[tex-live] [Fwd: Re: TeXLive Perl + latexmk (windows)]

[Manuel Pégourié-Gonnard]

Philipp Stephani a écrit :
> Am 13.04.2010 um 14:55 schrieb Manuel Pégourié-Gonnard:
> 
>> Not that I'm a big fan of windows, but let's not exaggerate the problems with
>> this system.
> 
> There are no substantial problems with Windows, only wrong expectations. If
> you expect Windows to behave like Linux, you're going to be disappointed.
> MikTeX is popular because it feels like a native Windows application, while
> TeX Live still seems to be biased towards Linux.

In my (probably biased) opinion, a few years ago, MikTeX was technically a
better choice on windows (basically because it had a package management system
unlike TeX Live < 2008), but now (say TeX Live 2009), I'd say the difference is
pretty tiny:

- MikTeX has this on-the-fly-install feature which is very convenient for people
wanting to install a minimal system and complete it according to their needs.
- MikTeX may "feel" more native in some ways, though TeX Live is getting more
and more polished (or so I hope, and thanks to Tomek).
- TeX Live ships with Perl and GS, no need to install them separately.
- TeX Live is cross-platform, which is convenient in heterogeneous environments.
- TeX Live already includes LuaTeX (though this doesn't matter yet for a
majority of users).

IMO, the prevalence of MikTeX is mainly due to the fact that it used to be
really the better choice, so people are used to it and continue recommending it.
And obviously remarks like "just use a Linux VM" don't help people changing
their mind.

(Btw, I personally don't consider it as a goal to make people migrate from
MikTeX to TL. If MikTeX fulfils their needs, I even encourage them not to change
unless they have a reason to do so (never change something that works). My only
goal is to make TL as good as possible on all platforms. Again, this is only my
personal opinion.)


Manuel.