Re: Future of MiKTeX

On Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 7:57 PM, Dr. Dietrich Grau <[email protected]> wrote:

> Dear list members and friends of MiKTeX
>
> 1)    MiKTeX 2.9 bugfixing ends 12/31/2014, that is in two months
>
> 2)    MiKTeX 3.0: so far no release date and a roadmap that contains not
> even one point for Windows user
>
> 3)    Until now MiKTeX has only LuaTeX beta-0.76.0-2013062821 (rev 4627)
> whereas TeXLive 2014 has already since months beta-0.79.1-20140329 (rev
> 4971)
>
> Can anybody ask my question: Is there a future for MiKTeX or do we all have
> to migrate to TeXLive?
>

Are you interested in LuaTeX because you want to use "System" fonts?

There is a long history of TeX systems (Y&Y TeX, emTeX, 4allTeX, fpTeX,
...)
that were very useful but proved unsustainable over the long run because
they were trapped by dependencies on API's that didn't last.

Where I work we have both MiKTeX and TeX Live (TL).  The biggest problem
for
Windows users has been increasingly restrictive limitations on
administrative
access by users, making it difficult to manage any TeX installation on
Windows.
We also have  Apple OS X systems with MacTeX, which is based on TL.
This means it is possible to have Windows binaries of TeX Live on a network
drive accessible to Windows, but managed using OS X.  The same can be
done using Linux.

With our Windows corporate policy, users to\\are no longer able to install
"System" fonts to be used with apps such as Adobe Illustrator as well as
LaTeX.  OS X and linux allow each user to install "personal" fonts without
the requirement for "admin" privileges.

At present, many users in large organizations are unable to install
"System"
fonts.  Until Windows includes a way to install "personal" fonts, users who
require extra fonts have to use linux or OS X (and if they need fonts in
LaTeX
and Adobe apps, only OS X).  That leaves MiKTeX for individual users who
administer their own systems, which may not be a large enough base to
support future development.  Because much of the work needed to maintain
TL helps users on all supported platforms, Windows users who administer
their own systems can benefit, but will also suffer a) from the compromises
needed
by TL to support a range of platforms using mainly non-proprietary
cross-platform
API's and b) from problems specific to Windows that go undetected due to the
limited user base.

-- 
George N. White III <[email protected]>
Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia
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