This article correctly noted that the strongest presence of content creation in Linux is in animation and high-end digital imaging. The meat-and-potatoes tools for a print workflow, however, aren't there. I've tried a number of GNU applications that originated on Linux (via a program that allows them to run on OS X) and none of them come close to professional level tools such as Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign. GIMP, the leading image editor, doesn't support CMYK. There are an assortment of vector art programs, but they are very simple and low-level in their capabilities. There is one promising page layout application called Scribus, but it is currently at version 1.0 and is still very rough around the edges. Plus, font support in Linux is limited. So, Linux does not currently offer any useful possibilities for print production; it is a least a couple of years away from that.
Linux is useless for print production and design
This article correctly noted that the strongest presence of content creation in Linux is in animation and high-end digital imaging. The meat-and-potatoes tools for a print workflow, however, aren't there. I've tried a number of GNU applications that originated on Linux (via a program that allows them to run on OS X) and none of them come close to professional level tools such as Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign. GIMP, the leading image editor, doesn't support CMYK. There are an assortment of vector art programs, but they are very simple and low-level in their capabilities. There is one promising page layout application called Scribus, but it is currently at version 1.0 and is still very rough around the edges. Plus, font support in Linux is limited. So, Linux does not currently offer any useful possibilities for print production; it is a least a couple of years away from that.