SAN DIEGO, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Only 8 months after the introduction of its flagship product, Flare 1.0, MadCap Software today announced the release of Flare 2.0. Several new features in the latest release of Flare continue the strong momentum created by Flare 1.0. The result is the first true single-sourcing tool with the ability to import and export both Microsoft Word and Adobe FrameMaker formats.

The initial release of Flare in February, 2006 provided documentation professionals with a new XML-based authoring tool and an alternative to RoboHelp, which has not seen a new major release in nearly 3 years.

"With Flare 1.0, we were happy we could meet the needs of the Help authoring community," said Anthony Olivier, MadCap Software CEO and former CEO of eHelp Corporation. "There were a lot of authors out there who were concerned about the void left by RoboHelp when eHelp was acquired by Macromedia, and then even more so when Adobe acquired Macromedia. We have now taken the successes of Flare a step further, and with the arrival of Flare 2.0, we have the most powerful, innovative Help authoring tool ever developed".

Highlighted in Flare 2.0 is the support for Adobe FrameMaker users. In Flare 1.0, authors were able to import and export Microsoft Word documents. In Flare 2.0, they can do the same with FrameMaker.

Bjorn Backlund, CTO of MadCap Software, remarked, "FrameMaker authors can easily and quickly bring their FrameMaker documents into a Flare project, and all of their formatting and other settings are transferred seamlessly. They can even continue to author in FrameMaker if they want. It's completely flexible. When users want to create output, they can export back out to FrameMaker documents or to any of our online formats, or any combination that they want."

Another major improvement in Flare 2.0 is multi-language support. Documentation professionals can author content in several languages, including English, European languages (including Eastern European languages), and even double-byte languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean. New WebHelp skins also allow users to create Help system interfaces in the language of their choice.

In addition to FrameMaker and language support, several other new features and enhancements such as auto-numbering, MadCap Capture integration, MadCap Mimic integration, drag-and-drop, and much more round out the latest release of MadCap Flare.

Olivier added, "The bottom line is that we were the driving force in leading the community for over a decade with RoboHelp. We believe that RoboHelp has reached the end of its life-cycle, and we knew it was time to provide the customers with a new 'future-proof' product. We listen to our customers, quickly respond to their needs and we deliver."

In addition to the upcoming product releases of Capture and Mimic, MadCap team members are busy creating MadCap Blaze, an XML-based alternative to Adobe FrameMaker. Blaze is specifically designed for producing lengthy documents for print using the latest technological advances available. It is all part of MadCap Software's vision of a "dream suite" of Help and documentation products for its customers.

About MadCap Software

MadCap Software is just a new name for a group of familiar faces that have been leading the technical writing community for over a decade. MadCap is home to some of the most experienced software architects and product experts in the industry, including many former core members of eHelp(R) Corporation, creators of RoboHelp(R). With its flagship product, MadCap Flare, MadCap Software is leading the technical communications industry into the future. Learn more about MadCap Software and Flare at http://www.madcapsoftware.com/.

MadCap Software, the MadCap Software logo and Flare are trademarks or registered trademarks of MadCap Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. Other marks are the properties of their respective owners.

For more information, please contact:

Mike Hamilton of MadCap Software, Inc., +1-858-320-0387, mhamilton@madcapsoftware.com

CONTACT: Mike Hamilton of MadCap Software, Inc., +1-858-320-0387,
mhamilton@madcapsoftware.com

Web site: http://www.madcapsoftware.com/