Re: software question

["Barry Campbell" <barry -dot- campbell -at- gmail -dot- com>]

On 2/17/06, Siliconwriter <siliconwriter -at- comcast -dot- net> wrote:

> I am deliberately moving away from pricy, proprietary software as a
> freelance writer. In the first place, when I work a contract, my
> employer usually provides the hardware/software and that's what I
> use. If I am doing a contract from home on my own equipment, I get an
> upfront, carefully constructed contract spelling out what format the
> deliverable is in. Most of my clients can't even use Adobe InDesign
> or Framemaker files--they want Word docs.

This has been my experience as well.  I know how to use Frame, I've
kept my licensed copy up to date (upgraded to 7.2 recently), and I
haven't worked on a project that required Framemaker in over five
years (I *know* they're out there, I just haven't seen one come my
way.)

Before you spend a lot of money outfitting a home machine "on spec,"
check out what exists in the Open-Source world.  As a little side
project, I maintain a list of freeware and/or Open Source equivalents
to commercial software packages:

http://campbell-online.com/resources/knowledge_worker_toolbox.html

Virtually everything you need to do as a technical writer can be done,
and done well, with free software.

Of course, if a client specifies that you have to use a certain
program, they either need to provide you with a licensed copy, or you
need to build the cost of acquiring a licensed copy into your business
plans and fees.

- bc

--
Barry Campbell <barry -at- campbell-online -dot- com>
Voice: 212.741.6993  |  Mobile: 646.498.3518  |  Fax: 866.522.7270
AOL IM: bcampbellnyc
http://campbell-online.com
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