🚀 go-pugleaf

reisert@sttng.mlo.dec.com (Jim Reisert) writes:


>Several times a week, someone posts an article to a newsgroup asking
>something like, "What's the best PD/shareware program to do XYZZY?"
>Why don't they just ask, "What's the best program to do XYZZY?"  Why
>is PD/shareware specifically requested?  Is it:

I do not think that the answer is simple.  Most folks are looking
for PD stuff, in my experience, because they do not want to spend 
any money.  I know some folks here that are running old CP/M 
machines that they borrowed from the school, and then wonder why
they cannot get 'xyz' type software for that machine - and of
course they want the software for free.  These are folks with 
relatively high salaries, but they are too cheap to buy a machine and
software.  

There is a discussion in one of the OS/2 groups right now about whether
TeX is past its prime.  One of the posts today tells the story -
to paraphrase the response was maybe I should try FrameMaker, where can
I ftp it from.   

But, again, I think the answer is more complex.  Sure most folks are
looking for getting off cheap, but then there is some exemplary
software out there that is PD or shareware or such - the GNU stuff,
X11, etc.  

I for one use a combination of PD, shareware, and commercial stuff.
Most of my illustration work is done with Corel and or Adobe Illustrator,
but I use a couple of shareware tools for cleaning up bit-map images.
My word-processing software is commercial, but I use a PD text editor.
My communication software is either PD or shareware, my spreadsheet
is commercial, and all of my astronomy software is shareware.  The 
mix I use represents what I have found to be the best tools for my
work. 

>- Jim  

>--
>James J. Reisert                Internet:  reisert@sttng.enet.dec.com
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