Extensis requires Suitcase X1 update for QuarkXpress 6.0 font auto-activation

Extensis has been sending out letters to customers asking them to upgrade to Suitcase X1 featuring, among other enhancements, auto activation for QuarkXpress 6.0. MacFixIt reader Ernest Burden writes "I couldn't really see any other feature of this new version of Suitcase that I would be interested in so I went to the Extensis web site to download the Quark Xpress 6.0 auto activation extension for Suitcase 10.2, the version I own. I was amazed but not shocked to find that the only way to get auto activation in QuarkXpress 6.0 was to buy the Suitcase X1 upgrade for US49.95."

Auto-activation is a feature that uses Apple?s FontSync technology to automatically enable fonts for different applications without navigating folders or re-launching. Extensis' documentation reads:

"FontSync is a unique way to identify one font from another. Just like a fingerprint uniquely identifies one individual from another, FontSync uses all of the unique characteristics of a font and creates a profile. This profile is then stored in each document and used whenever the document is opened. Since the data is in the document, if the document is sent to another user, the data goes along with it. This means that if any other user with Suitcase opens the document, the fonts that are required by the document will be automatically activated or opened. No more missing fonts messages."

Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) will include relatively advanced font management capabilities.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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