Should use FLOSS to develop flyer [LWN.net]

Should use FLOSS to develop flyer

Posted Mar 12, 2008 1:35 UTC (Wed) by dwheeler (guest, #1216)
In reply to: GNOME Foundation Annual Report for 2007 by ovitters
Parent article: GNOME Foundation Annual Report for 2007

I would agree that it would only make sense to use FLOSS to develop a flyer about FLOSS. I use FLOSS to develop my materials about FLOSS, even if eventually I have to present using PowerPoint.

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Should use FLOSS to develop flyer

Posted Mar 12, 2008 8:22 UTC (Wed) by ovitters (guest, #27950) [Link] (7 responses)

I would've used Free Software. However, it would've looked like crap. People should be free to
do/use what they want, especially if they spend loads of time helping GNOME + always available
to help out at the last second, etc.

If you want to be constructive, find out what drawbacks the other software had that made him
switch to that Adobe stuff. Then improve it.

Requiring people to use Free Software is restricting yourself. The goal is to make everything
possible using Free Software and have everyone prefer only that. However, this shouldn't be
done by restricting others to what they can use. Especially the last part is what attracks me
to Free Software; free to do what you want.

Looking like crap

Posted Mar 12, 2008 14:16 UTC (Wed) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] (6 responses)

"I would've used Free Software. However, it would've looked like crap."

Wow, that's a pretty damning criticism of the free options. There's nothing all that complex in the annual report; what, exactly, is there that can't be done in free software without looking like crap? I hope that the abiword / OpenOffice.org / Scribus / ... developers have been told about where their software falls short.

Looking like crap

Posted Mar 12, 2008 17:39 UTC (Wed) by cantsin (guest, #4420) [Link]

It's not only a pretty damning criticism, but one that is factually refuted by the work of the aforementioned professional designers using exclusively Open Source software.

Looking like crap

Posted Mar 12, 2008 17:45 UTC (Wed) by jake (editor, #205) [Link] (3 responses)

I was thinking (hoping) that he was referring to his abilities as a designer rather than the
inadequacies of free software.

jake

Looking like crap

Posted Mar 12, 2008 19:00 UTC (Wed) by b3timmons (guest, #40286) [Link] (1 responses)

>I was thinking (hoping) that he was referring to his abilities as a designer rather than the
inadequacies of free software.

Right.  I see where he is coming from, and I appreciate his comments.  What concerns me more
than the production of the report is the fact that the same criticism was raised last year and
nothing was done about it.   As a GNOME user, I feel partly responsible for this problem and
will try harder to get involved.

Looking like crap

Posted Mar 12, 2008 22:51 UTC (Wed) by ovitters (guest, #27950) [Link]

> As a GNOME user, I feel partly responsible for this problem and
> will try harder to get involved.

Nice! Help is always appreciated. Suggest to contact Lucas Rocha, lucasr at gnome.org. He
coordinates the (now) annual report. Help is especially appreciated with writing the text,
proof reading and ensuring other people hand in their stuff on time. Maybe come to GUADEC,
give that designer a 'you must only use free software and this is how' course :)

Looking like crap

Posted Mar 12, 2008 22:31 UTC (Wed) by ovitters (guest, #27950) [Link]

Yes, I meant to say I am not a designer and that you would've noticed that ;)

Looking like crap

Posted Mar 12, 2008 22:58 UTC (Wed) by ovitters (guest, #27950) [Link]

> Wow, that's a pretty damning criticism of the free options.

Sorry, I thought it was obvious that I was talking about myself... didn't expect it to be
understood in any other way. IMO designs might look simple, but is hard to get right. E.g. for
colours I usually just reuse the Tango ones.