gary@apex.UUCP (Gary Wisniewski) (02/26/88)
We just received a demonstration copy of "The Publisher", as WYSIWYG publish-
ing system from ArborText, Inc. (formerly Textset, Inc.). Our overall
impression is very good. It has the following features:
- Runs on Sun workstations
- It is WYSIWYG, but TeX is the real typesetting engine
behind it all.
- The user interface is somewhat customizable.
- There is excellent control over printed output, since TeX
macros are used to typeset EVERYTHING.
- It has an equation editor which will make mathematicians
swoon.
- It has a great table editor.
- It comes with two graphics packages licensed from Island
Graphics Inc. Both are comparable to MacPaint and MacDraw.
- Postscript drivers included, along with some other printer
drivers.
- Compatibility with dvilaser software from the same vendor.
(This is important for TeX hackers---especially those who
have come to depend upon the nice \special support provided
by the dvilaser driver.)
HOWEVER, Before we spend the $2000 single-machine price, we thought we'd
ask around and see if anyone else has any experiences with the package.
Considering that Interleaf is $6500 for about the same features, I'd also
be curious to hear if someone has any Interleaf comments or comparisons
with The Publisher.
Thanks.
--
Gary J. Wisniewski Apex Software Corporation
{allegra,bellcore,cadre}!pitt!darth!apex!gary Phone: (412) 681-4343ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) (02/28/88)
|We just received a demonstration copy of "The Publisher", as WYSIWYG publish- |ing system from ArborText, Inc. (formerly Textset, Inc.). Our overall |impression is very good. It has the following features: | | - Runs on Sun workstations | - It is WYSIWYG, but TeX is the real typesetting engine | behind it all. One caveat: Don't expect to be able to take your generated TeX source to a vanilla TeX site. Publisher uses custom macros. You can import TeX sources into Publisher, but once read and converted, you have to use Publisher to process your document from then on. Ken
barnett@vdsvax.steinmetz.ge.com (Bruce G. Barnett) (03/01/88)
In article <318@apex.UUCP> gary@apex.UUCP (Gary Wisniewski) writes: |HOWEVER, Before we spend the $2000 single-machine price, we thought we'd |ask around and see if anyone else has any experiences with the package. One other advantage of Publisher is that if you get a 5 user license, ANY 5 machines can run Publisher. Let me repeat this. If you have 30 Suns, and you get a 5 user license, Publisher can be used on ANY of the 30 machines. But only 5 at a time. FINALLY! A software vendor has come out of the dark ages! Thank you, ArborTeX! -- Bruce G. Barnett <barnett@ge-crd.ARPA> <barnett@steinmetz.UUCP> uunet!steinmetz!barnett
ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) (03/01/88)
|Let me repeat this. If you have 30 Suns, and you get a 5 user license, |Publisher can be used on ANY of the 30 machines. But only 5 at a time. | | |FINALLY! A software vendor has come out of the dark ages! I don't get it. Is this enforced in the software? So what happens when a secretary wants to use Publisher but 2 other secretaries and 3 grad students are already using it? Go persuade somebody to logoff? Fume? (This is not a hypothetical situation. It can be very real with a big user community.) If not enforced, then what was the point of the limitation? Ken PS: Certainly this type of license is novel but doesn't quite cut it. Networked systems need better solutions.
