Next time you listen to a Bob Marley channel on Pandora Media Inc., P -0.19% Pandora Media Inc. U.S.: NYSE $36.09 -0.07 -0.19% Feb. 14, 2014 2:59 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4.85M P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $7.02 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $862,018 02/13/14 Pandora Knows if You Are a Rep... 02/06/14 Stocks to Watch: Green Mountai... 02/05/14 Pandora Outlook Disappoints Bu... More quote details and news » P in Your Value Your Change Short position the Internet radio service may peg you as likely to vote for a Democrat.

The Oakland, Calif., company plans to roll out a new advertising service next week that would enable candidates and political organizations to target the majority of its 73 million active monthly Pandora listeners based on its sense of their political leanings.

How can it do this? The company matches election results with subscribers' musical preferences by ZIP Code. Then, it labels individual users based on their musical tastes and whether those artists are more frequently listened to in Democratic or Republican areas. Users don't divulge their political affiliations when they sign up for Pandora. (Take a quiz to see what your playlist says about you.)

Pandora's effort to pinpoint voter preferences highlights how digital media companies are finding new ways to tap information that users share freely to target advertising. These go beyond the traditional tracking of Web-browsing habits. Pandora, locked in a battle for advertising revenue with Internet radio services such as Spotify, sees political advertising as a way to boost revenue.

Facebook Inc. FB +0.12% Facebook Inc. Cl A U.S.: Nasdaq $67.41 +0.08 +0.12% Feb. 14, 2014 2:59 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 29.02M P/E Ratio 110.59 Market Cap $171.67 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $1,242,230 02/14/14 Top 50 Cities for Singles Look... 02/13/14 Facebook Adds New Options for ... 02/12/14 New Apps Whisper and Secret Ca... More quote details and news » FB in Your Value Your Change Short position is considered the pioneer in compiling information that users share to create demographic profiles for online advertisers. During the 2008 election, Facebook began allowing political firms to target users by mining clues to their interests and their location.

Before the 2011 Iowa Straw Poll, for example, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.) advertised to Facebook users who had identified themselves as Tea Party supporters or Christian rock fans, or who had posted messages in favor of tax cuts.

"Targeting users is basically the currency in data right now," says Jack Krawczyk, Pandora's director of product management. He says companies like Pandora and Facebook, which know users' names, and can track their media consumption or stated preferences across computers, tablets and phones, have an advantage over companies relying on Web browsing cookies.

In November, Pandora allowed advertisers to target users who listened to salsa, or Spanish-language music and live in ZIP Codes with many Hispanic residents. It plans to tease out more demographic groups in coming months. "We can infer parenting," Mr. Krawczyk said. "If you're registered as a female in your thirties and have a children's music station."

Users of Pandora's free service cannot opt out of politically targeted ads, though they can opt out of cookie-based ads on Pandora's website. Pandora offers an ad-free premium service for $3.99 a month.

Pandora's inferences start with a user's ZIP Code, supplied at registration. Pandora then reviews election results for that county, Mr. Krawczyk said. So if 80% of citizens in a certain county voted for President Obama in 2012, Pandora assumes that 80% of people in the ZIP Codes in that county "lean Democrat." If the county voted twice for Obama, the algorithm pegs users in those ZIP Codes as likely to be "strong Democrats."

Pandora has allowed political advertisers to target users based on their ZIP Code since 2011. Now, it is adding information about users' musical tastes and other attributes in the hope of creating a more valuable profile.

Do political leanings correlate with music preferences? Mr. Krawczyk said he believes Pandora's predictions are between 75% and 80% accurate, but the "true test" will be how the ads perform. Pandora uses county election results in assembling its profiles because it has found they are better predictors than more-local results, such as from a voting precinct.

Of course, some of the analysis seems simplistic. Pandora users who listen to country music more often live in Republican areas, while fans of jazz, reggae and electronic music are more commonly found in counties favoring Democrats, the company said. R&B listeners lean slightly to Democrats and Gospel and New Age listeners lean slightly to Republicans, Pandora said. Classic rockers like Bruce Springsteen and Hip Hop artists are harder to classify; they count fans in both parties.

