On Wed, 5 Sep 2001 02:30:14 +0200 wrote Giovanni Tummarello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> For how sad it seems i think i am back with word 2000 which works seamlessly in
> doing this kind of operations..
>
> This opens up a question: if you leave alone the fact that lyx is free.. and
> that the underlying latex is supposely bug free. why features does lyx offer
> that word doesnt? (the contrary isnt really to be asked :) ) . I mean.. all the
> manual is boasting about has (internal references, footnotes etc etc.. ) are
> all things that have existed for at least 5 years in Word, and the equation
> editor its the same (if not plain better) than the one offered in Lyx.
>
> Really this is not meant to be polemic or anything.. but i would be rather
> happy if someone offered me a good reason why does it stil lmake sense to use
> it under a windows environment.
You are totally right, regarding the footnotes, section headers, etc. and I
wonder why the manual still quotes all that (may be becouse at the time
LaTeX was new, no other word processor could do this kind of stuff.)
Also, as Windoof and Word come from the same manufacturer and SPSS for
Windows is designed for seamless interaction with W..., using a "designed
for Unix" program has drawbacks.
Still, there are some advantage more than using a program without paying
mony to the richest man in the world (some of them might not be applicable
to you, of course):
- the quality of math output is still better with TeX.
- Once you learned to use BibTeX (or some GUI-variants like TkBibTeX),
citations and the References are far more easy. (Although there are
(shareware) macro-scripts for Bibliography for Word as well.)
- More possibilities to "tweak and twiddle" (using raw LaTeX or TeX)
- The file is stored in text format i.e. human readable and can be processed
by any editor (if you know what you do and take care (e.g. backup before))
- The program runs very stable (at least on Unix) and if a crash happens, in
most cases a valid emergency saving is done.
(Also, if there goes something wrong with LaTeX, dvips, or printing, LyX
will not be affected as these are independent programs -> the original
text is not at risc when doing preview or printing.)
- Also, if the file is corrupted for some reason (e.g. foulty floppy), there
is still a change that some stuff survived and can be reused.
- No problems with big projects (doing a dissertation all in word is a risky
task)
- Friendly and prompt support in the lyx-users list!
So the decision is up to you. I also depends on the context:
Cooperation with word-only-users becomes difficult, cooperation with LaTeX
users more easy.
If you happen to have a Linux and a W... machine (or both OS on one), LyX
has the advantage to run on both.)
(Regarding the problem with SPSS tables, see my separat answer.)
Guenter
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