akk2@ur-tut.UUCP (Atul Kacker) (03/03/88)
In article <7262@sol.ARPA> ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) writes: >|Let me repeat this. If you have 30 Suns, and you get a 5 user license, >|Publisher can be used on ANY of the 30 machines. But only 5 at a time. >| >| >|FINALLY! A software vendor has come out of the dark ages! > >I don't get it. > >Is this enforced in the software? So what happens when a secretary >wants to use Publisher but 2 other secretaries and 3 grad students are >already using it? Go persuade somebody to logoff? Fume? (This is not a >hypothetical situation. It can be very real with a big user community.) It is not enforced in the software, I don't think. If you think that you will have more than 5 people wanting to use it at any one time, you just get a bigger or unlimited license. C'mon you don't want to have lots of people using the product at the same time and not pay for it, do you ? ;-) I think it is great that they have a limited license at all. There are many users and sites that have only a few Suns and would rather not pay for an unlimited license. (filler for that %*&^(** inews) -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Atul Kacker | Internet: akk2@tut.cc.rochester.edu | UUCP: {ames,cmcl2,decvax,rutgers}!rochester!ur-tut!akk2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
langdon@lll-lcc.aRpA (Bruce Langdon) (03/04/88)
In article <7262@sol.ARPA>, ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) writes: > |Let me repeat this. If you have 30 Suns, and you get a 5 user license, > |Publisher can be used on ANY of the 30 machines. But only 5 at a time. > | > |FINALLY! A software vendor has come out of the dark ages! > > I don't get it. > > Is this enforced in the software? So what happens when a secretary > wants to use Publisher but 2 other secretaries and 3 grad students are > ... > If not enforced, then what was the point of the limitation? I don't know about Publisher, but our network of ~10 Suns, got TeX, a screen previewer, and postscript spooler, from ArborText (TextSet) 2 years ago. We got a 2-user license, altho I was the only user until everyone jumped on it a couple of months ago, and even though we knew that NOTHING in their software prevented abuse. Last year the lab of which we are a part got a site license, so we remain in compliance now that there are many users on our network. Hopefully other customers follow the rules too. I hope so. ArborText gives good value for our $. And other companies too that don't have licenses linked to workstation serial numbers. Other people at this lab have and like Publisher. I exchange TeX source files with people elsewhere, so I've been cautious. Otherwise... Interleaf and Framemaker would have to be much better than Publisher before I'd touch them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bruce Langdon L-472 langdon@lll-lcc.llnl.gov Physics Department 339650%d@nmfecc.arpa Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Livermore, CA 94550 (415) 422-5444 UUCP: ..{ihnp4,qantel,ucdavis,pyramid,harvard,topaz}!lll-lcc!langdon
ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) (03/04/88)
I'm sorry if I gave the impression that one might be less than scrupulous in observing the terms of the contract. What I was trying to say that a more useable gauge of how much a site should pay could be based on something more tangible like some function of the number of machines in the network, the number of registered users and the level of hand-holding. Maybe even the number of manuals supplied. (There are ways to make manuals too much hassle to photocopy.) Just as an example. An honor system is nice of ArborText, but makes sys admins nervous about whether they are in compliance with the contract. How is he/she to know how many users on the average use the software? There are usually more pressing things on the sys admin's mind than counting users. I have seen other attempts at dealing with sites with networks. Waterloo, for example, has a logarithmic scale for Maple licenses. (Double the number of machines and pay a constant increment.) I don't know how well this works for them. Oh well, I suppose as long as ArborText trusts the site. This has drifted too far from the subject of this newsgroup anyway. If you want to comment further, change the newsgroup. Ken
barnett@vdsvax.steinmetz.ge.com (Bruce G. Barnett) (03/08/88)
In article <7262@sol.ARPA> ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) writes: ||Let me repeat this. If you have 30 Suns, and you get a 5 user license, ||Publisher can be used on ANY of the 30 machines. But only 5 at a time. || || ||FINALLY! A software vendor has come out of the dark ages! | |I don't get it. | |Is this enforced in the software? So what happens when a secretary |wants to use Publisher but 2 other secretaries and 3 grad students are |already using it? Go persuade somebody to logoff? Fume? (This is not a |hypothetical situation. It can be very real with a big user community.) I assume they would do the same thing as someone whom walked over to a machine to find it occupied: Complain to their management that they need more licences. Except with Publisher you don't have to walk over to the other end of the building to discover you wasted a trip. -- Bruce G. Barnett <barnett@ge-crd.ARPA> <barnett@steinmetz.UUCP> uunet!steinmetz!barnett