Generally, the preferences are distinct enough to appeal to advertisers. "There are very few places where people listen to a combination of country music and jazz," Mr. Krawczyk said.

Pandora has signed up two political-advertising firms, Precision Network and Bully Pulpit Interactive, which ran digital media for Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D., Mass.) campaign and for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Bully Pulpit President Andrew Bleeker said the firm is looking to Pandora to "help us tailor the right message to the right audience."

Mr. Krawczyk said Pandora is planning to offer data about income into a targeted advertising formula, based on the average income in a user's ZIP Code. He says that people within higher-income brackets have more eclectic musical tastes than others.

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Flightplan ✈

Run a sequence of commands against local and remote hosts.

Flightplan is a node.js library for streamlining application deployment or systems administration tasks, similar to Python's Fabric.

Installation & Usage

# install the cli tool
$ npm install -g flightplan
# use it in your project
$ npm install flightplan --save-dev
# run a flightplan (`fly --help` for more information)
$ fly <destination> [--plan flightplan.js]

Sample flightplan.js

// flightplan.js
var Flightplan = require('flightplan');
var tmpDir = 'pstadler-sh-' + new Date().getTime();
// configuration
plan.briefing({
 debug: false,
 destinations: {
 'staging': {
 host: 'staging.pstadler.sh',
 username: 'pstadler',
 agent: process.env.SSH_AUTH_SOCK
 },
 'production': [
 {
 host: 'www1.pstadler.sh',
 username: 'pstadler',
 agent: process.env.SSH_AUTH_SOCK
 },
 {
 host: 'www2.pstadler.sh',
 username: 'pstadler',
 agent: process.env.SSH_AUTH_SOCK
 }
 ]
 }
});
// run commands on localhost
plan.domestic(function(local) {
 local.log('Run build');
 local.exec('gulp build');
 local.log('Copy files to remote host');
 var filesToCopy = '(git ls-files -z;find assets/public -type f -print0)';
 local.exec(filesToCopy + '|rsync --files-from - -avz0 --rsh="ssh"'
 + ' ./ pstadler@pstadler.sh:/tmp/' + tmpDir);
});
// run commands on remote hosts (destinations)
plan.international(function(remote) {
 remote.log('Move folder to web root');
 remote.sudo('cp -R /tmp/' + tmpDir + ' ~', { user: 'www' });
 remote.rm('-rf /tmp/' + tmpDir);
 remote.log('Install dependencies');
 remote.sudo('npm --production --silent --prefix ~/'
 + tmpDir + ' install ~/' + tmpDir, { user: 'www' });
 remote.log('Reload application');
 remote.sudo('ln -snf ~/' + tmpDir + ' ~/pstadler-sh', { user: 'www' });
 remote.sudo('pm2 reload pstadler-sh', { user: 'www' });
});
// run more commands on localhost afterwards
plan.domestic(function(local) { /* ... */ });
// ...or on remote hosts
plan.international(function(remote) { /* ... */ });
// executed if flightplan succeeded
plan.success(function() {
});
// executed if flightplan failed
plan.disaster(function() {
});
// always executed after flightplan finished
plan.debriefing(function() {
});

Documentation

Flightplan

A flightplan is a set of subsequent flights to be executed on one or more hosts. The constructor doesn't take any arguments. The configuration is handled with the briefing() method.

var plan = new Flightplan();

Flights

A flight is a set of commands to be executed on one or more hosts. There are two types of flights:

Domestic flights

Commands in domestic flights are executed on the local host.

plan.domestic(function(transport) {
 transport.hostname(); // prints the hostname of the local host
});

International flights

Commands in international flights are executed in parallel against remote hosts defined during the briefing.

plan.international(function(transport) {
 transport.hostname(); // prints the hostname(s) of the remote host(s)
});

You can define multiple flights of each type. They will be executed in the order of their definition. If a previous flight failed, all subsequent flights won't get executed. For more information about what it means for a flight to fail, see the section about Transport.

