What's new in the CS5.5 SDK?

Question

OK, well, not a whole lot. But since I went through and diffed it against CS5, I though I'd share. This is from the Mac perspective.
Some documentation reorganization -- getting-started.pdf moved into docs/guides and whats-new.pdf disappeared and we saw:
./docs/guides:
-feature-development-with-scripting.pdf
+getting-started.pdf
idml-cookbook.pdf
idml-specification.pdf
-indesign-server-plugin-techniques.pdf
-learning-indesign-plugin-development.pdf
-performance-metrics.pdf
+idml-update.pdf
+plugin-programming-guide-vol1.pdf
+plugin-programming-guide-vol2.pdf
porting-guide.pdf
-programming-guide.pdf
-regenerating-java-api.pdf
solutions.pdf
We lost some build frameworks and gained an overview of the idmltools:
./build:
-AdobeOwlContainers.framework
-adobe_epic.framework
-adobe_eula.framework
./devtools/sdktools/idmltools:
+InDesign CS5.5 IDML ReadMe.pdf
It would appear there was a progress bar helper file tossed in with the InCopy applescript scripts for fun:
./scripting/incopy/scriptingguide/scripts/AppleScript/userinterfaces:
+ProgressBar.jsx
We gained scripts for new CS5.5 features and lost LabelGraphics:
./scripting/indesign/samplescripts/AppleScript:
+AnimationEncyclopedia.applescript
-LabelGraphicSupport
-LabelGraphics.applescript
-LabelGraphicsMenu.applescript
./scripting/indesign/samplescripts/JavaScript:
+AnimationEncyclopedia.jsx
-LabelGraphicMenu.jsx
-LabelGraphics.jsx
./scripting/indesign/scriptingguide/scripts/AppleScript/documents:
+ExportEPub.applescript
+ExportEPubWithOptions.applescript
./scripting/indesign/scriptingguide/scripts/AppleScript/pageitems:
+AddRemoveArticleMember.applescript
+CreateArticle.applescript
+RemoveArticle.applescript
+ReorderArticleMembers.applescript
+ReorderArticles.applescript
./scripting/indesign/scriptingguide/scripts/AppleScript/text:
+CreateLinkedStories.applescript
./scripting/indesign/scriptingguide/scripts/JavaScript/documents:
+ExportEPub.jsx
+ExportEPubWithOptions.jsx
./scripting/indesign/scriptingguide/scripts/JavaScript/pageitems:
+AddRemoveArticleMemeber.jsx
+CreateArticle.jsx
+RemoveArticle.jsx
+ReorderArticleMembers.jsx
+ReorderArticles.jsx
./scripting/indesign/scriptingguide/scripts/JavaScript/text:
+CreateLinkedStories.jsx
We lost the components that are were rewritten from JavaScript to C++:
./source/public/components:
-epubexport
-xhtmlexport
And we gained a whole bunch of header files for bosses associated with CS5.5 features, and similar:
./source/open/includes/ui:
+GroupButtonPanelEH.h
+MCntlMgrDropDownListEH.h
+MControlEventHandler.h
+PlatformDropDownListEH.h
+WDropDownListEH.h
./source/open/interfaces/layout:
+IArticleUtils.h
./source/public/includes:
+OdinBuildNumber.h
+sharedcontent
-IScriptUtils2.h
+IPDFDPartHierarchy.h
+IPDFDPartMetadataUtils.h
+IPDFStructureOrderPref.h
+IPDFStructureOrderPrefFacade.h
./source/public/interfaces/layout:
+ArticleID.h
+ArticlePanelID.h
+IArticleChildList.h
+IArticleFacade.h
+IArticleList.h
+IArticleMemberList.h
+IExportOptionsUtils.h
+IObjectExportOptions.h
+IObjectExportOptionsData.h
+IObjectExportOptionsSuite.h
+./source/public/interfaces/sharedcontent:
+ILinkedStoryPlacePrefs.h
+ILinkedStoryPlacePrefsData.h
+ISharedContentFacade.h
+ISharedContentSuite.h
+SharedContentID.h
+SharedContentUIID.h
./source/public/interfaces/tables:
+IExportTagValues.h
./source/public/interfaces/xmedia:
+EBookExportID.h
+IEBookExport.h
+IXHTMLExport.h
+pdfvt
+pdfvtui
+SnpExportEPub.cpp
+SnpManipulateArticles.cpp
And we gained a some sdksamples for working with PDF/VT:
+./source/sdksamples/pdfvt:
+DataSourceData.cpp
+IDataSourceData.h
+PDFVT.fr
+PDFVT.rc
+PDFVTExportProvider.cpp
+PDFVTFactoryList.h
+PDFVTID.cpp
+PDFVTID.h
+PDFVTNoStrip.cpp
+PDFVTUtils.cpp
+PDFVTUtils.h
+PDFVT_enUS.fr
+PDFVT_jaJP.fr
+TriggerResourceDeps.cpp
+WritePDFVTDataSourceInfoCmd.cpp
+
+./source/sdksamples/pdfvtui:
+DropDownListSelection.cpp
+IDropDownListSelection.h
+PDFVTUI.fr
+PDFVTUI.rc
+PDFVTUIActionComponent.cpp
+PDFVTUIDialogController.cpp
+PDFVTUIDialogObserver.cpp
+PDFVTUIFactoryList.h
+PDFVTUIID.cpp
+PDFVTUIID.h
+PDFVTUINoStrip.cpp
+PDFVTUI_enUS.fr
+PDFVTUI_jaJP.fr
+TriggerResourceDeps.cpp
+datasource.txt
That's about it. A bunch of internal resources in the build frameworks changed, some filenames changed to CS5.5 versions and versionless things, a few PNGs were added:
./external:
+PL_Articles_N.png
+PL_Articles_R.png
+PL_Overlay_N.png
+PL_Overlay_R.png
Blah.

Answer 1

I wonder if Adobe has looked at how popular the use of plugins is.
It would be interesting to know.
Beyond surveys and market information, at least on the Mac, they have
crash report data (which is skewed!). Each crash report includes
information about version of each loaded plugin. So while they
may not be able to measure the absolute number of users with plugins
installed, they can measure the fraction of users-who-submit-crash-reports
who have plugins installed, as well as the that fraction for any particular
plugin.
Of course, one can only assume those numbers would be representative
of non-crashing installations, too. At least theoreticaly, most crashes
should be clear about whether a plugin was directly or indirectly
responsible for the crash...
I guess such things have the danger of running afoul of the privacy
policy...