I have just started to take a look at the capabilites and features of Visio, and I really must say that there are a lot cool features which make the work Visio very easy. There are numerous small and big things, which make the work just smooth. For example a intelligent subroutine to align just written text in a shape, or how to make the rotation a easy and intuitive work.

It is of course possible to explain these features purely with text, but I think a much better idea is to create videos and upload them to youtube. And than link these videos in the wiki page. It is a lot easier to capture the desktop while showing a feature, then to describe with hundreds of words.

I have a lot of things to do right now, but despite that I will try to create some videos the next days and upload them to youtube. But first I need to find a good desktop capturing tool to create the videos. I am working on a ubuntu 8.10 'ibex' machine. Does anyone knows a good desktop capturing tool for ubuntu/GNUlinux?

Listing and looking at the features of Visio is the first step to create a new TechDrawing plugin for InkScape. The next step will be to evaluate these features and see if the can be improves, or replaced be better features or ideas to solve a specific problem.

We also need to figure out which type of diagrams to support. And also which type of pattern/symbols we need. Viseio has a speciel Template system, which I will also try to explain in a video.

I dont know when I am able to create and cut the videos, but I will try my best to make it quick.

I also hope that anyone of you guys has a copy of Visio too, so we can split out some work and create more videos in a shorter manner of time.