// executed first
plan.domestic(function(transport) {});
// executed if first flight succeeded
plan.international(function(transport) {});
// executed if second flight succeeded
plan.domestic(function(transport) {});
// ...

flightplan.briefing(config) → this

Configure the flightplan's destinations with briefing(). Without a proper briefing you can't do international flights which require at least one destination. Each destination consists of one ore more hosts.

Values in the hosts section are passed directly to the connect() method of mscdex/ssh2.

plan.briefing({
 destinations: {
 // run with `fly staging`
 'staging': {
 // see: https://github.com/mscdex/ssh2#connection-methods
 host: 'staging.pstadler.sh',
 username: 'pstadler',
 agent: process.env.SSH_AUTH_SOCK
 },
 // run with `fly production`
 'production': [
 {
 host: 'www1.pstadler.sh',
 username: 'pstadler',
 agent: process.env.SSH_AUTH_SOCK
 },
 {
 host: 'www2.pstadler.sh',
 username: 'pstadler',
 agent: process.env.SSH_AUTH_SOCK
 },
 ]
 }
});

You can override the username value of all hosts by calling fly with the -u|--username option:

fly production --username=admin

flightplan.domestic(fn) → this

Calling this method registers a domestic flight. Domestic flights are executed on your local host. When fn gets called a Transport object is passed with the first argument.

plan.domestic(function(local) {
 local.echo('hello from your localhost.');
});

flightplan.international(fn) → this

Calling this method registers an international flight. International flights are executed on the current destination's remote hosts defined with briefing(). When fn gets called a Transport object is passed with the first argument.

plan.international(function(remote) {
 remote.echo('hello from the remote host.');
});

flightplan.success(fn) → this

fn() is called after the flightplan (and therefore all flights) succeeded.

flightplan.disaster(fn) → this

fn() is called after the flightplan was aborted.

flightplan.debriefing(fn)

fn() is called at the very end of the flightplan's execution.

flightplan.isAborted() → Boolean

Whether the flightplan is aborted or not.

flightplan.abort([message])

Calling this method will abort the flightplan and prevent any further flights from being executed. An optional message can be passed which will be displayed after the flightplan has been aborted.

plan.abort('Severe turbulences over the atlantic ocean!');

Transport

A transport is the interface you use during flights. Basically they offer you a set of methods to execute a chain of commands. Depending on the type of flight, this is either a ShellTransport object for domestic flights, or an SSHTransport for international flights. Both transports expose the same set of methods as described in this section.

plan.domestic(function(local) {
 local.echo('ShellTransport.echo() called');
});
plan.domestic(function(remote) {
 remote.echo('SSHTransport.echo() called');
});

We call the Transport object transport in the following section to avoid confusion. However, do yourself a favor and use local for domestic, and remote for international flights.

transport.exec(command[, options]) → code: int, stdout: String, stderr: String

To execute a command you have the choice between using exec() or one of the handy wrappers for often used commands: transport.exec('ls -al') is the same as transport.ls('-al'). If a command returns a non-zero exit code, the flightplan will be aborted and all subsequent commands and flights won't get executed.

Options

Options can be passed as a second argument. If failsafe: true is passed, the command is allowed to fail (i.e. exiting with a non-zero exit code), whereas silent: true will simply suppress its output.

// output of `ls -al` is suppressed
transport.ls('-al', {silent: true});
// flightplan continues even if command fails with exit code `1`
transport.ls('-al foo', {failsafe: true}); // ls: foo: No such file or directory
// both options together
transport.ls('-al foo', {silent: true, failsafe: true});

To apply these options to multiple commands check out the docs of transport.silent() and transport.failsafe().

