[tex-live] Perl for Windows

[Hans Hagen]

Reinhard Kotucha wrote:
>>>>>> "Fabrice" == Fabrice Popineau <Fabrice.Popineau at supelec.fr> writes:
>>>>>>             
>
>   > * David Kastrup <dak at gnu.org> writes:
>   >> I mean, get real.  This sort of stuff is supposed to be the
>   >> outcome of usability labs?  KDE or GNOME would get drowned in
>   >> ridicule for such antics.
>
>   >> No, a lot of things are quite inconvenient under Windows by
>   >> design.  And I don't understand why they keep them time and
>   >> again, or even make them worse.
>
>   > Maybe because they have such a large base of users who aren't
>   > interested in programming computers, or update them or doing
>   > system administration or other non productive task, but only to
>   > use them.
>
> Sorry, but I didn't met a Windows user yet who is really happy with
> Windows.  Windows users are a special species:  They are completely
> unhappy with Windows but they are not much motivated to try anything
> else. 
>   

on my desk is a boot "windows xp annoyances for geeks" and i've once read parts of "word annyoances": funny and honnest books; i wish there were a "linux annyoances" and "tex annoyances" because that i (and users) should not feel lonely in their fight against the odds -) 


==== intermezzo

(1) maybe one complains less if something's free (or more when one has paid for it) 
(2) i paid for nearly all my linux cd's so when things don't work i complain about linux (but not on lists) 
(3) when installing my mums computer i wanted to give linux a try (only brower and mail needed anyway) but after two days of struggling with the wireless i decided to buy a copy of windows (so that we don't end up with an unhappy linxu user); and let me mention: i had help from a guy who spends the whole day professionally working with all kind of linuxes
(4) when discussing such things on needs to keep in mind that many windows (and mac) users started using it when linux desktops were way behind (and even now some apps that runs smoothly on win/mac don't run that way on linux)
(5) using linux has definitely advantages when you use certain tools that are not available on other platforms (but how many texies need them)
(6) when solving a problem with an os, i prefer to google into 'it sucks and does not work' than into 15 suggested solutions that don't work but cost me time 
(7) linux users have the freedoms to adapt their software (although i can suppress that urge -) but windows users have the freedom to complain 

etc etc etc ... discussions like this depends on the what experience and arguments one brings along and there is no right and wrong; we have a freedom to choose and be (un)happy with the os we choose, the car we drive, the books we read, etc 

this thread is a bit like one about using tex versus msword (or its clone open office); why should we feel an urge to convince happy word users to switch to tex and become unhappy tex users? 

====== tex

so, how about tex (and the future) then 

i got the feeling that which each year of tex live the 'let's make something great for all platforms and treat them equal' were coming more close to 'tex live is for linxu geeks only' (the split in win/lin code base is the most prominent sign of this)

i wonder if it wouldn't be better to think about: 

- texlive as a tds complient resource thing only
- keep the binaries (and platform things) out of the game 

that way we can have 

- tex live + linuxtex (vendor dependent variants) 
- tex live + miktex
- tex live + ptex (pretty good cjk distribution)
- tex live + cross-platform-tex 

etc. it saves a lot of discussion, we no longer need to maintain the same binary set for each platform, it would open roads for (indepedent) binary installers, etc

it's not so different from what happened last year 

(to be honnest, i think that the tex community is not (or no longer) capable of thinking cross platform)

Hans 

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