mjohnson@Apple.COM (Mark Johnson) (10/20/88)
In article <6018@csli.STANFORD.EDU> wilson@csli.UUCP (Nathan Wilson) writes: > >I just finished downloading all the Technotes from the sumex archive. >They appear to all be from the recent update, however I do have one >gripe. They are still all in MacWrite format. It seems that Apple >has no business continuing to force that brain damaged (personal >opinion) editor down peoples throats, particularly hackers who almost >exclusively use 'pure' text editors. I know that most word processors >have the ability to read MacWrite format documents but they tend to be >quite slow, and slightly off in various little unaesthetic ways >(aesthetics being the presumed goal of putting the notes in something >more that TEXT format in the first place.. I have contemplated and >even begun the tedious process of converting all 200+ technotes to >TEXT format, and had a few questions. First, has anyone already done >this so I can avoid doing it? Would anyone else have a use for them >and am I allowed to distribute them? I was thinking about making them >TeachText documents and was wondering how people get PICTs into such >and how to create ttro documents (these are the teach text documents >with the funny icon that looks like a bunch of hieroglyphs with a >window on top). I suspect the right thing to do would be to have both >pure TEXT versions of all the technotes so that you can call them >up/grep through them with your favorite utilities, and also ttro >versions for the ones that have pictures. The TEXT versions could >include references to pictures in the appropriate places. > Nathan Wilson As the person now responsible for all the Tech Notes, I thank Nathan for voicing his opinion on this topic. The reason Tech Notes are still distributed in MacWrite format is to facilitate their reproduction, "aesthetics" and graphics intact, by those who receive only the electronically-distributed copies. I am currently investigating distributing the Notes in formats other than MacWrite, but the problem is weighing the pros and cons of making a major change like this and knowing how the public will react -- some people can only get the Notes electronically, and they are much more concerned with being able to print them out and put them in a binder (without having to reformat them) than reading them on-line or using them from an editor. I would venture a guess that the majority of people who get the Notes electronically do print them and prefer the formatting and style options that just are not available in an ASCII file. If you get Tech Notes electronically, you can help me by sending your suggestions on how you would like to see Tech Notes distributed. Do we fix something that many considered "not broken?" Do we distribute them as text files? MacWrite files? Teach Text files? Another WP format? A combination of the above choices? Do you usually print them, and if so, do you still use the disk files, or do you tend to refer to the paper copies more often? Any suggestions will be considered, even if it is to maintain the status quo. If the demand for text files (or another format) is great enough, I will do what I can to make sure we distribute them that way. It would be okay for someone like Nathan to convert and distribute them, but I would rather any mistakes in a conversion be traceable directly to the source - Apple, not someone on the net who is just trying to help out. I also think it is our job to provide you with the tools you need in a format you can use, so you can spend your time writing great software and not doing the things that we should be doing for you. Please send your suggestions and comments to me at the address below and let me know what you would like to see. I won't promise that we will change things, but I will promise that if a large number of people feel strongly one way or another, I can build a much better case for change than without your input. Thanks. Mark B. Johnson {amdahl,decwrl,sun,voder}!apple!mjohnson Developer Technical Support mjohnson@Apple.com Apple Computer, Inc.