Re: opinions on open source tools sought

Subject: Re: opinions on open source tools sought
From: RÃdacteur en chef <editorialstandards -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: Marsha Howard <mhoward_99 -at- yahoo -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:47:35 -0500

On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 6:08 PM, Marsha Howard <mhoward_99 -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
> Open source tools (such as Open Office) seem wonderful to me as compared to those with price tags (such as Microsoft Office), but very few people seem to be using free open source tools. Even the August 2010 Techwr-lÂpoll (As a technical writer, do you have a
> preference for using open source tools and utilities?) only got 76 participants.
> I would love to hear from anyone who has a strong opinion about open source, one way or the other.
> Please contact me at mhoward_99 -at- yahoo -dot- com -dot- It would be helpful if you'd put "open source" in the subject field.
> Thank you!

I've been using OpenOffice.org for several years, both at home and at
my employer's office.
I mostly use Writer, but occasionally have use for Calc and ...
darn... remind me what the PowerPoint equivalent is...?
A couple of years ago, I switched to the GoOO version, and noticed not
much difference, except a couple of file types could be exported, as
well as imported.
Lately, I've started using LibreOffice - yet another branch of OpenOffice.
If I have to get a Word document turned around quickly, I'll probably use Word.
But, if I'm going to have a document for a week or more, I'll probably
bring it into OpenOffice (now LibreOffice) Writer, and clean it up
while doing updates/revisions.

I've used the GIMP for really basic stuff, for years, but the employer
last year bought me the CS4 versions of PhotoShop, Illustrator, and
InDesign, so I use those when appropriate, and have let GIMP fall by
the wayside.

I tried Dia, but haven't done much with it.
The employer supplies Visio, and I have a number of illustrations done
with it, that I keep modifying and updating as our products develop.
As well, Visio is pretty standard in the company (as is PowerPoint),
so I get other people's drawings and slides in those formats. I
haven't found an open source application that lets me import modify,
etc. the Visio drawings the way OpenOffice/LibreOffice
lets me import and use Word docs and Excel spreadsheet files.

I've been using SnagIt 5-point-something for screencaps for a decade
without upgrading. If somebody knows a nice open source screen capture
program - free or paid - I'll try it.

I'd use an open source replacement for Catfood Camsaver if there was
one, but I'm pretty sure there isn't. Camsaver is free, as in beer, if
not open source, so that's fine with me.

I'm sure there are a couple of other actual open source programs that
I use, but their names escape me just now. I'm on a MacBook Pro at
home, at the moment, and that's what has pretty much entirely replaced
the SUSE Linux that I used from 1997 until 2008 (fill in the blanks
with about a thousand open-source aps, right there...).

</kevin>


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References:
opinions on open source tools sought: From: Marsha Howard

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