linux in government

Doug.Palmer at csiro.au Doug.Palmer at csiro.au
Tue Nov 12 10:25:10 EST 2002


> CVS/Emacs/EDiff? 

Not if you want to send finished copy for people to look at and comment on.

> Also, have you had a look at LyX (www.lyx.org)?

It's nice, athough I've never personally warmed to it. 

But there's a fundamental dichotomy at work that WYSIWYG(ish) editors don't
really address. Whoever's writing the document (book, thesis, etc. something
that requires a bit more effort than dashing off a letter or memo) is
largely concerned with logical structure and has direct access to their own
thought processes. LaTeX is pretty good for that, since it concentrates on
structure and even a novice writer can get a handle on the more basic stuff
(eg. \begin{itemize} \emph{} etc.) -- and can use a TeXnician for any macros
that they want if they're that organised. But whoever's reading and
commenting on the document wants the fully laid out output, so that they can
comment on what the final product is without having to navigate the commands
that represent the thought processes of the author.



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