Free Software article discussion

[Deleted User]

aliEnRIK wrote: »

Cheers Sat' but I use photoshop which is regarded by most to be the best you can use

What I've found with GIMP is that while it's an undoubtedly powerful application, the interface is quite a hurdle to get over to actually master the program where I've found Photoshop to be very logical and easy to follow. Come to think of it, a lot of open source software I've used is dogged by the same problems..

satmanuk

aliEnRIK wrote: »

Cheers Sat' but I use photoshop which is regarded by most to be the best you can use

You are missing my point completely - this is about MONEY SAVING! I use FREE software...

Instead of Adobe Illustrator - I suggest InkScape
Instead of Adobe Photoshop - I still suggest TheGimp - because it has PSPI - Photoshop Plugin Interface

If anybody would be interested in finding alternatives for commercial software you can message me.

satmanuk

anewhope wrote: »

What I've found with GIMP is that while it's an undoubtedly powerful application, the interface is quite a hurdle to get over to actually master the program where I've found Photoshop to be very logical and easy to follow. Come to think of it, a lot of open source software I've used is dogged by the same problems..

Maybe so, I would be interested in finding training courses on opensource software such as oo.o and others but I don't think they exist.

I think though that the interface in openSUSE Linux is very easy to use and adapt to because its well designed.

How much more determination to master something do you need when you compare the price? InkScape and GIMP offer a no comparison price tag ! FREE!

No matter how hard you will get used to it in time because it beats paying for the "logical layout"...

superscaper

satmanuk wrote: »

If anybody would be interested in finding alternatives for commercial software you can message me.

....or simply read the article and this thread. (Every application you've mentioned so far is in the main article)

[Deleted User]

satmanuk wrote: »

Maybe so, I would be interested in finding training courses on opensource software such as oo.o and others but I don't think they exist.

I think though that the interface in openSUSE Linux is very easy to use and adapt to because its well designed.

How much more determination to master something do you need when you compare the price? InkScape and GIMP offer a no comparison price tag ! FREE!

No matter how hard you will get used to it in time because it beats paying for the "logical layout"...

Horses for courses again. We use Photoshop at work and I am able to get a license to use in my home office, therefore I stick to PS

There's a lot to be said in favour of Photoshop, how this will fare with posters on this board I don't know, but if you're at an interview and you've put that you have experience of graphic manipulation and creation, it's automatically assumed or asked that you have a knowledge of Photoshop amongst others..

With regards to the UI, I think the linux developers need to focus heavily on improving it if they want to start gaining the desktop market share. It's no doubt a very stable and powerful system made by experienced users and pretty much for experienced users, but KDE is still lacking asthetically to OS-X, XP and Vista. There is a lot of promise with gOS which I admit looks fantastic, now they just need to roll that out across the distros and the home user will be more receptive.

superscaper

anewhope wrote: »

We use Photoshop at work and I am able to get a license to use in my home office, therefore I stick to PS

Lucky you. We've got the CS3 master collection each but I've got no legal way of using it at home dammit.

[Deleted User]

superscaper wrote: »

Lucky you. We've got the CS3 master collection each but I've got no legal way of using it at home dammit.

Do you get provided with a laptop for work?

Here's a couple off the top of my head that I use regulary;

Imgburn. Nero used to be good, but they've now gone the way a lot of vendors have by adding so many things into a simple program it becomes confusing, not to mention bloated. Nero 8 is just shy of 1GB now, ridiculous. I use Imgburn, it's small and light plus it works on all versions of Windows and is fully compatible with WINE, so Linux users can try it too. Burns CD/DVD/HD-DVD/Blue Ray.

HD Tune. This program reports and monitors the information that your Hard Drive(s) broadcast to the computer. This will give you advanced warning of a drive that is failing, so you can make arrangements to back up your data so when it does fail you're not in a pickle. It also monitors the temperature of your drive, HDD's are more temperature sensitive than any other component in your computer. Running at any length of time much over 60degrees will significantly reduce the lifespan of the drive, and subsequently put you at risk of losing your data. Prewarned is prepared. Make sure you download the normal version, not the Pro, as it's free for personal use.

superscaper

anewhope wrote: »

Do you get provided with a laptop for work?

No and even if I did we've currently exhausted installs of all the licenses (already got two installs per license). If we were on the normal licensing scheme then obviously my company would only be allowed one install per license and I'd be able to have that second install personally on that work at home scheme Adobe have. Instead our company can use that second install for another user altogether, obviously making it a lot cheaper for them.

Bob63

satmanuk wrote: »

Maybe so, I would be interested in finding training courses on opensource software such as oo.o and others but I don't think they exist.

Google "openoffice training". There are lots of free and paid-for training resources on OpenOffice.

verloren

NetNewsWire Lite doesn't really exist any more, because the full app is now free. And while NeoOffice is fine, the latest OpenOffice beta is mac compatible and a lot more up to date.