisions here and there, and are usually behind the curve on keeping us up to date on things.

Good luck!

zubro · Jun 20, 2003, 04:08 AM

I have suitcase here on X...

works fine...

art_director · Jun 20, 2003, 08:51 AM

Originally posted by andi*pandi:
I've been volunteered to be on the font testing group for my department's jump to OSX, which could take place as soon as 3 years from now. Kidding.

Anyhow, I've seen some of what you post... seems like there's not much out there. Suitcase, Font reserve, and no one likes either.

Anybody use the font server option for either program? I think that's what my company is going for. :/ yeah, it should suck.

Any advice or moral support as I get tossed into the supreme hell of product testing?

i've been using suitcase. while it's not perfect i've come to like it. there are some quirks but it's good in my book. of course, i'm a freelancer so it's just me. no server version.

chris.p · Jun 20, 2003, 06:40 PM

I have used both for about 6 months each- first Font Reserve, as initially when I demo'ed both, it struck me as the better of the two, but got sick of its speed (lack of)- its incredibly slow... scroll....beachball....click font....beach ball...for ages...font activated.
So I demo'ed Suitcase again and haven't fount a compelling reason to try Font Agent Pro- yet. So another vote for Suitcase- its no ATM, its far more picky with its fonts (duplicates and Damaged ones- ATM would just work) and when I first used Suitcase, I had to update a few Quark documents- re-associate the fonts with the document- suitcase wouldn't auto activate it, but the next time I opened the document it was fine. You cant search for fonts either- in Font Reserve you can. And neither work with Macromedia products- at least not auto-activation, or activation on the fly- but neither did ATM, but still.. it would be nice

And yes I am bitter about no ATM on OS X!

art_director · Jun 20, 2003, 07:11 PM

chris: we're all bitter about no atm on os x.

ultra-V · Jun 23, 2003, 02:44 PM

Apple seems to be taking things into their own hands now. If you can wait until Panther ships "by the end of the year." No mention of server options, though. There's a preview on Apple's site.

andi*pandi · Jun 23, 2003, 03:06 PM

that would be cool, except they're all keen on the server thing.

sigh.

now we know why Adobe didn't develop ATM, they knew this was coming.

Or did Apple realize Adobe wouldn't develop ATM, and made this to fill the gap?

Sounds like another Microsoft Explorer/Safari = chicken/egg scenario!

MikeM33 · 09:26 PM

I just watched the WWDC keynote, awesome show!!!

I think the "Font Book" application sounds excellent, assuming it works right. I mean, for one thing, it's already part of the OS. Because of that, you wouldn't even need a "server-wide" solution. You wouldn't have to pay for extra licenses to manage common fonts stored on a server. I'd imagine you'd just access the fonts from your server through this application, which is 100% free through the OS. I just wonder if this will mean bad news for the 3rd party font management tool manufacturers.

andi*pandi, to be honest it sounds like a better solution than paying for multiple licenses for software. Think about it, you'd have a free application, already built into the OS that you could do the same exact things with that ATM or Suitcase could do.

In other words, you wouldn't even need a server based application since it's already built into the Operating System and it's 100% free.

I'm all for it.

MikeM

DeathMan · Jun 24, 2003, 02:03 PM

Its the same thing thats happened everytime 3rd party has failed to provide a quality product. Apple takes matters into its own hands.

Chimera was looking good, but took too long, and had no real backing, so we got Safari (needless to say IE was dead long ago),

Premeire sucked BIG TIME, so Apple made/bought/whatever FCP.

When there is not a good solution for a given problem, Apple needs to step up and fill in the gap, in order to retain customers, and get switchers.

Apple isn't going in against developers who are doing a good job. They go in where there is a need, or they buy a software package here and there when they think they can make the experience better. Maybe the Sherlock/Watson thing could be an exception to this, but it is just that, an exception.

MikeM33 · Jun 24, 2003, 07:39 PM

Good points DeathMan, and if the new Font Book app. doesn't work as expected, there's still 3rd party stuff out there. If they're not server based, then someone will step-up to the plate eventually.

I always thought suitcase made a Suitcase server solution. I learned on Suitcase myself. The only job I ever used ATM Deluxe at was my last one. That was just what they used. Not a vast difference between it and Suitcase really.

I'm definitely glad Apple decided to do this Font Book thing. It shows they haven't forgotten who's buttering thier bread (the design field).

MikeM

chris.p · Jun 26, 2003, 05:18 AM

I just asked a question in the osx forum about Fontbook in Panther- it seems its no Suitcase replacement- heres the q+a:

----
question...

Using fontbook, does it auto- activate fonts if you have a document that has a font that you dont have activated? or activation on the fly- if you activate a font, will it show in open apps without restarting them? or can you even activate fonts individually, or 'collections' only? thanks for doing this!

answer...

Auto-activation: No
If you activate fonts you have to re-open the document, not re-launch the app.
Activate fonts individually: Big yes!

----

art director- its nice to know I'm not the only one!

c

designbc · Jun 26, 2003, 07:20 AM

I use and LOVE FontAgent Pro. It lets me work with fonts individually, not suitcases (which I love since with OS X we lost the ability to manipulate suitcases) and has the autoactivate option. Before using it, I tried everything else, but nothing worked for me.

Corys · Jun 26, 2003, 01:05 PM

I have to chime in again for Font Agent Pro.

Used Suitcase and Font Reserve, neither fit the bill.

Once Font Agent got some major wrinkles taken care of, it's turned out to be a pretty solid app for me.

dadder · Jun 27, 2003, 09:24 PM

Made the move from ATM on 9 > Suitcase 10 on X and Suitcase has filled the void nicely. It's an easy program for designers to pick up as they come aboard. One less app to have to think about. However, nobody has commented on the fact that the nicety of having a server based font management app, is that you only have to manage one group of fonts rather than multiple folders of fonts on everyone's computer. Would be nice if we will be able to run Font Book from Panther on our XServe. As of this moment, good server apps of font programs are too expensive for our budget.

MikeM33 · 06:49 AM

That sucks about Fontbook not being "all that". They sure made it seem like a replacement in the keynote. I guess I'd go with Suitcase 10. It's very similar to ATM IMHO. I went from using Suitcase at my first 2 graphics jobs to using ATM at my last job and it didn't require any learning curve at all.

There is a suitcase server, but damn, is it expensive

Gonna be really bad if you've got alot of machines needing access to it. The biggest departments I've ever worked in only had maybe 6 Mac worsktations for real graphics work. Other macs in those departments served as servers or RIPP stations. It looks like it'll run on both windows and macs, which is good if your server is a wintel box.

http://www.extensis.com/suitcaseserver/

It sucks that they didn't update ATM because everyone making the move to OSX has to pay full price for another alternative and start all over again.

MikeM