Return value

Each command returns an object containing code, stdout andstderr:

var retval = transport.echo('Hello world');
console.log(retval); // { code: 0, stdout: 'Hello world\n', stderr: null }

transport.sudo(command[, options]) → code: int, stdout: String, stderr: String

Execute a command as another user with sudo(). It has the same signature as exec(). Per default, the user under which the command will be executed is "root". This can be changed by passing user: "name" with the second argument:

// will run: sudo -u root -i bash -c 'Hello world'
transport.sudo('echo Hello world');
// will run sudo -u www -i bash -c 'Hello world'
transport.sudo('echo Hello world', {user: 'www'});
// further options passed (see `exec()`)
transport.sudo('echo Hello world', {user: 'www', silent: true, failsafe: true});

transport.log(message)

Print a message to stdout. Flightplan takes care that the message is formatted correctly within the current context.

transport.log('Copying files to remote host');

transport.silent()

When calling silent() all subsequent commands are executed without printing their output to stdout until verbose() is called.

transport.ls(); // output will be printed to stdout
transport.silent();
transport.ls(); // output won't be printed to stdout

transport.verbose()

Calling verbose() reverts the behavior introduced with silent(). Output of commands will be printed to

transport.silent();
transport.ls(); // output won't be printed to stdout
transport.verbose();
transport.ls(); // output will be printed to stdout

transport.failsafe()

When calling failsafe(), all subsequent commands are allowed to fail until unsafe() is called. In other words, the flight will continue even if the return code of the command is not 0. This is helpful if either you expect a command to fail or their nature is to return a non-zero exit code.

transport.failsafe();
transport.ls('foo'); // ls: foo: No such file or directory
remote.log('Previous command failed, but flight was not aborted');

transport.unsafe()

Calling unsafe() reverts the behavior introduced with failsafe(). The flight will be aborted if a subsequent command fails (i.e. returns a non-zero exit code). This is the default behavior.

remote.failsafe();
remote.ls('foo'); // ls: foo: No such file or directory
remote.log('Previous command failed, but flight was not aborted');
remote.unsafe();
remote.ls('foo'); // ls: foo: No such file or directory
// flight aborted

transport.debug(message)

Print a debug message to stdout. Flightplan takes care that the message is formatted correctly within the current context.

remote.debug('Copying files to remote host');

transport.abort([message])

Manually abort the current flight and prevent any further commands and flights from being executed. An optional message can be passed which is displayed after the flight has been aborted.

remote.abort('Severe turbulences over the atlantic ocean!');

What's planned?

• Add possibility to define a sudoUser per host with briefing().
• Add a simple interface for file transport to remote hosts (e.g. rsync).
• Tests will be implemented with upcoming releases. A part of this will be driven by bug reports.

Published February 13, 2014 by Chris Coyier

Let's say there is a feature on your website that only gets used 5% of the time. That feature requires some HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to work. So you decide that instead of having that HTML, CSS, and JavaScript on the page directly, you're going to Ajax that stuff in when the feature is about to be used.

We'll need to make three Ajax requests. Since we don't want to show anything to the user until the feature is ready to go (plus they all kinda rely on each other to work right) we need to wait for all three of them to be complete before proceeding.

What's the best way to do that?

Ajax calls in jQuery provide callbacks:

$.ajax({
 statusCode: {
 url: "/feature",
 success: function() {
 // Ajax success
 }
 }
});

Or the "Deferred" way, this time using a shorthand $.get() method:

$.get("/feature/").done(function() {
 // Ajax success
});

But we have three Ajax requests we're needing to perform, and we want to wait for all three of them to finish before doing anything, so it could get pretty gnarly in callback land:

// Get the HTML
$.get("/feature/", function(html) {
 // Get the CSS
 $.get("/assets/feature.css", function(css) {
 
 // Get the JavaScript
 $.getScript("/assets/feature.js", function() {
 // All is ready now, so...
 // Add CSS to page
 $("<style />").html(css).appendTo("head");
 // Add HTML to page
 $("body").append(html);
 });
 });
});

This successfully waits until everything is ready before adding anything to the page. So by the time the user sees anything, it's good to go. Perhaps that makes some of you feel nauseated, but I've done things that way before. At least it makes sense and works. The problem? It's slow.

