\newcommand{\sgml}{\textsc{sgml}}
\title{A.N.Other's Gleanings}
\author{}
\begin{Article}
\section{Framed, or a boojum?}
In the latest Nesletter of the BCS eletronic publishing specialist
group, my colleague Conrad Taylor points out the following: ``it
strikes me as odd that people often choose for \emph{electronic}
publishing a tool named after the quark, since an electron is, of
course, a lepton -- just as a muon is -- and nary a quark goes into
making one up.'' We can carry this a little further by noting one of
the many definitions of Frame: ``concoct a false charge or
accusation'', or even recalling that ``the Word was with God''. But as
someone who has to state that he ``works in latex'', it is dangerous
to bandy these words about. On the other hand, you do get invited to
some very interesting parties\dots\ What is in a name anyway?  I have
to admire the sheer chutzpah of naming your product after a zone in an
industrial park in Swindon. Trivial Pursuit question: to which vastly
under-rated electronic publishing package do I refer?

\section{Lettres}
I continue to be pleasantly surprised by the uniform and high standard
of the \emph{Lettres Gutenberg}, the newsletter of our French sister
organisation.  In fact, you have to admire them even more when you
appreciate that they produce not only this excellent newsletter, but a
journal which easily stands shoulder to shoulder with \TUB. Our recent
joint meeting on Portable Documents was paralleled by a very similar
meeting of theirs in Nanterre. Many of the papers presented appeared
in \emph{Cahier GUTenberg 19}, making a rather interesting contrast
with those published in the last edition of \BV. The future holds
similar excitements: next is a special edition on character encoding
(it will be difficult to inject excitement into this dry topic, but if
it can be done, it will be done); and in early June, the annual
conference takes/took place. This picks up the theme of electronic
documents and their distribution once more. Slipping the magic words
`Internet' `World Wide Web' and `Acrobat' into your programme is a
sure-fire way of packing the halls. I wish them much success: I have
many pleasant memories of events organised by GUTenberg: I commend
their meetings to you, and urge you to demonstrate your commitment to
the progressive forces in Europe by taking the train to their next
meeting.

\section{To be taken daily}
A copy of Kopka \& Daly's \emph{A Guide to \LaTeXe} arrived the
other day. I have long been an admirer of the first edition of this
book. The second edition, which, as its new title implies, reflects
the \LaTeXe\ standard, maintains the former high level. I think it
fairly neatly bridges the gap between Lamport's rather terse account
and the uneven whirlwind tour of thousands of packages in the `three
men and a dog' tome which unleashed the new release upon us. I find it
intriguing that in a book of over 500 pages, less than 300 are given
directly to \LaTeXe, and 200 to appendices. The book is published by
Addison-Weley, ISBN 0-201-42777-X.

\section{Web}
As the World Wide Web continues its inexorable conquest of the world,
let's stand back for a moment and see how \TeX\ fits in.  First, look
at its origins. Consider the primitive nature of the early HTML
`standard'. Can you guess why it was so brain dead? If you look at it
closely, you'll see that apart from its hypertext anchors, its two
main features were tons of headings and various types of list
structures. In fact, it was modelled closely on \texttt{texinfo}, a
variant \TeX-macro package used chiefly by the Free Software
Foundation afficionados. Consider too what stroke of chance it was
that led Tim Berners-Lee to sit down with one of \textsc{cern}'s tribe
of \sgml{} people for coffee one morning. Sheer luck (or genius) which
has done more for the street credibility of \sgml{} than years of
conferences in exotic climes and hob-nobbing with the
militarly-industrial complex. Consider also what might have happened
if it had been Michel Goossens who had that fateful cup of coffee with
Tim. The world would now be beating a path to the door of \LaTeX. Or
would it? Nevertheless, \LaTeX\ is re-appearing within HTML
developments. The new `standard', very much still in draft, includes
maths and tables. There is a test-bed available, called \emph{Arena}
which will allow you to see what is planned. The encoding of maths is
essentially that of \LaTeX. And surprisingly, the encoding of tables
looks currently just like \LaTeX\ too -- I say surprisingly since
\texttt{tbl} is more powerful and equally stable.

\subsubsection{The Trojan horse option}
I wonder though if we are not missing a real opportunity. While
Acrobat, or \texttt{pdf}, is now an `official' \textsc{mime} type
(implying that it can be happily included on the Web, and browsers can
be configured to handle it in a standardised way), \texttt{dvi} has
not yet made it to this status. Consider that Acrobat readers are
available for Sun machines running Solaris (and Motif), and not for
the other myriad of Unix boxes. What is present on almost every Unix
box? Why, \TeX\ and \LaTeX, and therefore something like \texttt{xdvi}
which will display \texttt{dvi} files. Acrobat is therefore not quite
as widely available as we would like (only Solaris, Mac and Windows),
while \TeX\ and \LaTeX\ are not as widespread as we would like on Mac
and Windows (it's not that people can't afford the disk space, since
you can hardly buy a machine these days with less than 500Mbyte of
disk, but rather that the installation is still such a pig).  The Unix
piece of the problem is simple, since downloading a \texttt{dvi} file
over the Web would mererly fire up \texttt{xdvi} or some similar
previewer. With Windows, the situation is more difficult. If we had a
nice simple installation of a previewer which could use Multiple
Master fonts, a \texttt{dvi} \textsc{mime} type might be a success.
All I'm talking about is a previewer, not the whole \TeX/\LaTeX\ 
installation.  Using Adobe's Multiple Master fonts appeals to me as a
way of piggy backing off their technology, and also means that in font
terms, it can do at least anything that Acrobat can.  Of course, we
have to change the name of \texttt{dvi}, since it is a registered
trade mark (of Intel?) for digital video\dots One advantage is that
all the archives of scientific papers created using \TeX, \LaTeX\ or
\texttt{groff} are available no matter what platform you use. It would
also be a very open standard, with no whiff of proprietary
machinations. It's so obvious that someone is bound to have done it
already.

\section{Deathwish 1996}
Am I alone in thinking that there are some odd decisions being made on
the location of TUG conferences? The notion of going to Florida in the
summer didn't appeal to me (although I appreciate that there may have
been a sub-text which somehow equated TUG and Disneyworld), but next
year's conference location outdoes this: Russia. At least I think
that's what they said. Maybe it will really be in Moscow (that's a wee
place in Ayrshire).  With at least two TUG members in Russia, it
promises to be an unforgettable meeting.


\section{Another famous Belgian}

You will remember the parlour game where you were challenged to name
ten famous Belgians (it isn't really that difficult).  There is now an
eleventh! Michel Goossens of \emph{Companion} fame will be President
of TUG. This makes three non-US Presidents in a row, neatly
confounding any claims that it is solely a US organisation.  Someone
unkindly remarked upon the similarity between Michel and Tin-tin, but
apart from the dogs and the nationality I can't see this. Perhaps we
should be told.

\section{Thank you}

This edition of \BV\ carries an announcement of the elevation of M
Clark to Honorary Membership of the group. In a rare interview MC told
me how deeply moved he was by this singular honour, all the more so,
he said, since the committee at that time had been populated by a
large number of people who he held in high regard.  He went on to say
that one of the things he enjoyed most about the \TeX\ (and \LaTeX)
world was the comradeship and good fellowship which characterised
it. Almost without exception, \TeX\ people helped one another, and did
so in a friendly and concerned way. If anything, they were sometimes
too nice, he added with a twinkle in his eye (too many bottles of Cab
Sov). He asked your correspondent to convey his heartfelt thanks to
all those involved.  
\end{Article}
