5 ms·

Jesus nothing is wrong. Read my comment again. I'm saying it's an apples to oranges comparison. If BASIC is all you need great. If word is all you need great. I

Jesus nothing is wrong. Read my comment again. I'm saying it's an apples to oranges comparison. If BASIC is all you need great. If word is all you need great. If you can get by with importing from gnuplot or R or matlab or whatever great. I'm not saying one is superior to the other. I'm saying that when I want to draw a commutative diagram, I'd rather do it in LaTeX with tikz or the xy package. I'm sick of the "HN strawman." People on these threads need to read and apply basic critical reading and logical skills. You don't need to tell ME to use the best tools for the job. I've been telling people that for fucking years. I don't why your comment annoyed me so much but it did.

mbreese 13y ago
What I'm trying to say is that for the vast majority of peoe that have to produce documents, it isn't an apples to oranges comparison. For most proe, Word and LaTeX do the same thing. And one of those is vastly easier to use to get their job done. So while LaTeX is the technically superior, Word will still get the job done. And because of the network effects that working with collaborators has, People like me are stuck using Word even if I'd rather have my papers written in something else. In some fields LaTeX is the easier method to produce documents (good luck with anything more than a simple equation in Word), but those are relatively small niches.
- Crito 13y ago
  In a similar vein, you might say that to the vast majority of people there is no difference between a screwdriver and a pry bar because most people are content with abusing screwdrivers.
  - mbreese 13y ago
    It depends on the job you're trying to do. But you can't honestly say that Word and LaTeX really have that big of a difference in intended jobs. It seems to me that they are both in the document production business.
    - Crito 13y ago
      And pry-bars and screwdrivers are both in the "levers that provide mechanical advantage" business. One can be abused to fill the role of the other, and if you look at them both from 1000 feet and squint then both "for" the same thing, but the reality is that when you actually examine what each is designed to do and in which situations each is used, they really have little to do with each other.
      - mbreese 13y ago
        You can't honestly believe that pry-bars and screwdrivers are as similar as LaTeX and Word are. It's a ludicrous argument. LaTeX and Word are for documents - making documents. How they operate is very different. For example, Word includes it's own editor, LaTeX does not. But they are both used for producing documents.

mbreese 13y ago

What I'm trying to say is that for the vast majority of peoe that have to produce documents, it isn't an apples to oranges comparison. For most proe, Word and LaTeX do the same thing. And one of those is vastly easier to use to get their job done. So while LaTeX is the technically superior, Word will still get the job done. And because of the network effects that working with collaborators has, People like me are stuck using Word even if I'd rather have my papers written in something else. In some fields LaTeX is the easier method to produce documents (good luck with anything more than a simple equation in Word), but those are relatively small niches.

Crito 13y ago
In a similar vein, you might say that to the vast majority of people there is no difference between a screwdriver and a pry bar because most people are content with abusing screwdrivers.
- mbreese 13y ago
  It depends on the job you're trying to do. But you can't honestly say that Word and LaTeX really have that big of a difference in intended jobs. It seems to me that they are both in the document production business.
  - Crito 13y ago
    And pry-bars and screwdrivers are both in the "levers that provide mechanical advantage" business. One can be abused to fill the role of the other, and if you look at them both from 1000 feet and squint then both "for" the same thing, but the reality is that when you actually examine what each is designed to do and in which situations each is used, they really have little to do with each other.
    - mbreese 13y ago
      You can't honestly believe that pry-bars and screwdrivers are as similar as LaTeX and Word are. It's a ludicrous argument. LaTeX and Word are for documents - making documents. How they operate is very different. For example, Word includes it's own editor, LaTeX does not. But they are both used for producing documents.