One request ... wait to be done ... another request ... wait to be done ... another request ... wait to be done ... go.

It would be faster if we could do:

All three requests in parallel ... wait for all three to be done ... go.

We can use a bit of Deferred / Promises action to help here. I'm sure this is some JavaScript 101 stuff to some of you but this kind of thing eluded me for a long time and more complex Promises stuff still does.

In our simple use case, we can use jQuery's $.when() method, which takes a list of these "Deferred" objects (All jQuery Ajax methods return Deferred objects) and then provides a single callback.

$.when(
 // Deferred object (probably Ajax request),
 // Deferred object (probably Ajax request),
 // Deferred object (probably Ajax request)
}.then(function() {
 // All have been resolved (or rejected), do your thing
});

So our callback-hell can be rewritten like:

$.when(
 // Get the HTML
 $.get("/feature/", function(html) {
 globalStore.html = html;
 }),
 // Get the CSS
 $.get("/assets/feature.css", function(css) {
 globalStore.css = css;
 }),
 // Get the JS
 $.getScript("/assets/feature.js")
).then(function() {
 // All is ready now, so...
 // Add CSS to page
 $("<style />").html(globalStore.css).appendTo("head");
 // Add HTML to page
 $("body").append(globalStore.html);
});

Another use case: mustard cutting

My use-case example above is a 5% feature. Keep the page lighter for the 95% of users who don't use the feature, and have it be a relatively quick add-on for those that do.

Another situation might be a cut-the-mustard situation where you add in additional features or content to a page in certain situations, as you decide. Perhaps do a matchMedia test on some media queries and determine the device's screen and capabilities are such that you're going to include some extra modules. Cool, do it up with some parallel Ajax calls!

While the world’s best commercial graphic applications come with packed with features, they also come with a price tag many find hard to justify.

Though there are plenty of less expensive alternatives, the simple truth is: It’s hard to get cheaper than free.

Today we’re going to look some of the free, open source graphic apps available, and see if they are a viable replacement.

If you are currently unfamiliar with the abundance of free open source graphic apps now available, you may well be missing out.

The best open source graphic applications on this list are comparable in quality to their leading commercial equivalents.

Don’t be put off by the word ‘free’ either. This is a case where ‘free’ definitely doesn’t mean low quality.

I know what you’re thinking: “If I use free software, I’ll have far too much extra money!’

Relax. You can always donate to the hard-working developers behind these apps, and help them make them even better.

So, let’s get to the list, and see if open source can genuinely compete with their expensive commercial counterparts.

Sidenote: Although most of these applications were originally developed for Linux, they often have Windows and Mac versions.

1. Could You Use GIMP to Replace Photoshop?

Often the first application that comes to mind when you are thinking about free, open source graphics is GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program).

While GIMP doesn’t have all the niche features of Photoshop, it certainly offers a lot. In fact, there are a good many professional designers who use GIMP and judging by their output, the results are stunning.

So, assuming you have some design skills, the limitations of the applications you use is secondary.

Image Credit: gimp.org

What Can GIMP Do?

GIMP is a raster graphics application that is useful for image editing and retouching.

You can also use it to create raster images from scratch, as well as simple animations.

Cage Transform in action

It supports layers and channels, has an advanced gradients function, includes paths and quick masks. There are rotation and transformation tools, as well as tools for scaling, cropping, resizing, file format conversion, and more.

GIMP can also be used for both Web and print design.

It even has a few tools that don’t have direct analogs in Photoshop — for instance, the Cage Transform tool that allows to warp just parts of objects.

Where Does GIMP Fall Short?

The main areas where GIMP falls behind are interface and feature list.

Any designer raised on the Photoshop interface, might not always find menus options where they predict them to be.

It’s true, the GIMP interface is different from Photoshop, and there will be an inevitable learning curve.

