[Textbook-l] RE: Eureka! Introducing WikiGroups

[Daniel Mayer]

Karl wrote:
>Why PS instead of PDF ? 

PDF is one of the flagship file formats of Adobe - they allow people to create 
pdfs fairly freely now but they could change that at any time. So we should 
rely on a proprietary file format.

PS is a bit more open since its code wasn't locked down until fairly late in 
its development (IIRC PDF is based on PS) and a bit of an unwanted step-child 
since PDF came on the scene. It used to be much more common (remember "Print 
to file" in Windows 3.x products? Those files where .ps) but now is just the 
file that is sent to Post Script (PS) printers - it is hidden from users.

But then I'm working on just a vague recollection so I am probably missing 
something or got something really wrong.  

>Is there a reader for it ?

I can read it with software that comes standard in my Linux distro but Windows 
users haven't been able to read PS with a default install for years, IIRC. I 
was thinking more along the lines of actually *printing* the darn thing - if 
people want an electric version they can visit our website.

But there are free html->pdf converters...

>It seems sometimes like the world is 
>lacking a decent open-source word 
>processing / printing file format.

I could hardly agree more - this is a huge omission. 

--Daniel Mayer (aka mav)