[OS X TeX] Finally we are grown up

[Alex Hamann]

I was planing not to comment this thread given my lack of expertise.  
But I am puzzled by the direction this discussion has taken.

> Am 21.11.2006 um 19:16 schrieb Jeffrey Weimer:

>> On Nov 20, 2006, at 4:11 PM, Claus Gerhardt wrote:
>
> As I follow this thread with great interest, I am amazed by how the  
> discussions seem to oscillate between two poles - ueber Vertrauen  
> and ueber Angst. This particular note sums up something for me.  
> Forgive me the melodrama in my comments as a means of ueber  
> expression ...
>
>> My only ambition  is to convince a few other users that installing  
>> TeXLive (TUG) (not any tex) is easy. In my humble opinion any  
>> further support questions can be dealt with by this list in toto,  
>> where we have many experts, e.g., you, and I am pretty sure that  
>> no serious problems will arise.
>
> Oh gosh, your confidence is daunting. I wish I could feel the same.  
> Perhaps, I should just grow up and learn how to work with  
> AppleScripts, juggle shell commands, and set environment variables  
> so I can continue to use LaTeX via TeXLive.
>
I can not see why you would have to do so. Whoever does not feel up  
to the task of installing TeXLive by following Claus'  instructions  
(including me, by the way) should be happy with the upcoming version  
of MacTeX. Given the dark future we (referring to all of us who  
heavily depend on somebody to help us setting up a working TeX  
distribution) were thinking was expecting us in 2007, isn' t it a  
good thing that TeXLive seems unexpectedly easy to set up on a Mac?  
Of course I might not see the risks but what does it help to cry for  
i-Installer and teTex when they are dead or no longer supported?
Sure we can be concerned, but I think the future looks brighter now  
than some week ago - thanks to Claus and Dick and others who threw  
themselves into TeXLive. Whoever is really sceptic can get a working  
Tex installation from i-Installer right now and be comfortable for  
quite some time before he might have to update and/or migrate.


> Oh, but wait, hope is on the horizon in the form of something  
> called ???? MacTex ????
> Joy, joy, joy!

Why is that more troublesome than using i-Installer (which - by the  
way - I am very grateful for making my first steps in TeX so easy.  
Thank you, Gerben.)
I was not aware of the fact that MacTex will be substantially  
different in terms of user interaction with the installation routine  
from  MacTex current distribution. If I missed something here, please  
somebody clarify that.
>
> Herzlichen Dank Gerben Wierda! Your efforts at bringing order to  
> the LaTeX->MacOSX installation process truly have kept me from  
> going insane.
>
I agree
> Whoever picks up the path from here (if you are listening in),  
> please do not forget, people such as me do exist. We like LaTeX  
> alot, we want to use LaTeX as much as possible on our MacOS X  
> systems, and we still get a bit anxious about being asked to mess  
> around at the shell/Applescript/... levels just to be able to work  
> with LaTeX.

like me, too. But I thought this somebody you are referring to was  
Dick Koch and the LaTeX distribution you are asking for was MacTex.

My concluding one:
Being left without i-Installer is sad. Having alternatives is good.  
Finding out that these alternatives might be soon and easily  
available is great.



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