Freeware for tex under win32? MikTeX is not the only one. I use fptex which is
Fabrice Popineau's WIN32 installation of Karl Berry's web2c tex system. For
unix freaks, this means fptex is tetex for windows.

I used MikTeX a few years ago when it was new and found it acceptable, although
there were a few minor things that bothered me. Fptex did not have these, so I
switched. Fptex supports all the extra software that one expects of a full tex
installation, including pdftex, tex4ht, and many others that I do not use. I
can only recommend it heartily.

Available on ctan under  systems/win32/fptex
or from the source   ftp.ese-metz.fr/pub/tex/win32

By the way, I have only heard good things about MikTeX so I do not want to
criticise it at all. I just do not have any more experience with it myself and
the things that bothered me long ago were really minor and may even no longer
be there.

Regards, Patrick
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   Dr. Patrick W. Daly                    Tel. [+49] 5556-979-279
   Max-Planck-Institut fuer Aeronomie     Fax. [+49] 5556-979-240
   Max-Planck-Str. 2
   D-37191 Katlenburg-Lindau              Internet: [log in to unmask]
   Germany
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