Am 11.02.2019 um 06:10 schrieb Richard Kimberly Heck:
Yes, we decided no longer to offer a bundled installer. That was a decision we made as a group.
My point of view is: A group of non-Windows developers (at least not on a daily basis) and with lots of background knowledge made a decision what is good for Windows users that are no developers and have no background knowledge.
however, and we have not heard any complaints from users.
This is a bad argument because as it is LyX many will fail to install it and if you need half an hour just to read and learn how to install, you won't use it. The main competitor for free writing software is LibreOffice and for this you don't reed in advance, just click a few times in the installer you you get a ready to use program and can focus on learning the program itself rather than to learn how it works in its background. I mean when LyX was founded the goal was to hide LaTeX - to avoid that users need to learn that much before they can start writing.
I see you re-introduced the mirror code, as well. The plan was to download those files from our own server---we have these somewhere on lyx.org---but I had not found time yet to do that.
I don't understand your rationale because the mirror feature was there for good reasons. LyX.org was quite often dead or slow and users needed to be able to get dictionaries anyway. Thus long ago we made the decision to use SourceForge's mirrors to have online dictionaries in every case.
I think we were all sorry that happened,
Have you had a look at the download statistics? Does LyX got more downloads than before or less? That is what counts, not what we developers like or not. Yes, providing a user-friendly installer is stress but when I want to get users I cannot just do what pleases me as developer the most. But that is my main problem with LyX - the development focus on developers needs, not on the needs of average users. Average users don't need a dozen more expert features every release but a better workflow allowing them to write more in shorter time, to collaborate with colleagues, good and up-to date documentation etc. I got the feeling that most core LyX developers are working at universities and institutes while the majority of users have business jobs where time matters. When you have to deliver a documentation of a device, a SOP for your colleagues, a project report etc. you don't have time to fiddle around with packages but must be ready within the time frame your boss defined. One could work everywhere as long as one understands that the vast majority of persons writing texts are no computer specialists. LyX drifted in my experience bit by bit towards pleasing at first users with computer background knowledge instead of thinking what average users needs and how more users can be attracted. Developers preferably put in what they need personally. regards Uwe
