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Re: OpenOffice to the rescue!

____/ Thufir on Saturday 05 January 2008 10:56 : \____

> On Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:16:37 +0000, Mark Kent wrote:
> 
> 
>> Um, no.  The "need" is not described by a learning curve, rather, the
>> difficulty of learning.  Steep means you learn quickly, shallow means
>> that you learn slowly.
> 
> "In this sense, "steep learning curve" represents the need to make
> significant progress in the initial stages so that a person may start
> using the new skill with reasonable efficiency, a need often
> associated with increased efforts in learning."
> 
> so, a "steep learning curve" means, in the sense above, that to to start
> using the new skill (LaTeX) requires significant progress at the initial
> stages.  Significant progress meaning significant effort, versus "easy".
> 
> Concretely, more effort is required for a "hello world" document in LaTeX
> than a "hello world" document in a word processor.  LaTeX has a steeper
> learning curve than MS Word.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -Thufir

To LaTeX-fluent people, this is fine. The same goes for tin/vi/slrn and other
programs with a relatively steep learning curve (and high gains), Heck,
Stallman still uses Emacs for... well, pretty much everything and Linus uses
Pine and git, which he created just like Don Knuth made LaTeX to scratch a
personal typesetting itch.

For those without the roots in TeX (legacy), neat front ends like Kile and LyX
are available. I find them to be easier than Office in the sense that children
will -- as far as I can tell -- be capable of generating great documents
without understanding the norms of layout and presentation.

Your insights on this make a lot of sense, but try to think laterally by
imagining a kid that starts with experience set to blank.

-- 
                ~~ Best of wishes

Roy S. Schestowitz      |    Windows: backward-compatible, even for viruses
http://Schestowitz.com  |  GNU is Not UNIX  |     PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
      http://iuron.com - proposing a non-profit search engine

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