SUMMARY: Linux and techwhirlers

[Kevin McLauchlan <KMcLauchlan -at- CHRYSALIS-ITS -dot- COM>]

Hi all,

I've received several replies, and they've trickled to a halt, so
I might as well summarize now.

As we knew, there's a s***load of stuff for Linux, and a lot of
it is pretty neat.

There are a couple or three "Office Suite" products -- for
example, KDE suite and Star Office -- which seem to be
shedding their odor of "Suite Junior".  They'd be quite
usable for anybody except real power-users of the MicroSloth
and Lotus products, who might miss some bells and whistles.

Gimp will do a good job with bitmaps.

Vector-based drawing/illustration programs seem to be farther
back on the curve.

DTP for graphic-intensive stuff is "on the cusp" -- some
contenders, but don't give up your day job (Quark).

DTP for big docs...  well, a few have something in Beta, and
they DO toss around words like "frame"... but, ain't NUTHIN'
that can shine FrameMaker's shoes, let alone stand in for it in
a real working environment.  Even their proposed feature lists
leave out the heavy-duty functionality that persuades people
to pay most of a thousand bucks for FM.

Sigh!

My off-the-cuff estimation, based on what you folks have
said, what I found at various web sites, and what I've read in
the press, is that none of us could seriously expect to outfit
a Linux box and start being full-bore intermediate or senior
tech writers with it.

The vacuum cleaner, the kitchen appliances and even the
Dremel (hobby) tools are available.  But downstairs in the
shop, there are no heavy-duty work-for-a-living tools that
would let you fix cars, build cabinets, re-work the plumbing, etc.

There, I think I tortured that mixed metaphor to death, don't
you? We don't yet have what we'd want, to not only produce
stuff, but exchange work with professionals on other platforms.

I dunno. The app producers (for Linux) seem to nod toward
input filters for graphics, with a *few* possibilities for each of
bitmap and vector. But, they don't do the same for text.

If I can't accept Word and PM and FM and Quark and WP
files -- even if they are for earlier versions -- then how am
I supposed to interact with clients and with related professionals?

I'd bet that most professional editors would know what to do
if I sent 'em my work as a Word or FM file (maybe even a
Ventura file, but I won't push my luck).  But, what if I sent a
file from XallWrite?

Well, let's all resume pacing the floor of the maternity-ward
waiting room.   :-)


Kevin McLauchlan
kmclauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com    (aka  kevinmcl -at- netrover -dot- com)
Journeyman techy writer, duffer skydiver, full-time unrepentent chocoholic

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