[Scribus] Scribus on the list of recommended apps for Massachusetts

[Steven Boothe]

Christoph Sch?fer wrote:
> Steven Boothe schrieb:
> 
>> Christoph Sch?fer wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> have a look at:
>>>
>>> http://www.mass.gov/portal/site/massgovportal/menuitem.59254d74c0e831c14db4a11030468a0c/?pageID=itdterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Policies%2c+Standards+%26+Legal&L2=Open+Standards&L3=Open+Formats&sid=Aitd&b=terminalcontent&f=policies_standards_opendocformfaqs&csid=Aitd 
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Actually suggesting that it was "recommended" is stretching things a 
>> bit. It was merely listed as one of many current applications that 
>> also support the Open Document Format. None of the applications were 
>> recommended over any other. If anything was advocated it was the 
>> format of the output, with liberty being given to use "any" 
>> application, just as long as the output was Open Document compatible, 
>> and even then there were exceptions allowed for issues over 
>> accessibility, etc.
>>
>> Just for the sake of clarity I hope that helped.
> 
> Hi Steven,
> 
> you're right in that none of the applications named on the list are real 
> recommendations. But it's most important to notice that they are 
> _qualified_ for use in MS. With respect to ODF, Scribus seems to be the 
> only DTP software that meets Massachusetts' requirements. Since Adobe is 
> member of OASIS, I suppose InDesign will follow soon, but the fact that 
> scribus has been identified as a product qualified for use in public 
> administration is quite encouraging.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Christoph

Hi Christoph:

I agree it is most encouraging to see it qualified for use, but 
unfortunately at present I am fairly certain the computing requirements
make its' use extremely unlikely. Why? Because if you noticed from the 
big document format they are moving away from is a Microsoft based 
format, which in turn we can be quite sure that they are also running 
Microsoft Windows on %99.9 of all their computers. This is the point I 
was trying to get at, although in a round about way. If Scribus had been 
formally "recommended" it would have right now meant a migration of more 
than just another document type, but also would require a much larger, 
more painful, and politically charged migration to the Linux operating 
system on their desktops in order to run it "out of the box".

Thus the inclusion of Scribus in the list of apps is "nice", and indeed 
"encouraging", but until either the state of MASS migrates to Linux or 
Scribus is available natively as an easy install for windows, the 
listing is of little more than marketing value. But hey your right, 
being mentioned and knowing that it qualifies at output is very good. 
Just not likely to be used in the short term due to the OS requirements. 
  But yes, these are good steps in the right direction to which will 
hopefully be many more.

Cheers,

Steven