[scribus] Is Linux/Scribus viable?

[Frank Swygert]

I don't have a problem with proprietary program code as long as the owner/seller provides support and the program works as advertised. The operating system, however, is a different story. Well, even that can be mostly proprietary for all I care, but it doesn't need to be locked up as tight as Windows XP and Vista (and back to at least 95). In those it's hard to do simple tasks even if you do know what you're doing. DOS wasn't so bad, at least then a simple batch file could be written to take care of simpler tasks -- even I could do that (sometimes...)!! There were other things that a programmer could do -- write directly to a disk, for one, that you simply can't do under Windows, it takes too much control. Under Linux a knowledgeable programmer has a lot more direct access to the system. Doesn't do 99% of users a bit of good, but those few who can, well, can! 

OSS is great, and I understand the concept, but as all have pointed out, those programmers have bills to pay like the rest of us! I usually donate something if I use a program and there's a donation site (especially if they use PayPal!), or buy a copy on CD. The old "shareware" concept seems to work for OSS, at least for me. 

The Linux community seems to be tarnished in the opposite way the Windows/Mac community is -- if a program is (sometimes just partially) proprietary it's generally avoided. If it's something good, like PageStream (should/might be, haven't tried it!), and the price is within reason, why worry about it being OSS? Unless of course you're a programmer with something to contribute. But from a user standpoint, it's irrelevant whether a program is proprietary or OSS. 

Speaking of users, not programmers, there is NO magazine for Linux users! There used to be one called "Linux User", but everything was directed to a more technically inclined user. Maybe an occasional software review, but little software advertising and lots of command line tech type articles. I don't think there's enough Linux users out there for a true "user" magazine, and then there's the problem of 10 or so major distros. I might try something one day though... maybe an on-line mag?  

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Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:38:09 +0200
From: Grzegorz Staniak <gstaniak at wp.pl>

> > Open Source indeed has a number of advantages, but they are overstated.
> > Possession of the source code is irrelevant if you do not have the ability to
> > "take a quick peek in the sources to see how something works or why 
> > something isn't  working". 99.999% of the population would be able to do
> > absolutely nothing with the source code or Windows MS Word, or whatever.
>   

Yes, but that doesn't mean those non-tech people do not win in the F/OSS 
scenario - as long as _someone_ can check in a fix into cvs/svn/whatever,
all the community wins: core developers, contributors, users. You don't 
have to be a programmer to gain when the code is available to programmers.

-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://farna.home.att.net/AMC.html
(free download available!)