From: jcburt@gatsibm.larc.nasa.gov () Subject: Re: A Better WordProcessor Idea Date: 24 May 1993 14:31:32 GMT
In article <1993May22.174423.24381@spang.Camosun.BC.CA> dbarker@spang.Camosun.BC.CA (Deryk Barker) writes:
>yseeley@leland.Stanford.EDU (Yonik Christopher Seeley) writes:
>
[...stuff deleted...]
>As for the claim by AT&T that WYSIWIG Wp didn't reduce the development
>time compared to LaTex (quoted by somebody earlier): did they factor
>in the learning curve at all? I started using Ami Pro productively (as
>did my wife) in a few minutes; I don't have the *time* to learn LaTex,
>wonderful though it might be.
Lets see... what you can learn to do in a few minutes in Ami Pro, WP, W4W, etc...
Type a letter...figure out how to set tabs so your headings/date/address
are correct, let see, where's that set up menu, what mouse/function key/shift key/
control key combination do you use...okay, now type...finished the letter,
now its time to save it...hmmm whats that key combination again...okay, lets
print...look at the manual or cheatsheet (template) for the key combination...
Not too bad...(took a friend of mine half a day to get this far...took another
friend 10 minutes...:-)
Lets see... typing a letter in LaTeX...
\documentstyle{letter}
\begin{document}
\address{from address...}
\signature{my name}
\begin{letter}{to address...}
start typing the text of the letter...
\closing{Sincerely,}
\end{letter}
\end{document}
okay, now type "latex letter"
"dvips letter"
Hmmm...doesn't seem *too* much more difficult than WP or any of the others...
The "learning curve" for *any* word processor depends upon what you want to
do, and what you already know...a "few minutes" is just enough to get your
foot in the door with *any* word processor (including TeX/LaTeX). To become
*proficient* with a particular system takes many hours of use...True, there
is more to learn with TeX/LaTeX, but it can also *do* alot more than your
typical word processor...compare apples to apples...
John