Letters to the Editor
The Age
Thursday November 19, 2009
Chocolate supportREGARDING the story "Down to the nuts and bolts" on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (right) in Livewire (5/11), when I have anything to do with IT, I do RTFM but if this fails, I call in the experts and offer them chocolate frogs if they can fix it fast. Most IT people tell me they are used to abuse, not confectionery, so this often works wonders. My passion is for surfing and it's an activity where the average practitioner has a good chance of understanding how their equipment is made and repairing it when it gets a ding. In fact, some surfboards, such as my 9'2", seem to catch more waves with a profusion of dings!Alison Aprhys, TorquayGo open sourceBARRY Duff (Letters 5/11) is right in claiming that many software packages are better value than the "industry standard" software.However, there is even better value in open source software, which is usually free to download and is guaranteed not to contain any hidden nasties. In the case he highlights, image manipulation program Gimp is freely available for Windows, Mac and Linux and offers almost all the facilities of Adobe Photoshop. The same may be said of Inkscape vis-a-vis Adobe Illustrator, and OpenOffice vis-a-vis MS Office. All of these offer a variety of output options, including open standards, and Gimp and OpenOffice are standard in some Linux distributions. You don't need to buy over-priced packages or risk pirated software; there is a world of dependable free stuff out there.David Skinner, MulgraveLook to the starsIN RESPONSE to the letter by Peter Bromley (5/11), it warmed my heart to read that you go outside and "look up" and feel, as Carl Sagan said, "we are made of the same stuff €” the elements in our bodies were created in the hearts of stars" and that you felt a sense of awe. Peter, you would make a fine astrologer!J. Edwards, SandringhamSend letters to the editor, livewire@theage.com.au
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