Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!indri!eta!nic.MR.NET!umn-d-ub!dross
From: dross@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU (david ross)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Looking for a techincal word processing program.
Summary: T3 not hard to learn
Message-ID: <961@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU>
Date: 15 Apr 89 04:03:01 GMT
References: <753@sunset.MATH.UCLA.EDU> <2057@uwovax.uwo.ca> <618@eecea.eece.ksu.edu> <2144@pur-phy>
Reply-To: dross@ub.d.umn.edu.UUCP (david ross)
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Minnesota, Duluth
Lines: 44

In article <2144@pur-phy> murphy@newton.physics.purdue.edu.UUCP (William J. Murphy) writes:


[...quotes discussion of T3 vs. TeX for technical word processing...]


>I personally am sold on TeX as the only way to do equations/math text

[stuff deleted]
>
>To be truthful, I haven't used T-cubed.  If Terry Hull is correct that
>it takes just as long to get up to speed with T-cubed, then why waste
>time with it when TeX is as widely accepted as it is?
>

While  T3  is a big, powerful, intricate tech word processor, it is by
no means difficult to learn.  It has been used at two departments
where I've been, and I've seen several technophobic secretaries up and
running on it in a few hours.  Novices are aided by on-line help,
(bypassable) menus, and a nice tutorial included in the manual.
What *is* hard is customizing the file arrangement, especially when
it will be used by > 1 person.

TeX produces  nicer output, but (until we have *fast* previewers
for our PCs) is d*****d hard to debug, and turns the user into a
typesetter, which isn't the way I (for one) care to spend my time.

TeX is also available on more machines, but it won't run very well
on a cheapie XT clone, while T3 will ( and note the newsgroup:-).

The bottom line is that T3 is both WYSIWYG and a stand-alone word
processor, while TeX is a page-description language.  While I have
great respect for the latter, I just can't see using it to whip off a
quick quiz or a note (with math in it) to a colleague, especially when
I'm in a hurry, the way I do every day using T3.


(disclaimer: I have no affiliation with TCI, though I *have* been using
T3 since pre-release days 5 years ago.)
-- 
   _  _  _      David A. Ross   (Dept.Math.&Stat.,U.ofMN,Duluth)
  / \/ \/ \     BITNET: dross@umndul THISNET: dross@ub.d.umn.edu
 /  /--/--/     (...all the opinions expressed herein are facts, 
/__/  /   \     hence they belong to nobody, least of all me...)