[scribus] write and save a document

[Christoph Schäfer]

Roland,

I really think you need to learn some basic lessons about Free Software.

>
> Christoph,
>
> I brought that to the attention of the company, but they refuse to pay
> for the book with the reasons:
> 1. The program is free, but how to use it we should pay?

The program is Free Software. Free (as in libre) doesn't necessarily mean 
gratis! However, you can use Scribus at no cost, download the source code and 
modify it! You are also free to ask questions on the mailing lists or on IRC. 
The documentation on the Wiki is also available to you -- in more than one 
language!

> 2. The program and the documentation seems to be independent, means
> there is no guaranty that the information is correct nor a chance to get
> it fixed.

If you had been reading carefully, you'd have noticed that the book is 
called "Official Manual," which means it has been approved by the development 
team. Actually, it has been partially written and carefully reviewed by the 
Scribus devlopers!

> 3. If we have to pay, then we pay to a commercial product.

Sure, but as stated above, Open Source doesn't mean gratis or non-commercial. 
Moreover, the documentation is released under the FDL. Once you bought a 
printed copy, you're free to create and distribute digital versions of the 
texts and images. You should also note that the majority of the revenues will 
be used to advance the development of Scribus. Have you ever complained about 
O'Reilly publishing books on FLOSS software?

>
>
> For me it is also not understandable that the documentation is a
> different project and extra to pay. I understand that the effort should
> be awarded. BUT a good programmer will make the documentation at the
> same time, otherwise nobody can use the program.

See above. If you ever took the time to visit www.scribus.net, you would have 
been able to notice the availability of a sample chapter and a ToC. Even a 
short look would have revealed to you that the manual is for users, not for 
programmers.

>
> Therefore, where are the docs, that lead to the book?

The final versions are living on my hard drive, as well as on a backup DVD. If 
you think you are entitled to them, I'd be curious as to your legal 
reasoning. That doesn't mean I won't make them available to you, but you 
should offer something in return that will help the Scribus project. It need 
not be money, but could be useful code as well!


In summary, I think your latest posting has been completely out of line. You 
are working for a company that offers products and services based on FLOSS 
and charges for them. At the same time you dare to complain about an Open 
Source project that has no commercial interest and has found voluntary 
authors who spent a _lot_ of their spare time to write a manual and decided 
to sell printed copies for the benefit of the project.

If you or your company are complaining about not being able to establish a 
business without being parasites, you should refrain from using Scribus and 
other Free Software. Good luck with that!

Christoph