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Who Are My Clients?© Copyright Darrell Anderson. As a fellow technical writer, Bruce Byfield is a writer I respect. I don’t visit or participate in any online discussion groups or lists for tech writers, but occasionally I browse those places. Bruce’s name appears regularly and he is knowledgeable about his craft. Like Bruce, I share a philosophical desire to embrace the free software social movement. I would much enjoy migrating fully and finally to using only free software on my computer. I have shared my frustrations in that effort. I admit that my usability standards might be too strict for my own good, but I must satisfy myself in my daily effort called life. As a tech writer that necessarily includes using a professional level word processor. For me that includes a product that supports a macro language. OpenOffice seems the only plausible free software product to satisfy my perspective. Please do not waste my time asking me to consider Latex or any associated front-ends for Latex. I am first and foremost a writer specializing in information packaging, not a geek. I am interested in writing, not typesetting. Don’t even dare suggest I learn how to use emacs or vi. Recently Bruce wrote an insightful piece about Why technical writers aren’t using FOSS. Apparently I am not the sole tech writer who has not fully migrated to free software. Learning a new way of doing things is not a steep uphill journey, although often an inconvenience if required to learn those new methods without wanting to. That is not my primary reason for not migrating to OpenOffice. After reading Bruce’s essay, however, I was able to easily answer Bruce’s rhetorical questions. Suppose I devote the next few months to mastering OpenOffice in a manner similar to my comfort level with Word 97. Suppose I use my own Word 97 templates and projects to teach myself how to migrate and convert templates, styles, and macros. I suspect by the end of that effort I at least would have a good handle on most of OpenOffice Writer. I will have added some additional skills and knowledge to fatten my résumé. But who are my clients? The free software world is still at an awkward stage. Although daily many people hop on the bandwagon to use free software, most are doing so for their personal use. As a tech writer, I must put beans on the table. I like eating, wearing clothes, and having a roof over my head. Some occasional additional creature comforts are always enjoyable too. Free software certainly empowers people at the individual level, but at the professional or business level I don’t see a plethora of people using free software. Some people are heading down that road, such as the people working at IBM and Novell. However, magazine editors, publishing people, and most business owners expect and want their documentation in Microsoft Word format, or grudgingly, Rich Text Format (RTF). A few accept Adobe PDF. Where are the paying clients who want their documentation in OpenOffice or ODF format? This is a classic chicken and egg conundrum. I suspect, and hope, that eventually those clients start appearing on the market. Until then, I find myself not well motivated to add OpenOffice Writer to my skill set. Doing so now would help establish me as one of the front runners so to speak, but I haven’t yet convinced myself to dedicate the necessary time to learn those skills. In that respect, my frustrations with migrating fully to free software continues. Finis. |
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