[OS X TeX] Plain TeX and OS X [slightly OT]

[Bruno Voisin]

Le samedi 27 juillet 2002, à 08:58 , Siep a écrit :

> Don't forget the role of LaTeX as a file format for structured 
> documents.
> This is what makes it an option for scientific publishers. But if you 
> want
> to use it for precise layout it is a PITA.

Yes, I agree, my reason for switching initially from plain TeX to LaTeX 
was the preparation of a paper for a journal which had an in-house LaTeX 
style. Since then, as a co-organizer of a conference and later in my 
scientific activity I had to manipulate LaTeX styles (now classes) 
myself.

That being said:

- More and more of my colleagues are switching to MS Word and I must be 
one of the very last in my lab still faithful to TeX/LaTeX. I was told 
some journals are now proposing in-house Word styles (or templates, or 
however it's called) as alternatives to LaTeX styles, so maybe the 
necessity to use LaTeX for submitting papers electronically is also 
gradually vanishing.

- I was told (but never verified, as I don't have it) that Adobe 
InDesign achieves about the same typesetting performances as TeX/LaTeX, 
and even that it uses the TeX engine (or some part of it, maybe for 
hyphenation) internally. So again, this would make, if it's actually 
true, TeX/LaTeX less indispensable (but still infinitely less expensive).

- With the rapid development of XML/HTML/MathML, Unicode, and PDF, I 
feel right now a bit pessimistic about the future of TeX/LaTeX if it 
doesn't adapt fast enough to these new formats.

FWIW

Bruno Voisin


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