'Tis the season for software companies to gobble up each other like Santa plowing through a plate of Christmas cookies. Last week it was Adobe and Macromedia; this week, it's Quark and A Lowly Apprentice Productions (alap).

The press release announcing Quark's acquisition of alap's business and assets is heavy on official excitement from both companies, but light on details. To get more information, I spoke with Glen Turpin, Quark's director of corporate communications.

He believes that QuarkXPress customers will benefit from the alap acquisition. alap has released many successful XTensions since it began in 1990, and it stands to reason that Quark would welcome the expertise of alap's engineers as QuarkXPress 7 is fine-tuned; in fact, Turpin said it would be a "huge step forward. The acquisition allows Quark to increase the value of QuarkXPress 7 and beyond through leading-edge technologies and tools."

No word yet on whether the capabilities of alap's XTensions will be folded into XPress or will stand alone. Turpin said only that the company is "still evaluating how alap's products will be integrated into the Quark family." However, Turpin doesn't expect the integration to slow down the release cycle of XPress 7 or any other products.

Turpin was also vague on the fate of alap's Adobe InDesign and Acrobat plug-ins. For now, you can buy these plug-ins from alap by phone or on the company's Web site just as you could pre-acquisition. Turpin said, "We're still finalizing the transition plan, and customers will be informed when any processes or customer service methods change." While I don't have a crystal ball, my educated guess is that the InDesign plug-ins, at least, will fade away sometime soon.

If you already own alap products and need support, you can follow the same customer service plans that were in place when you bought the products. Turpin said, "We'll tell customers if things change. Longer term, Quark intends to provide alap customers with the same high-quality products and services they're accustomed to today."

In the last year or two, Quark has made a big noise about improving relations with its partners. With that in mind, I asked Turpin why Quark acquired alap instead of continuing to working with alap as an outside partner. Turpin said the purchase was motivated by "the strategic fit between the two companies." He added that alap's imaging, impositioning, and productivity tools will "add valuable functionality to the Quark product family."

The Bottom Line
The future doesn't look so rosy for InDesign users who depend on alap's plug-ins. But for people who intend to buy QuarkXPress 7, the acquisition seems like a positive development.