>> From: Matthew Emmett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Cowboy) writes: >> >> > While I agree in principal, and acknowledge that the prefered method does >> > not fit my preference, I submit that there are cases ( such as a crippled >> > system where various word processors will not work ) when ANY meta >> > info within a document is a bad thing. >> > >> > One of the strong points of *nix text formatting systems, has been that >> > plain text can be formatted any way the reader likes. >> > >> > Since pure text versions tend to be much smaller than formatted versions, >> > may I suggest that both be available ? It's far easier to format plain >> > text >> > than it is to UN-format a meta document, particularly when the various >> > word processors available will not work for whatever reason. >> >> I strongly disagree that it is easier to "format plain text than it is >> to UN-format a meta document". Take, for example, perl's perldoc. >> The documents are "meta-documents", and rendering them to nicely >> formatted plain-text is dead simple: >> >> $ perldoc -t -f splice
That may be true of perldoc, but does it also apply to TeX or to Info, or HTML, or ..... >> However, if I were presented a plain-text version of the above, and I >> wanted to format it into another format (man style for example) I'd >> have to muddle around and insert the appropriate meta-data. >> >> >> >> I guess what I'm saying is, it is easy (IMHO) to go from meta-data to >> non meta-data. If one needs all docs in plain text for when they >> cripple their system (how often is that going to happen when the hurd >> matures anyways? :), they can simply render them to text! Your point is understood. I simply submit that some universal format is better than proprietary anything. I understand that the standard is info files, a reader which I've yet to get working before a new version come out, or an update to a system, which renders the working version broken, and the documents unreadable, or with great difficulty at best. Based on my years of experience, I stand by plain, ASCII text. It's served me well through 15 versions of Win9x, 8 versions of Win3.x, I-don't-know-how-many-versions of Linux, NT, and others. Through it all, text is the ONLY one that remains fully compatible, and un-broken regardless. Anyhow, I believe this is off-topic, and already decided. -- Cowboy You will be reincarnated as a toad; and you will be much happier.
