Message-ID:  <15947.1251370748@cl.cam.ac.uk>
Date:         Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:59:08 +0100
Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project
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Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <LATEX-L@LISTSERV.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE>
From: Robin Fairbairns <Robin.Fairbairns@CL.CAM.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: [REQ] "TeX: Rejoining the mainstream" - comments requested
To: LATEX-L@LISTSERV.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE
In-Reply-To:  Your message of Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:50:40 +0100. 
              <A969C9F865F27B428A8E60E39D3CED152011D030C7@KIELDERCMS1.open.ac.uk>
Precedence: list
Status: R

(ah good, the reply-to doesn't cause it to go to jf)

J.Fine <J.Fine@OPEN.AC.UK> wrote:

> I'll be giving my talk "TeX: rejoining the mainstream" at EuroTeX next
> week.  Looking at the participants list, it seems that no-one from the
> LaTeX3 project will be there.  That is a disappointment.

fwiw, i had thought of suggesting that i should go (i would have taken
my wife, who's learning dutch).  in the event, the required activation
energy proved more than i could cope with.
 
> A large part of the presentation will be based on a talk I gave at the
> UK Unix Users Group summer meeting, which is available here. 
> 
> <http://mathtran.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/mathtran/trunk/docs/mainstream_tex/ukuug2009.pdf>

i've read this.  i'm glad i'm not going -- i would have difficulty not
boiling over...

it would be nice to hear hans and taco responding to his claim that
luatex is a _big mistake_...

> In it I make some comments on LaTeX, which you might wish to respond
> to, if you were there.

unfortunately, much of what he says is reasonable.  of course, being jf
he's carefully painted us in the worst possible light.

what i could do is prime kate jeary (u cam computing service) who i know
well.  she is the sort of person who can occupy all time available with
a single question -- a sweet (if eccentric) person who's difficult to
understand at the best of times.  (being a bit deaf helps: i often
simply don't hear what she says.)

> Comments by email are welcome, and might be incorporated into the slides.

ho ho ho.

note he's got fundamentalists like phil taylor and kees vd laan to back
up his more extreme positions.  phil and kees don't match jf for
obnoxiousness, even so.

r