[texhax] installation of TEX

[Barbara Beeton]

    windows XP won't read the documentation files--wants to know what program  
    they were written in, TEX is not on their list, and Windows can't find out
    from the internet.

there have been several responses to this query,
but i think all of them have been a bit off the mark.

this may not be the correct answer either, but i know
that there are quite a few files on ctan that have
the extension .doc (more than 300) -- which also
happens to be the extension for word files.

the latex .doc files follow the old convention for
documentation files (processable by docstrip).  the
"new" file extension for these is .dtx .

trying to read a latex .doc file via a browser is
an exercise in futility and frustration; you are not
allowed to substitute any other reader than word (at
least i haven't been able to figure out how, and
i've tried!), and word simply throws up.

my tactic has been to transfer the file in question
to a unix box and read it there.  of course, it might
be easier for some to rename the file to something.tex
which i think would allow one to choose notepad as
the reading program even if .tex isn't recognized.

i wish all .doc files would go away.
							-- bb