[tex-live] Ruby interpreter for Windows in the TeXLive distribution?

Giuseppe Bilotta bilotta78 at hotpop.com
Sun Jul 2 23:02:10 CEST 2006


On Sun, 02 Jul 2006 13:02:31 +0200, Hans Hagen wrote:

> Giuseppe Bilotta wrote:
>> Windows has made things worse, not better, by giving the illusion that
>> training is not needed.
>>
> hm, i more get the impression that people (kids) don't want that kind of 
> training, they just want to get started and learn while doing. Many 
> programs (as well windows as a whole, or a fresh linux destop) does 
> offer those 'introduction' and 'tips' things but how many (new) users  
> take the time to  follow the learning  route

Just because kids would like things to be in a certain way it doesn't
mean it should be so.

Please note that I'm not saying that everything possible should be
done to ensure that the installation and use of the programs is as
easy and comfortable as possible, but there are insurmuntable limits
to this. Otherwise, you end up with people like my father's colleague
who put all of his "documents" in a single Word file, printing off the
pages he needed each time he needed a certain document; and then
panicking when he had to send a single such "document" over via email.
Or like this other friend of mine who saw three "copies" of an
important document and deleted two of them ... except the "copies"
were links, and one of the things she deleted was the original
document. Or consider the way formatting is obtained by most simple
Word users ... (not to speak about the LaTeX users entering *math
mode* to obtain *italics*)

As I said, Windows gives an *illusion* of simplicity and that training
is not needed. But it is not so. And when "reality" strike and any
form of maintenance is required (which is more often than most people
might like to think) it's a thousand times more nightmarish.

This all being said, I repeat, I'm all for making the experience as
comfortable as possible for everybody.

-- 
Giuseppe "Oblomov" Bilotta

Hic manebimus optime



More information about the tex-live mailing list