Dear Scribus software, We know each others for quite some time now. We met each other at the end of my graphic design studies; at that time I was in a romance with InDesign after a short flirt with QuarkXPress. Sure, InDesign was pretty, but sooooo closed-minded and arrogant... InDesign though it knew how things ought to be and there was simply no way to discuss. After my studies, I decided to quit InDesign. I wanted full freedom and without you I couldn't have reached it.
Our story hasn't always been easy: we had to deal with angry printers when they ripped our perfectly valid but incredibly "fat" PDFs, with colleagues with mismatching versions or, more importantly together when I struggled with your duplicating styles, missing tables or spot colors images, and when you pointed out my lack of patience when I was under-estimating your efforts to correct your bugs and support new PDF standards. But together we have accomplished great things, ranging from simple flyers to complex objects like 320 pages books, either for self-initiated projects or professional commissions. Our families have been of a great help too us -- be it on the mailing-list or by IRC -- and our colleagues too. Yet, I nowadays feel sometimes moody when it comes to talk to you, to interact with you. I feel like after three years I have learned your melody and, even if I won't leave you, I'm missing the little sparkle I saw in your eyes at first sight. It has nothing to do with your bugs: you've been working a lot on them and I really value your efforts but it has never been such a big deal to me. I actually find it beautiful that you expose your bugs contrary to the others. No, It is more like we are not talking the same language: I tell you "contextual design", you answer "stability" or "PDF export". Again, I understand your reasons but what I really want with you is to do another kind of design. We should look more carefully into what we really want, me as a graphic designer and you as a free software. I want you to inspire me, and I want to inspire you. Let's look around us: so many things are going on right now; so many possibilities are offered. We have a card to play here and I know together we can do it, but we will have to be wild and invent our future. Love, Alex
