Which word did they make? Was it "Mitochondria"? I bet it was mitochondria
MacKichan Software, maker of Scientific Word, has gone out of business
141–143 of 143 posts
Re: MacKichan Software, maker of Scientific Word, has gone out of business
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, if I may, there is something that doesn't sound (to me) "rational". I have seen quite a few of these cases where a larger company buys the old one (essentially to get a list of their current customers) and then terminates the product replacing it with some crappy new stuff that usually completely fails to work, but in this case the soon-to-retire programmer at least gets some (little) money (and knowledge is lo…
Yes, that young, entrepreneurial programmer can be found, but won’t have the domain knowledge. Look at the examples above. You can’t sell Marine mapping software without knowing something about marine navigation. You can’t sell beekeeping software without understanding beekeeping. Plus you need the general business operation skills. Finding a programmer who knows beekeeping and wants to take on a low growth business…
But that is why there were apprentiships, and I have seen docos about Japanese solo or small workplace craftsmen who take on 70yo apprentices.
But it would need planning, and a certain class of able worker who is happy to not continually be dreaming about "changing the world".
But sometimes better is just keep persisting with what works, not everything is better disrupted.
Re: MacKichan Software, maker of Scientific Word, has gone out of business
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have an example on-hand for that---it is also equations, look at this, I need to compile it to understand it (it needs the amsmath package): { \def \l {\mathrm{l}} \def \r {\mathrm{r}} \def \Bl {\mathrm{Bl}} \def \Br {\mathrm{Br}} \def \B {\mathrm{B}} \def \nIIom {n_{2\omega}} \begin{equation}\label{eq:interface_conditions} \begin{aligned} F_{1\l} &= F_{2\r} + F_{2\l} \exp (i\,k_2 L) + F_{\Br} + F_{\Bl} \exp(i\,k_\…
Ok, equations can get much trickier, but I don't think this is example too bad, you didn't even write a single multiline nested fraction. On the other hand, you don't write complicated mathematical equations quickly if you've got any sense anyway.
> you don't write complicated mathematical equations quickly if you've got any sense anyway
I don't get this line of reasoning. Writing equations is hard, so what difference does it make if you make it a lot harder? I think the fact it's hard makes it even more important to make it easier to write!
Proofreading / editing (as opposed to writing) is even more severe. When using raw LaTeX, there's absolutely no way you can be sure the equation is right without checking the PDF, so you end up in a slow loop of typesetting (the whole document!), read something for a while, go back to the LaTeX to fix something you've found, spend a while finding where the problem is, etc.; in LyX you're just organically reading and editing the document. If you spot an incorrect subscript, you just click on it and fix it then carry on reading. In raw LaTeX that can 100 times as long, or even longer still if you take into account the context switch of your mind.