bobc@tikal.UUCP (01/30/87)
In article <653@uw-warp.UUCP> dennis@uw-warp.UUCP (Dennis Gentry) writes: >I don't think TeX is public domain. And I don't think there are >multiple authors, at least not for the single program "TeX," which was >written by Donald E. Knuth.... TeX is not exactly public domain, but it is very close. The code is free and you can do anything you want with it except that if you give anyone a part of the source you must give them all of the source. There are no general restrictions and what you can do with the TeX program as generated by the source. I feel that $600 is too much for the general TeX program, but then that is not what they should be charging for anyway. The $600 also gives you the support tools to use TeX as a application on the Mac. $600 is I feel a little steep, and I would like to see a version of TeX that runs under MPW as a tool (and then a "TeX previewer" could also be written as a tool). The reason for using MPW is that it is a very (maybe not perfect) editor which can easily be extended (via MPW tools). Disclaimer: I have never seen TeXtures, or any of the other Mac ports of TeX. All my comments are based on the following note that is with the distribution of TeX that I have access to. ********************************************************************* The rules for copying are: This tape contains TeX82, version 1.5. The original copy was written on Wed Jan 8 09:53:10 PST 1986 This file is ./tex82/COPYING.POLICY [several reasons for the policy... Deleted to save space] Our requirements for redistributed copies are therefore as follows: 1. Copies must be complete. All files appearing on this tape must also be provided on the copy. If any changes have been made to any of the files, these changes must be identified in a separate notice. A complete list of all files on this tape is found at the end of this notice. 2. The file containing this notice (./tex82/COPYING.POLICY), the file ./tex82/README, and the file ./tex82/SCORE-README must be included, unchanged, in all copies. 3. Sites receiving copies from you must be made aware of the copyright restrictions on parts of the distribution. The TeX source of the TeXBook is included in the distribution. Since it is copyrighted by the American Mathematical Society (1983) and has been published by Addison-Wesley, you may not reproduce the TeXbook in any way. The source is intended to be used only to help you test your TeX port. 4. You may not charge a fee for making the copy. Relevant addresses are as follows: (Unix TeX Site Coordinators) Richard Furuta Pierre MacKay Computer Science Computer Science, FR-35 University of Maryland University of Washington College Park, MD 20740 Seattle, WA 98195 (TeX Users Group) TeX Users Group c/o American Mathematical Society P.O. Box 6248 Providence, Rhode Island 02940 ********************************************************************* Bob Campbell Teltone Corporation 18520 - 66th AVE NE P.O. Box 657 Seattle, WA 98155 Kirkland, WA 98033 bobc@tikal.teltone.com {amc,dataio,fluke,hplsla,sunup,uw-beaver}!tikal!bobc tikal!bobc@beaver.cs.washington.EDU
munson@ernie.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (01/30/87)
I have lost track of who originally complained about the cost of Addison-Wesley's version of TeX, but it is to him and the other folks who complain about the high service charges/profits for public domain and free distribution programs that I wish to respond. I don't understand why you think operations like Addison-Wesley are doing something wrong when they ask a high price for a product like TeX. I can think of many reasons that $600 is a fair price, from a business standpoint. However, it's quite possible that A-W is clearing $250 a unit and laughing all the way to the bank. I think Apple has a profit margin that approaches that level on the Mac+. Personally, that doesn't bother me at all. A-W is not a public trust. They are a profit-motivated enterprise and if they make lots of profit that's good for them. If their price for TeX is too high for me, I won't buy it. I don't think they owe me a copy at the price I consider "right". Am I missing something? It seems to me that Knuth is a man of great intelligence who would have made his copyright tighter if he had wanted to prevent someone from charging prices that high. Therefore, I presume that the current situation doesn't violate his wishes. If you really want a cheaper version, you might write A-W, telling them what price you would buy it at. That probably won't do much unless you get lots of others to do the same. You could also encourage others to write cheaper versions. I guess I get a sense of moral outrage from these comments on price of software. I don't understand it because I don't think we were promised "fair" prices. Ethan Munson munson@ernie.berkeley.edu
kishore2@watdcsu.UUCP (02/02/87)
I was always under the impression that the main portion of the cost was for the drivers and not for TeX itself. If I'm mistaken perhaps someone could correct me on this?
dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu.UUCP (02/06/87)
The pricing algorithm for a program (the guts of which were gotten for
free) whose final price is $600 is approximately as follows:
price = whatever the suckers will pay.
Note that no use of the cost of production or distribution or anything
else enters into the algorithm.
Is TeX (actually, only the periphery of TeX, since the heart was free from
Knuth) REALLY three times as costly to produce and distribute than
Microsoft Word? I doubt it. Or three times as costly as Lightspeed C?
TeX is (for the mac, at least) a niche product. Not very many people are
going to buy it, and the ones who will, want it BAD. Thus, the high price.
--
Steve Dorner
dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.eduroyt@gatech.edu (Roy M. Turner) (04/04/88)
I have a lot of MacWrite documents that I would like to convert to TeX;
doing this by hand is no fun at all. Does anyone have a MacWrite to
TeX (or LaTeX) converter?
Thanks.
Roy
PS: a converter going the other way (from TeX to MacWrite) would be
appreciated, too.
--
Roy Turner
School of Information and Computer Science
Georgia Insitute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo,ut-ngp}!ics.gatech.edu!roytps01@bunny.UUCP (Paul Suh) (04/04/88)
In article <17047@gatech.edu> royt@gatech.UUCP (Roy M Turner) writes: >I have a lot of MacWrite documents that I would like to convert to TeX; >doing this by hand is no fun at all. Does anyone have a MacWrite to >TeX (or LaTeX) converter? >PS: a converter going the other way (from TeX to MacWrite) would be > appreciated, too. >Roy Turner MacTeX from FTL Systems (234 Eglington Ave. E, Suite 205, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 15K, (416) 487-2142) will do MacWrite -> TeX. I don't know of any which will do the other way. --Paul
akk2@ur-tut (Atul Kacker) (04/05/88)
In article <17047@gatech.edu> royt@gatech.UUCP (Roy M Turner) writes: >I have a lot of MacWrite documents that I would like to convert to TeX; >doing this by hand is no fun at all. Does anyone have a MacWrite to >TeX (or LaTeX) converter? There used to be a MacWrite to TeX translator in the info-mac archives at sumex. It was for MacWrite 2.2, but a new one may have shown up there for 4.X. >PS: a converter going the other way (from TeX to MacWrite) would be > appreciated, too. Now why on earth would anyone want to go to MacWrite from TeX ;-) -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Atul Kacker | Internet: akk2@tut.cc.rochester.edu | UUCP: {ames,cmcl2,decvax,rutgers}!rochester!ur-tut!akk2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------