[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Don't Be Soft On Microsoft



On Sat, 17 May 1997, Tuvik Beker wrote:

> Well, HebTex is not a very mature solution, but it _is_ a reality.
> Basically, LaTeX is extensible to every language, and the main problem
> is sirection switching.
> Adding hebrew support to a LaTeX-front-end, like Lyx, could have been a
> wonderful solution. The question is - who has the time for that?
> Personally, I spit three times and switch to Win95 about once a week to
> write a letter in hebrew...

Tuvik, it's not just that. Hebrew has the direction problem, the SOFIOT
problem is solved by adding extra keys, but in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese
and certain Eastern European languages you need also to think about gliphs
(spl?), or the shape the letter takes if it's in the beginning, nd or
middle of a word or sylable or after a certain other letter. all those
things must be intuitively integrated in the GUI at some point, and it's
NOWHERE in the Unix world's power to implement such things. Microsoft just
finished building such a mechanism, it will be featured in NT 5 in a few
monthes, later maybe also in win98. let's face it,  Unix as a
low and medium end workstation is dead. the server and high end
workstation sides have to be perfected even more now.


References: