Dear Sir, Though I find LaTeX + LyX to be a very good typesetting system, I dont understand all this bashing at other word processors in your Introduction to LyX document. In my opinion if one took at least ¼ the amount of time one needed to learn LaTeX, one would find out that modern Word Processors are indeed very capable tools. Styles have been supported, at least in Word, since quite some time and not just in most recent versions as quoted in the footnote on page 2. I already remember using Styles in Word 97 and frankly I cant imagine anybody writing anything longer than 4 pages without having any concept of Styles. You would go crazy! So in my opinion this isnt really one of the strong points of LaTeX. Rather I find the ability of being able to typeset mathematical equations as being one of the strongest points of LaTeX, together with being able to seamlessly insert bibliographies and cross-references. As for all the people who really enjoy typing markup to generate a typeset document, must be completely nuts! Thank God LyX exists!
This comment is more directed to LaTeX advocates rather than LyX since LyX helps alleviate this problem. I really dont understand all these people saying that LaTeX is a far superior system because it lets you concentrate on your writing. I cant understand how an article full of markup lets you concentrate on your writing rather than on the details! Its like saying I prefer writing my papers and publications in html rather than using a simple word processor since I dont have to worry about the layout. Why is it that people become so emotional about stuff that they didnt even conceive themselves? TeX is something that was born almost 40 years in a world of monochrome screens, text-based input devices, and no graphical interfaces! Is it really so difficult for people to realise that change is necessary?! /rant over Best regards, Patrick Camilleri
