I Love Inkscape
I was tasked to draw a particularly nasty, complicated diagram at work this week--an 11" x 17" flowchart-type-thing. In a move that would probably have given the firm IT managers fits, I used a non-approved application to do it: Inkscape.
Inkscape is a Free and Open-Source vector graphics program. The chart had to be scaled easily and quickly manipulated. Inkscape allowed me to draw the chart, draw all the connecting arrows, and keep everything tidy with a minimum of fuss. My superiors were tremendously pleased by the results. Inkscape made a poor cube-serf like me look like a pretty competent draftsman.
Of course, I couldn't resist playing around with it. I think I might start dabbling in this "photoillustration" style:
The best part about all this--it's free. I, personally, can't afford a commercial vector-graphics package, so the free-beer aspect works well for me. But the "free as in freedom" or "free as in speech" part of Free Software really matters here at work: since Inkscape and its components are GPL, I have the freedom to download and run the software. The time spent downloading and learning the package is nothing compared to the bureaucratic hassle of having to bug our somnolent IT department for a vector drawing program that nobody else in the firm will use. Nor will the management have to fear the jackbooted thugs of the Business Software Alliance.
This is what Free Software is all about. I did my job, saved my boss a bundle, and got a valuable tool.
Inkscape is a Free and Open-Source vector graphics program. The chart had to be scaled easily and quickly manipulated. Inkscape allowed me to draw the chart, draw all the connecting arrows, and keep everything tidy with a minimum of fuss. My superiors were tremendously pleased by the results. Inkscape made a poor cube-serf like me look like a pretty competent draftsman.
Of course, I couldn't resist playing around with it. I think I might start dabbling in this "photoillustration" style:
The best part about all this--it's free. I, personally, can't afford a commercial vector-graphics package, so the free-beer aspect works well for me. But the "free as in freedom" or "free as in speech" part of Free Software really matters here at work: since Inkscape and its components are GPL, I have the freedom to download and run the software. The time spent downloading and learning the package is nothing compared to the bureaucratic hassle of having to bug our somnolent IT department for a vector drawing program that nobody else in the firm will use. Nor will the management have to fear the jackbooted thugs of the Business Software Alliance.
This is what Free Software is all about. I did my job, saved my boss a bundle, and got a valuable tool.