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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Johannes Hielscher wrote:<br>
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<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:20181212145115.55f49f0c@hordevm">
<pre wrap="">
Why not give them a pointer to this very discussion? All in all, this is
an open mailing list, with archives open to the public. May the
officials and PR strategists at Microsoft get their own picture of what
fellows they shall grant a forum within their “store”…
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I think that discussion here have been frank and open, but not
always couched in a way that reflects Microsoft in the most positive
light. On that basis, I would suggest that we do <i>not</i> refer
Microsoft here, but rather agree on a letter to be sent. I repeat
my more recent draft for further comment.<br>
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<blockquote type="cite">
<div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-unicode"> Draft letter;
comments welcomed.<br>
<br>
Dear <whoever> — <br>
<br>
I write on behalf of the TeX Users' Group, and on behalf of
(literally) millions of TeX users worldwide. TeX is a
typesetting system without equal, created by Professor Donald E.
Knuth in 1978 in order to allow him to re-typeset <i>The Art of
Computer Programming </i>to the same standards as those
achieved when the first edition was published using traditional
hot-lead technology. Over the next four years Professor Knuth
re-wrote substantial parts of TeX and released TeX version 2, to
be followed about a decade later by version 3, the version
almost universally used today. Almost since its inception, TeX
has run on Microsoft platforms — Eberhard Mattes wrote emTeX for
MS/DOS, others developed versions for Microsoft Windows, and
until now there have been no significant difficulties in
supporting each new version of Windows as it was released.<br>
<br>
But recently, an <i>impasse</i> has been reached, with the
announcement of Windows 10 "S-mode". As you know, far better
than we, S-mode is intended to lock down Windows such that no
program that does not come directly from the Microsoft Store can
be installed and run. Having consulted the <a
href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/windows-10-s-planning">technical
guideline</a>s describing the constraints placed on a program
which is to run in S-mode, TeX's development/implementation team
are very concerned that because (for example) TeX makes
widespread use of CMD.exe, that in itself is sufficient reason
for TeX to be disbarred.<br>
<br>
We would therefore be very grateful if you could nominate
someone within Microsoft with whom we could liaise directly,
with a view to ascertaining how these obstacles to the inclusion
of TeX (and its adjunct programs) in the Microsoft Store
portfolio might best be overcome.<br>
<br>
Many thanks in advance for any help you can offer :<br>
Philip Taylor<br>
for and on behalf of the TeX Users' Group.<br>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<Signature><br>
Philip Taylor</div>
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