Re: address@hidden: RE: cannot find :enable in Elisp manualindex]

[Robert J. Chassell]

       The `doc' format handles many of the layout, font, and printing needs
       that people have.  Moreover, it is now used by many even though it
       carries legal restrictions.

   What precisely are these legal restrictions?

Last I heard, Microsoft did not permit you to give or sell binaries or
source code of its proprietary software to others without their
permission; nor could you modify or study it.  I have not read the
license to which you must agree when you rent their code.

       Converting it to the low resolution output that Info offers
       would be more difficult and perhaps impossible.

   Could you mention one issue that makes this difficult?

I don't think any is difficult but no one has made the conversion for
Open Office.  Maybe there is not enough interest or maybe the
conversion really is difficult; I don't know.  The Open Office format
has automatic numbering of paragraphs, sections, etc., and can be
converted to HTML (and it has many other features, but those I
remember).

I don't use Open Office; I use Texinfo and produce both high and low
resolution outputs.  Regularly, I produce DVI, PDF, HTML, and Info.
(Interest has decreased for PostScript, so I don't produce that every
day.  I don't produce LaTeX, RTF, DocBook, XML with a Texinfo DTD, or
plain text everyday, either.)  

Many people like to see their output as they write -- for anything
sighted people look at, that means three outputs currently:

  * high resolution frozen, printed books, which can be taken from the
    DVI output,

  * high resolution with active links, which can be taken from the
    HTML output, and

  * low resolution with active links, which can be taken from Info.

So with the Texinfo source, that means four views of the same content.
(Several years ago, I made a crude beginning of this, but no one else
cared; and I usually don't need to see the current outputs, so I lost
interest.)

As far as I can see, a converter would make it easier for some
organizations to change without as high a cost as they now face.

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                          GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
    address@hidden                         address@hidden
    http://www.rattlesnake.com                  http://www.teak.cc