Fuji acquires RAMPAGE's support contracts

[Mike Bishop]

Wow, Rampage ending is tough. It was always a great, affordable product, with possibly the best tech and customer support I have ever had from a company.

My question to all of the Rampage users is now what?

What RIPs are available that are not -
also attached to shaky companies (Prinergy and Kodak)
seemingly geared more towards packaging (Esko)
made by hardware companies (Heidelberg, Trueflow, Fuji XMF)
or Harlequin derived systems

Is anyone switching away from Rampage now? What are you getting?
Has anyone switched away from Rampage in the past; and if so, what did you get and how was the transition, cost, support, etc.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Mike C

 

[seratne]

We've been looking to upgrade our workflow, and Rampage was one of the options on the table. But since it seems they are no longer actively developing, there's less and less options available.

There's StudioRIP. But that's based on the ghostscript renderer. And from the demo they offer on their site, doesn't seem to be able to handle the majority of modern PDFs I've thrown at it.

There's OneVision. Info on their site is extremely limited. And I'm not sure what renderer it's using, or what markets they target.

And then we have Xante. Their Symphony Workflow is based on the APPE. Has support for outputting 1 bit tiff. Seems like it could be a solution. But, after filling out the form on their site for more information, I was sent a PDF of their brochure from 2012 (which is available from their site). And I haven't heard anything back in two weeks after my follow up question of "if they've made updates to the workflow, or have any plans of integrating the latest version of the APPE". So unfortunately, at least from the outside, it does not look like they are actively maintaining their workflow.

Aside from Harlequin there doesn't seem to be much in the way of "Third-Party RIPs/Workflows".

My guess is most users of Rampage who upgrade will go with Fuji XMF. I'm sure Fuji will be offering good deals on the upgrade, as they probably want to phase out Rampage and the support costs of that over the coming years.

Other users will probably get a bundled workflow when they upgrade or replace their platesetters when the time comes.

Which is the camp I'm currently in. We have an Agfa platesetter that's about 10 years old, and the Apogee workflow where the last upgrade we purchased was at least 5 years ago. Both are running well enough for the time being. But when the time comes to replace the platesetter, we'll probably switch over to that vendors workflow.

 

[almaink]

I have Rampage version 12.1. It runs on Mavericks and rips everything I throw at it. I see no reason to upgrade to version 13 and will run 12.1 until it no longer functions.

 

[Mike Bishop]

Almaink, I thought I was told that Version 12 would not work with Mavericks. Has yours been running OK? How long have you been running it and on what hardware?

I am thinking about just running Rampage until it can't function any more, just as you are. Do you know if there are any advantages to Version 13?

Any info would be appreciated.

 

[macphenom]

Been running 12.2 with Mavericks on all my Macs with no issues.

 

[almaink]

I have 12.1 and it runs fine in Mavericks. I also see nothing in version 13 worth spending money on. The only thing I see that might benefit me is the improved bitmap trapping, but it's not worth the cost.

 

[Mike Bishop]

It is odd that V12.1 and 12.2 are working with Mavericks.

I got this today from Rampage - "As far as when Maverick support will be available for V12 I would expect it in a few weeks. It was released to Fuji officially today. They will determine how it will be delivered (i.e. mail, download, etc.)."

Either way, if it works now that is great; or if it will officially work with a free V12 point upgrade next week. That helps me a great deal. Now I also see no reason to upgrade to V13.. As long as V12 keeps RIPing the jobs I can save some money.

Now what about when Rampage DOES stop working. Has anyone recently done a switch to another workflow; and if so, how did it go?

 

[PDL]

Wow, Rampage ending is tough. It was always a great, affordable product, with possibly the best tech and customer support I have ever had from a company.

My question to all of the Rampage users is now what?
"seemingly geared more towards packaging (Esko)".

I think you'd be surprised by the features available in Esko's Automation Engine in regards to PDF page workflow. True that Esko is a leader in packaging prepress, but the commercial print side of their product line is just as dynamic. IMHO.

 

[mwc]

Went from 11 to 13 in December(2013).
We plan to ride on our Current Rampage system till the bitter end...hope to get another 3-5 years.
Darn shame that such a productive system would fade away......

 

[Bass hunter]

We've been looking to upgrade our workflow, and Rampage was one of the options on the table. But since it seems they are no longer actively developing, there's less and less options available.

We have an Agfa platesetter that's about 10 years old, and the Apogee workflow where the last upgrade we purchased was at least 5 years ago. Both are running well enough for the time being. But when the time comes to replace the platesetter, we'll probably switch over to that vendors workflow.

Why were you looking to go to Rampage rather than upgrading Apogee? Just curious, as I am a current Rampage user and Apogee is one of the Rips we were considering going to, once Rampage is phased-out. Are there issues with the Rip or reasons you haven't upgraded in 5 years? Any info is welcomed, as it would aid in my decision making process, Thanks!

 

[seratne]

We were looking to drop the Agfa Apogee workflow mainly because the cost to upgrade is the same cost as buying a new workflow from another vendor. Basically we could have switched to Rampage and had 10 years of full support including upgrading the servers every 2 years for the same cost as the one time upgrade from Agfa. Never-mind how much Agfa's service is.

Also there's the fact that Agfa's imposition and client for their workflow is moving to basically be a Windows only choice. So we would have needed to purchase a license of Windows and Parallels for every Mac.

TLDR: It's a great workflow, and works extremely well, without any issues. But the pricing and direction they're taking it is ridiculous.

 

[Bass hunter]

Hmmmm. The whole not supporting Mac Based clients issue is a bit concerning! To say the least. I'm really disappointed, about Rampage going away. It's been a Great Company and Great product for us.

 

[dean112263]

Worked for a Prepress house that was one of the first beta test sites for RAMPage. Overall a great system and platform.

Kind of sad to see it falling by the wayside.