January 31, 2002 - According to Gartner analysts, David Smith and Charles Abrams, the new QuarkXPress 5.0 page layout and design program has important new features but does not yet support Mac OS X -- even though most customers use Macs. Their first take of the new release indicates with “Quark and Adobe releasing major upgrades in the same week, competition in the page-layout market is starting to heat up. Quark's market-leading QuarkXpress forms the lifeblood of many publishing industries, prepress bureaus and commercial printers around the world. Other software makers — particularly Adobe with its InDesign package — have tried to move in on Quark's territory but with limited success. “The important new features in QuarkXpress include: * Table-building tools, wanted by QuarkXPress users for years * The ability to create layers * Web features such as XML export, which will allow for publishing via multiple media “However, QuarkXPress 5.0 doesn't support Mac OS X, Apple's latest operating system. It's a serious if short-term problem for Quark, which says it did not receive the final Mac OS X software development kit until after it completed the engineering for QuarkXPress 5.0. Quark apparently concentrated on the code bases for Mac OS 8 and 9, and Windows 95, 98 and NT. Gartner estimates that about 70 percent of Quark's installed base uses Macintoshes, and Macs dominate the publishing world. Although the Windows and Mac versions for page design and layout have no significant differences, those who use Windows versions may have difficulties producing color-corrected separations in-house without the use of outside prepress houses and service bureaus. “Graphics professionals running Mac OS X should wait for Quark to deliver its OS X-ready version even though QuarkXPress 5.0 will run in the so-called "classic environment" of OS X. However, enterprises with a considerable investment in Quark licenses should carry out a full evaluation before upgrading, especially if the timing coincides with any planned upgrading of hardware or changing of platforms from Mac to Windows.” Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 11,000 clients understand technology and drive business growth. Gartner's divisions consist of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting, Gartner Measurement and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and consists of 4,300 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in more than 90 locations worldwide. The company achieved fiscal 2001 revenue of $952 million.