[scribus] Is Linux/Scribus viable? (was New Linux User...)

[Peter Nermander]

> Open Source indeed has a number of advantages, but they are overstated.
> Possession of the source code is irrelevant if you do not have the ability
> to
> "take a quick peek in the sources to see how something works or why
> something isn't  working". 99.999% of the population would be able to do
> absolutely nothing with the source code or Windows MS Word, or whatever.

You are missing a very important point here. If you want a change in the
program you can pay someone to make that change for you. Even if other
people don't want that change you can still have a consultant make the
change for you and use the software with that change.

That is part of the "freedom", there is no legal or practical reason that
you can not tailor Open Source software to you needs, the limit is just
finacial. And a lot of companies do that, they pay developers to work on
Open Source software to get the software to fit into their distribution.
Then they sell their distribution bundled with support.

Have you tried getting MS to make you a customized version of MS Word? Or
asking them for the source to have someone doing it for you?

/Peter