Swedish newspapers are investigating the possibility of installing layout software from Adobe Inc instead of upgrading to the latest Quark Inc Xpress-version (4.0) because of outrageous prices, a member of a joint newspaper software evaluation group said today. The group, named Dagsvara, consists of members from a majority of Swedish dailies. Spokeswoman Pia Andersson, of Norrkopings Tidningar, Norrkoping, said she talks almost daily to colleagues on several other large newspapers, adding they are reluctant to upgrade because of the high-priced user licenses and also that the new version contains functions that they don’t need. Quark Scandinavia’s Connie Steen countered in a Computer Sweden interview that Xpress 4.0, shipping since late last year, contains so much added functionality that the higher price is justified. And sales have been satisfactory, she said. Olle Rensberg from Quark’s main distributor Software Plus of Stockholm also says that interest is high in the latest Xpress version and that we have sold more than usual of the new version. According to Pia Andersson, buyers are mostly advertising bureaus and newspaper ad departments. Meanwhile, Adobe Sweden’s chief executive Sven Torpare declined to talk of a rumored Xpress- killer application said to be in the works. Adobe now makes Page- Maker, Illustrator and PhotoShop. While Adobe Illustrator and Adobe PhotoShop are widely used editorially, PageMaker is not considered to be a match for Quark Xpress, now dominating the market. Over-the-counter price for a single-user Xpress license is about $2,250. The upgrades are priced at $750. The newspapers want larger discounts than they have been offered so far, especially since essentially the same software goes for around $800 in the US.
