tlug: Printed media?? Who needs TeX?

[John De Hoog <washi@example.com>]

"Manuel M. T. Chakravarty" <chak@example.com> wrote:

> I think, it is usually good to use an input language that is
> widely used and supported, as you have more tools etc.  And
> I don't think there is another text formatting language that 
> combines LaTeX's power and widespread use.  Of course more
> people use HTML than LaTeX, but than HTML is a joke when it
> comes to serious typesetting.  (Imagine writing a paper in
> HTML and getting it published in some conference proceedings 
> -- what an embarrassment!)

Sometimes I worry about you people in academia. ;-) Don't you know by
now that printed output is going the way of the typewriter, and that
digital output on flat screens and publishing via the Internet are the
direction the world is headed? Why are you still worried about
typesetting? HTML is flexible and free.  The layout and type size are
controlled by the reader. Searching for keywords is instantaneous. Even
the language can be changed by some of the rough-and-ready translation
programs available today.

TeX is a great typesetting system, but who needs it anymore? Even at my
age, and with my background as a former publishing company editor, I can
see this coming. Who reads printed computer magazines these days? By the
time the printer gets around to printing them and the post office has
lugged them to your door, they are already old news. The Internet is the
fastest and easiest medium for getting information to the public, and it
doesn't even require cutting down trees or hauling tons of freight.

Is this one more example where the universities are the last
conservative bastion?
--
John De Hoog, Tokyo     <dehoog@example.com>

washi@example.com      

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