However, if the UI differences are a show-stopper for you, there’s always Gimpshop. Gimpshop is GIMP retro-fitted a very Photoshop-like interface.

Some may argue that reproducing Photoshop is not something to aspire to. You be the judge.

In terms of features, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly which Photoshop features are missing, as most missing functionality can be added via GIMP’s rich plugins ecosystem.

In theory, this is a better model, as you won’t have lots of unused functionality obscuring the features you need.

As an example, GIMP doesn’t ship with RAW image processing abilities, but this can be added via the UFRaw plugin.

GIMP does lack the granular text options of Photoshop, along with its adjustment layers. CMYK support is also somewhat limited by default, though additional plugins can plug this gap if required.

While the lack of these features may well be a show-stopper for some, I suspect many designers would not even notice their absence.

Interoperability is often cited as the biggest problem for dedicated GIMP users. Clients frequently want to provide you with PSD files, and while GIMP supports PSD in theory, the practical results aren’t always ideal.

This file format issue is often cited as a key hurdle for new adopters, and is likely the major reason GIMP is not as widely-adopted as it might be.

Price Comparison Between GIMP and Photoshop

While there are some obvious caveats to adopting GIMP, these hurdles often become less important when you compare costs. As I mentioned, GIMP is free – it’s hard to get cheaper than that.

On the other hand, Photoshop is no small investment. Currently, you can get Photoshop CS6 as a standalone application for $699-999 or for $1,299-2,559, bundled with other Creative Suite 6 products.

With Adobe’s new rent-only policy – i.e. their Creative Cloud the situation is similar.

If you are lucky to catch a promotion, you can get Photoshop for under $10 a month – otherwise the regular price is $19.99-29.99 a month.

If you decide to go for the complete Creative Cloud, the price goes up to $49.99 a month (on a yearly contract), which is $600 a year.

That is a lot money for most of us — especially if you are not using the software every day!

2. Could you use Inkscape to replace Illustrator?

Adobe Illustrator is another leading commercial vector graphic application that has a viable free open source competitor in the form of Inkscape.

SCREENSHOT, Image Credit: inkscape.org

What Does Inkscape Bring to the Table?

Inkscape uses the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format as it’s default. As you might know, SVG is a format that is becoming more relevant to web developers with every passing day.

It can also work with other popular vector formats, such as .ai, .eps, or .pdf, while most other vector graphics programs can handle its SVG files.

Inkscape ships with markers, clones, alpha blending, path operations, bitmap tracing, and other standard SVG features.

For a full list of features, check this.

Perhaps the most interesting section here is the list of features Inkscape has that are missing in Illustrator. According to inkscape.org, the following Inkscape abilities are lacking in Illustrator:

• Edit SVG source directly

• Clones, tiled clones, edit clones on canvas

• Keys to move/rotate/scale by screen pixels

• Shapes as objects

• Edit gradients with handles on-canvas

• Edit nodes with keyboard

• One-click paint bucket fill

While this list may need to be updated, I think it’s useful enough to include regardless.

What Illustrator Functionality Is Missing in Inkscape?

If you decided to switch to Inkscape, you should also be aware of its limitations.

Firstly, file interoperability can be an issue, especially with older .ai files.

Inkscape.org also publishes a list of Illustrator features that are currently missing in Inkscape:

These include:

• Gradient meshes

• Multiple strokes and fills for one object

• Color management for print (ICCProfiles, etc.)

• PMS color management

• Natively work with graphs based ondata

• Free transform and perspective transform (available via extension)

• Blends (available via extension)

Again, this list may be slightly outdated, but gives you a sense of what you might be losing if you decide to throw your lot in with Inkscape.

Now, I wouldn’t class myself as a ‘power-user’ of either Illustrator or Inkscape. But as an occasional user I can attest that my skills (or the lack of them) are certainly a much more serious barrier, than any software limitations.

