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Subject:
From:
Chris Rowley <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 23 Oct 1998 20:09:53 +0200
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Phillip Helbig wrote --

> As the two are
> related, I think the discussion of both is appropriate here.
>

But are the members of the list aware of the only method by which LaTeX2e
will get chnaged from now on?

This will only happen if people such as the memebrs of this list
producing packages that implement such enhancements.

> I hear lots of rumours about TeX's successors.

Yes: exciting, are they not?

> How much longer will
> something like the current TeX/LaTeX continue to be developed?

How long is rose stem?

Much of the current work on TeX's sucessors is, in fact, development
of the current TeX (but what they have produced cannot be called TeX).

It is all (we hope) known to the LaTeX3 team and much of it pays
attention to what we think and to what goes onto lists like this one.

> Will there be a branching of different lineages, with all continuing, at
> least for a while, or will all but one die out/be killed?

There has been branching, which has its pluses and minuses, but it
will be a Bad Thing if these canot be brought together again soon (to
some extent this convergence is beginning).  If LaTeX3 is based on
something other than standard TeX, we shall need to be certain that
this will be a system that is widely available, easy to install and
well-maintained.  Of couse there is a something of a egg-and-croccdile
situation here.

>
> Where is a good description of the goals of LaTeX3 and differences to
> LaTeXe?

This is the latest published source.  I have no idea if it is good as
all I did was write it:

\item
Frank Mittelbach, Chris Rowley.
The \LaTeX3 Project,
Communications of the \TeX{} Users Group, 18, (1997), pp 195--198

No doubt there is proper BIBTEX version of this somewhere.

> How long will the TeX/LaTeX/BibTeX/DVIPS/PostScript/CUSTOM-BIB/
> NATBIB combination continue to exist in something like its present form?

As a supported system, that depends largely on when we can get significant
person-power devoted to building up and using the LaTeX3 Programming Language
(hence my earlier message).

>
> Of course, no one can predict the future; I'm thinking about plans and
> intentions.

You could try SOOTHSAYERS-L or ORACLE-L (oops, maybe not:-).

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.


chris

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