> Latex was great in the DOS and early Windows era when the editing > software and the underlying hardware (x86 based PCs) were unable to > handle the graphic rich and numerically intense content that was > utilized in typical technical theses.... Today the issue of computing > power is rarely an issue and even the lowest end/ cheapest system is > probably more than adequate for most users. Likewise generic products > by Microsoft and others are so rich in features and are well entrenched > in the system that it is almost pointless to use anything else.
Hi Marlon, I'm not sure your pro-Microsoft view and suggestion that Latex-is-outdated is on-target. Incidentally, I used Lyx to format a book, and, inspite of being a beginner, found it really very helpful and intelligent in its approach. See what Wikipedia explains (rather well put): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX LaTeX is based on the idea that authors should be able to concentrate on writing within the logical structure of their document, rather than spending their time on the details of formatting. It encourages the separation of formatting from content, whilst still allowing manual typesetting adjustments where needed. By keeping the formatting details in a separate file from the text, it is often regarded as superior to word processors and most other desktop publishing systems, which allow trivially easy visual layout changes but tend to intertwine content and form so tightly that consistency and automation are often difficult. LaTeX also provides great flexibility in formatting while maintaining the identity of structure, which purely structural systems like SGML and XML do not directly address. LaTeX can be arbitrarily extended by using the underlying macro language for developing custom formats. For example, there are numerous commercial implementations of the whole TeX system (which includes LaTeX), and vendors may offer extra features like phone support and additional typefaces. LyX is a visual document processor that uses LaTeX for a back-end. TeXmacs is a free, WYSIWYG editor with similar functionalities as LaTeX, but a different typesetting motor. A number of popular commercial DTP systems use modified versions of the original TeX typesetting engine. The recent rise in popularity of XML systems and the demand for large-scale batch production of publication-quality typesetting from such sources has seen a steady increase in the use of LaTeX. END QUOTE. Of course, each tool is suitable for a particular job. I think tools like Latex score for writing books, doing a thesis or project report, or even writing an academic/seminar paper. My friend in Kerala, CVR (better known by his initials), visited Goa some time back, and we got him and his friends to deliver a talk at Verna's Padre Conceicao College of Engineering. They do some great work for top global commercial publishers like Elsivier -- Elsevier.com. This may be a simplistic arguement: there must be some reason why this firm chooses Free Software (over its proprietorial competitors), and cost is obviously not the issue here. Also, there must be some reason why a top global publisher prefers a firm which uses Free Software for its work. Maybe I'm getting rhetorical here, but after nearly four years of hassle-free computing -- no software crashes, no virii and data safe during this period -- maybe I know the answer ;-) FN
