[XeTeX] Meet the system...

[Hans Hagen]

Jonathan Kew wrote:
> On 16 Feb 2006, at 11:37 am, Martin Henning wrote:
>
>> I am one of the lucky Mac users out there, so I don't even have to 
>> worry why XeTeX work for me, it just works -
>
> That's the theory, anyhow! :-)
>
>> talking to other students, I noticed a great demand for information 
>> on why and how XeTeX does not exist for e.g. x86 linux - the 
>> explanation "because os x has better font handling" always leads a 
>> little war on "my os is better than yours" :/
>
> So would the Linux users you meet like to have something like XeTeX on 
> their platform? Curious what level of "demand" there is out there.....
i think that such demand is also driven by usage. traditionally the mac is more used in artistic publishing and therefore fonts and such are much more integrated (macosx ships with many good quality fonts); then there was a kind of shift from the main stream (and high end) desk top publishing systemes to windows; i'd say that the (decending) order of 'demand for systems that integrate with the platform and its fonts' is: mac, win, lin; it also has to do with expected levels of integration 

aother aspect is the willingness to buy fonts: as said, the mac is font heaven, and therefore a natural place for xetex; if someone needs that kind of stuff it pays off to buy a mac, just for the fonts you get with it; not that many tex users buy fonts and you need extensive fonts to let xetex go to the limit

Hans 




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