Re: SEUL: feedback

[Gabriel Krabbe <satan@bofh.studfb.unibw-muenchen.de>]

On May 31, Arnold Hennig wrote regarding "SEUL: feedback": 
> 
> FILE FORMATS & USER PROGRAMS
> 
> >I think an end user install has to have a "productivity suite"
> >phylosophy.  Not to say we should make it a productivity suite, just to
> >include one.  I've recently installed StarOffice on my Redhat 4.2
> >    .................(snip)..............
> >The great thing about StarOffice is that (if I remember correctly), the
> >linux version is free for non-commercial use!  I think we should bundle
> 
> HOWEVER - my memory is that the current version of StarOffice is a beta
> that includes an expiration date, and that no promises have been made
> about the status of the final version. I don't expect it to be free, but I
> certainly wouldn't complain if I were wrong. This could use looking into.

stardivision has officially stated that staroffice for linux will
remain - for non-commercial use - free as long as linux is free.
that was the ceo, iirc, so i'm inclined to trust him on it.

> >As far as text exchange is concerned our target user could prefer a word
> >processer like StarOffice, Applixware... or TeX/LaTeX for his work. So 
> >we have to  provide tools to convert the DOS/Win/Mac-formats to the 
> >word processer or LaTeX format. 
> 
> Exactly!

it's definitely possible to convert html to/from (la)tex, it's a fair
enough idea to convert plain ascii to (la)tex, but converting from one
proprietary format to another is not the problem of the os, it's that
of the target program. take a look at word/corel draw/whatever and
think about who is responsible for the conversion. file/import is the
key; it's definitely beyond the scope of those who have naught to do
with the development of apps to worry about converting files between
them.

as for converting word et.al. to (la)tex: theoretically, this is certainly
possible, but i for one am convinced that there's no way to convert some
person's idea of what font to use when to an intelligent mix of \part,
\chapter, \section etc. word files have no structure, they have fonts.

[...]

> Perhaps, once the project gets to that point, the area in which I can help
> most would be in editing the documentation. I have over the years been
> pretty good at explaining things to people in ways they can understand,
> and this is an area that really will need attention for our target user.

wonderful. documentation is one thing i absolutely cannot write. <g>

-- 
Gabriel
As easy as 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716

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