TO: All TeX Users Worldwide---
Academics, Publishers, Prepress, Commercial Vendors,
Open Source Supporters, Members of Mailing Lists,
Local User Groups
RE: Grass Roots Appeal to help sponsor the TUG 2003
speakers and developers and further TeX
Development.
A Request from TUG: Sharing Your Corners of the Field
Dear Friends of TeX,
If you believe in squeezing every last bit of value from your resources,
then you might be interested in TeX and its future development.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AHEAD OF ITS TIME
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You may already know about TeX and some of its offspring, such as LaTeX,
pdfTeX, ConTeXt, and even Lollipop. TeX and its descendants are totally
free typesetting software packages for mathematical, scientific, technical
and general publishing, plus, increasingly, for everyday office work. They
are to typesetting and publishing what space research is to industry in
general. TeX and its derivatives are usually well in front of the leading
edge when it comes to high quality typesetting and publishing software.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN ALTERNATIVE TO WORD PROCESSING AND DESKTOP PUBLISHING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TeX is a text processing tool for all modern operating systems. The basic
user interface is any text editor plus several command-line typesetting
programs. Free extended applications --- such as LyX and TeXmacs ---
provide realtime formatting, similar to commercial word processors, but on
multiple platforms. The learning curve for TeX is similar to that of the
most widely-used word processors. TeX documents can be simple or
intricate. Once understood, TeX is much more efficient than word
processors, because TeX does consistent formatting for every letter,
article, report or manual. And the results are good to your eyes.
Increasingly, TeX and its children are attracting enterprises,
organizations and individuals who are dissatisfied with the high cost,
excessive overhead, invasive licensing, weak security and questionable
quality of commercial word processors and desktop publishing programs.
Thousands of newcomers are learning and using TeX or its offshoots for
letters, fliers, posters, reports and books, plus more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOLID, SUPPLE AND PORTABLE DESIGN
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TeX has been stable software since the early 1980's. It runs on UNIX,
Windows and Macintosh systems. Documents you create on one operating
system easily transfer and produce the same beautiful output on any other
operating system with TeX installed. And, the results are better than most
commercial typesetting software. Also, because of its adaptable design,
TeX integrates smoothly with other text management and publishing
technologies. For example, TeX works well as a typesetting backend for XML
and as a content development frontend for HTML.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TOTALLY FREE, NOT ONE STRING ATTACHED
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TeX is free. It costs enterprises and users nothing other than installation
and training time. Also, unlike promotional freeware and trial software,
TeX comes in only one level of quality --- high, very high.
TeX is arguably the best typesetting software available. To illustrate
this, several software developers now incorporate TeX technology into
their commercial publishing systems, some costing $700-a-seat and more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANNUAL TUG MEETING AND CONFERENCE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TeX is regularly being improved through the work of volunteers from
various parts of the world. Once a year, a sundry group of TeX developers
and users gather for face-to-face discussions. This conference is
coordinated by the TeX Users Group (TUG), a U.S. not-for-profit
organization with members in 61 countries. Conference attendees evaluate
the state of the tools and their applications. Typical topics include work
flows, interfaces, fonts, printing, new technologies, howto's and case
studies, among others. TeX aficionados attend from around the world.
This year the annual meeting is July 20-24 in the Pacific islands of Hawaii.
All are welcome; more information and registration at:
http://www.tug.org/tug2003
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SHARING THE CORNERS OF YOUR FIELDS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The TeX conference for 2003 is celebrating 25 years of TeX. This is a good
time to make your enterprise known to the TeX community by sponsoring the
conference. But TeX is free. Right?
Correct! And we are committed to keeping it free.
All of us are volunteers and receive no financial compensation from our
work with TUG. However, like many other organizations, we need funds to
help support our collaborative development. We are not looking for $700
per seat. Instead, we are asking for a small part of your tax-deductible
giving. (See http://www.tug.org/tax-exempt/
for information about our tax-exempt status.)
We like to think of this as sharing the ``corners of your fields''.
In some ancient cultures, the landowners harvested the center part
of their crops, leaving the corners for others to take according to
their needs.
That is our need. Nothing more.
For you, it's a opportunity to add to the value of your typesetting
resources and to give something back to the TeX community.
~~~~~~~~~
NOW WHAT?
~~~~~~~~~
All support helps. If you would like to donate $1 or a $1,000, please
contact us through our:
secure web site: https://www.tug.org/tug2003/donate/
e-mail: office@tug.org
mail:
TeX Users Group
1466 NW Naito Parkway, Suite 3141
Portland, OR 97209-2820, USA
voice: +1-503-223-9994
fax: +1-503-223-3960
For donations of $50 and more you can receive a copy of the TeXLive CD. This
CD includes TeX installers for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and several UNIX
derivatives.
Also, please print and post or distribute the "sharing" poster:
http://www.tug.org/tug2003/donate/texharvest.pdf
Please encourage others to support TUG.
Your support for the conference at any level makes a big difference to the
future of TeX. We need your help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope to See You in Hawaii
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We would also like to see you at the TUG conference. Please register at our
web site: https://www.tug.org/tug2003/registration.html
Sincerely,
wendy mckay
TUG 2003 Organizing Committee
tug2003@tug.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Donations may be made in the following currencies:
Euro (EUR), Indian Rupee (INR), or US dollar (USD)
For details see: http://www.tug.org/tug2003/donate/donate.html#currency
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