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<font size=3>At 03:55 PM 7/23/2003 -0400, doug waud wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I don't know exactly what you mean
by this but suspect you refer to useage. As is usual, and contrary to a
lot of popular belief, this is determined not by technical merit but by
marketting. The wide use of a dog like Micro$oft Windows demonstrates
that point. Certainly the great perponderance of those writing documents
appear to use
M$Word.</font></blockquote><x-tab> </x-tab>Is
it politically correct on this list to trash Microsoft and show destain
for money? If so, I must protest. Microsoft is the best thing that ever
happened to computer users, ever. It will never, never be replaced by
user unfriendly software like linux or TeX. Never. They are much too hard
to use for anyone except dedicated hackers and professionals that need
their special capacities.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>I use TeX
and LaTeX, and I know them quite well. They are marvellous, but difficult
to use. Most of my colleagues, even those who do LOTS of math for a
living, never get beyond Scientific Word. I am the only economist I know
who can really hack LaTeX code and program in TeX. And it probably has
hurt my productivity as a researcher. I do it as a hobby.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>TeX
produces great-looking stuff (I prepared a camera-ready book for a major
press with hacked LaTeX code, and it looks beautiful). But the
programming language is about as klunky as one can imagine, with
\expandafter and \csname and all sorts of other constructions that would
make an object-oriented programmer weep.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>As for
money, Bill Gates is the greatest humanitarian charitable giver in the
history of the human race, and the profits Microsoft makes are minuscule
in comparison to the power he has given people to control information
without being beholden to the technocratic gurus of this world.<br><br>
Best,<br><br>
Herb <br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3>Herbert
Gintis
<br>
Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of
Massachusetts
<br>
External Faculty, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM <br>
15 Forbes Avenue, Northampton, MA 01060 <br>
413-586-7756 (Home Office) 206-984-9873 (Fax)<br>
Recent papers are posted on my
<a href="http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~gintis">web site</a>.<br>
Get <b>Game Theory Evolving</b> (Princeton, 2000) at
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0691009430/qid=1057311870/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-8882889-4632849?v=glance&s=books">Amazon.com</a>.<br>
<b>Please Note: New Email Address is hgintis@comcast.net<br>
Quote of the Week: Vivere militare est.<br>
Seneca</font></b></html>