From my point of view, there is no critical feature or tool that Inkscape lacks. For the majority of projects — even demanding professional use — I believe Inkscape is a very feasible alternative.

Price Comparison Between Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator

The price comparison between Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator is very similar to the earlier Photoshop comparision – free vs $599 for Illustrator CS6, or $19.99 a month for the standalone Creative Cloud version, or $49.99 as part of CC bundle.

Switching to Inkscape could save you $240-600 a year.

3. Could You Use Scribus Instead of InDesign?

If you are into desktop publishing, then you might be interested in Scribus as an alternative to Quark Xpress, Adobe InDesign, or Microsoft Publisher.

Scribus is not an exact match of either program, so you shouldn’t expect it to have all the features you know from these programs.

Scribus: SCREENSHOT, Image Credit:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/download/Scribus,0302-6428-150189.html

What can Scribus Do?

In simple terms, Scribus offers solid “CMYK color, separations, Spot Colors, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.” It also can work with most common raster and vector image formats, as well as many text formats.

Features that Scribus Lacks

Similarly to GIMP and Inkscape, the Scribus interface is very different to that of InDesign. Until you become accustomed to it, it’s likely to take you some time to perform even the simplest tasks.

Now, I am no Scribus expert, and to be frank, my encounters with InDesign are pretty sketchy, but experienced desktop publishers tell me they couldn’t use Scribus for critical publishing tasks.

Aside from this, many common functions you will find in InDesign, are currently absent from Scribus. For instance, in Scribus you can’t even dock, move or hide individual palettes.

But what’s the main buzz-killer?

Currently Scribus can’t open InDesign’s default format. While Scribus’s PDF export facility covers most print situations, the lack of ‘INDD’ support will be a roadblock for some.

Again the savings are significant – free versus $19.99/49.99 a month for InDesign.

However, since Scribus isn’t anywhere near as competent a replacement to InDesign, as GIMP and Inkscape are to Photoshop and Illustrator respectively, I think the price comparison is far less relevant.

This comparison is truly an ‘apples to oranges’ situation.

4. Other High Quality Linux Graphics Tools

The list of open source useful applications that are compete competently with commercial equivalents is too long to cover comprehensively here.

However special mention has to go to the amazingly powerful Blender 3D, used for 3D design, video editing and special effects.

SCREENSHOT, Image Credit: blender.org

While arguably not be a complete substitute for Premiere, 3DS Max or Maya, Blender has become a rich and powerful platform — evidenced by Blender-powered, short films and games such as Big Buck Bunny, Sintel and Tears of Steel.

Big Buck Bunny: Created entirely in Blender.

Krita and MyPaint are two other graphic programs in addition to GIMP you can use. Paint.net for Windows is also a very viable Photoshop alternative.

Xara for vector graphics and Pencil for cartoons are also good. When you add FontForge (for fonts creation), Dia (for diagrams), or Draw from the LibreOffice package, you’ll see that you can do pretty well without a spending metaphorical dime.

These applications are just a sample of what’s available in the Linux world. Some are included in Linux distributions, while others need to be downloaded and installed separately.

If you don’t have the time to do it, you can get a graphics-focused Linux distribution, such as DreamStudio.

Dreamstudio includes all the applications listed above, plus some other graphics, sound, and video applications, like Darktable. Similar in function to Adobe Lightroom, Darktable helps you manage your digital negatives, view them through a zoomable light-table, as well as develop and enhance raw images .

Ready for Primetime?

Whether these applications can become your default editors is a question only you can answer. However, even if you decide they aren’t quite ready to completely replace your commercial suite yet, they may still may have a useful role in your toolkit.

Frequently I find it more efficient to use an open source application for many of the simple graphics tasks you might perform in a typical day — cropping, scaling and simple color tweaks.

Faster start-up times mean I’m often exporting from my open source app before it’s heavier commercial kin has had time to load.

And that can make a big difference to your productivity in a busy day.

As with many other decision in life, the choice of open source versus proprietary software isn’t only about the money.