Dear developers,

I think there is an aesthetic problem with the redefinition of  
fnsymbol in fixltx2e, as exemplified with the use the manyfoot  
package: say, with

\newcounter{footnoteS}
\newcommand{\footnoteS}{%
...
\renewcommand{\thefootnoteS}{\fnsymbol{footnoteS}}

you get, with fixltx2e active, \textsuperscript{\textasteriskcentered}  
for the first footnote mark, which looks unpleasant; but with fixltx2e  
commented out, you get \textsuperscript{$\ast$}, because then, as I  
see it, latex.ltx definition is taken:

\def\@fnsymbol#1{\ensuremath{\ifcase#1\or * ...

instead of the one in fixltx2e:

\def\@fnsymbol#1{%
    \ifcase#1\or \TextOrMath\textasteriskcentered * ...

Of course there is a quick and *very* dirty "solution" ---after  
calling fixltx2e:

\makeatletter
\def\@fnsymbol#1{%
%% \ifcase#1\or \TextOrMath\textasteriskcentered *\or% original line
    \ifcase#1\or $*$\or ...

With the other symbols there is no problem, of course, as  
\textsuperscript{\textdagger} and \textsuperscript{$\dagger$} produce  
the same result.

Thanks for your kind attention.

Axel