Hi

Here's a message. Developers are not the same as users. If you're a developer then people don't want to USE your software. Period. People might want to HAVE USED your software.

Most people don't want to use a word processor. They want to write a letter or a report or something else. They don't want to drive a car. They want to be somewhere else, a friend's house, the shops, the hospital or somewhere else.

David Platt explains this very well in his 2 minute video! Please watch and listen.
Why Software Sucks: Geeks Drive Stick Shift Cars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAOTTLQ0rlY&ab_channel=techrant

Details of tomorrow's TeX Hour. Thursday 1 July, 6.30 to 7.30pm UK time. The UK time now is at https://time.is/UK. The zoom details are
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/78551255396?pwd=cHdJN0pTTXRlRCtSd1lCTHpuWmNIUT09
Meeting ID: 785 5125 5396
Passcode: knuth

More about tomorrow's meeting.

At the end of the previous century, TeX Live could be run from disc. Users could pop a CD into the PC and start to use the TeX software. I'm hoping that next year beginners can regain that experience (but perhaps via an internet download). And elsewhere I've started technical work that might make this possible (without relying on Overleaf).

My vision of TeX Live is that it becomes a sort of agora (forum or marketplace) for TeX software, similar to LaTeX being an agora for TeX macros. And that it is revised annually, to provide fixed points. So the same inputs give the same outputs across space and time. Safety and security.

So at tomorrow's TeX Hour I'd like to discuss what users want their STEM documents for. What's the human purpose each actual and potential user of TeX is trying to achieve? (Hint: It's probably not making the developer happy.)

Here's an example. Many R-users want to share their calculations with others, via both HTML and PDF. The R-Markdown suite allows them to do this. TeX, packaged as TinyTeX, provides a vital component that helps R-users to HAVE USED this markdown suite.

Here's another example. I'm a mathematician who has discovered an exciting new property of the Fibonacci numbers 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 etc. Perhaps I want to submit a paper to the Journal of Integer Sequences.

And another example. I'm a teacher preparing class notes, and one of my students has a visual disability. My college has staff to provide accessibility support. I want to HAVE USED the system so that ALL my students have access to the class notes.

I want more examples of why people might want to HAVE USED our shared wonderful typesetting system TeX. This will help developers create software and systems that are more pleasant to use.

The videos from last week's heavy technical TeX Hour on TeX Live (except for a few to follow tomorrow) are at:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw1FZfIX1w7jEC4iuK5Q0HPccM1IE3ygD

Please enjoy having used TeX

Jonathan