[Openicc] Linux CM ideology .. Linux CM proposal

[Chris Murphy]

On Feb 8, 2011, at 8:00 PM, Robert Krawitz wrote:

> Commercial closed-source products don't allow you to mess around
> inside if it doesn't quite do what you want (and I've seen some people
> want to do some really oddball things, like put very strange chemicals
> into the ink tanks -- basically repurpose inkjet printers to do some
> funky chemistry).

My sample size is 1 commercial product, but it does have the functionality of Gutenprint albeit not at the same level of granularity for all features (it does not have 255 levels of control for paper thickness): but does have control over droplet sizes, per channel ink limits, deviceN (per colorant), total ink limiting, linearization, ICC  profiles including device link profiles, a pile of workflow tools and print drivers. So I understand the valid desire for substantial levels of control beyond what Epson's drivers provide.

>  And you're at the mercy of the vendor if it decides
> to drop support for the software.  <shrug>So we have a philosophical
> difference...</shrug>

Well it's kinda like saying we're at the mercy of Robert Krawitz's going concern on planet earth. Yes the code is open source and someone else could pick up the project, or maybe they won't. Just like someone could buy the rights to the dropped commercial product and pick up that project. But it's true viability is quite different between commercial and open source. You don't even need one user to justify features in open source, just will. Nevertheless, I'm not attempting to suggest there is no room or no point for an alternative approach to a commercial product. It's just that given what I'm hearing is desired, there are solutions for that now that really don't cost that much in the context of running a business. And even for amateurs, usually if they are working on really oddball stuff, the focus is on the oddball stuff. Not learning the nitty gritty of something that's merely a tool in the chain of getting to their end goal.

Chris Murphy