[Novalug] some pdf editing experiences

[Bryan J. Smith]

Bonnie --

I'm all for paying for commercial** applications if they offer value and,
even better, risk is mitigated by the fact that they have a healthy customer
base because their product wins on technical merits.

With that said, would you care to compare PageStream versus Scribus
as a DTP on Linux?  What factors led to you purchasing PageStream?
What limitations do you find in Scribus?  I'm a part-time Scribus user (former
FrameMaker user) and am always looking for other options.

-- Bryan

**NOTE:  I call "open" software "open" only if it has both open source
_and_ open standard.  I use the explicit term "Free[dom]ware."

By Commercial, I classify three (3) different types by the same two criteria
Source v. Standards:  

- Standard[s]ware:  Closed Source, Open Standard
- Sourceware:  Open Source, Closed Standard (e.g., IP-laden Standard)
- Commerceware:  Closed Source, Closed Standard

I also have one other classification:  
- Hostageware:  Unmaintained Source and/or Unmaintained Standard

E.g., all sourcecode in all Microsoft Office products through Office 11 (2003/2004)
are considered "Unmaintained Source" by Microsoft itself.  It was only with Office
12 (2007/2008) that Microsoft actually started maintaining a codebase (long
story -- and that still does _not_ apply to the MacOS X version, also a long story).

In the case of Standard, understand it will *NOT* be until Office 14 (late next year?)
until Microsoft actually adopts its own ISO standardized Office Open XML (OOXML).
In the case of both the XML in Office 11 (2003/2004) and the XML in Office 12
(2007/2008), *NEITHER* can be considered an "Open Standard."

So at this time, *ALL* versions of MS Office ever released should be considered
"Hostageware."  MS Office 14 may be the first one that can be considered
"Standard[s]ware," pending the actual implementation of OOXML in the product,
which is not yet released.


 -- 
Bryan J  Smith           Professional, Technical Annoyance 
Linked Profile:         http://www.linkedin.com/in/bjsmith 
---------------------------------------------------------- 
Red Hat:  That 'other' American software company built on
open customer selection of options and value, instead of
controlled distribution channels of forced bundle and lock



----- Original Message ----
From: Bonnie Dalzell <bdalzell at qis.net>
To: Doug Toppin <dougtoppin at gmail.com>
Cc: NOVALUG <novalug at calypso2.tux.org>
Sent: Thu, December 24, 2009 6:08:33 PM
Subject: Re: [Novalug] some pdf editing experiences

another way to include a signature is to sign something on paper and then 
scan the signature in as a graphic (png or jpg). I have found that when I 
do the signature with a mouse in a graphic program it does not look quite 
like my handwritten signature done on paper.

then the signature graphic can be pasted into a document that is open in 
Open Office or in the commercial DTP package PageStream which I used on 
the Amiga and which I purchased for Linux. (Not all good Linux aps are 
free, some are worth buying).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                        Bonnie Dalzell, MA
mail:5100 Hydes Rd PO Box 60, Hydes,MD,USA 21082-0060|EMAIL:bdalzell at qis.net
Freelance anatomist, vertebrate paleontologist, writer, illustrator, dog
breeder, computer nerd & iconoclast... Borzoi info at www.borzois.com.
HOME www.batw.net    ART bdalzellart.batw.net  BUSINESS www.boardingatwedge.com

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