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Show HN: We've open-sourced our bootstrapped startup, ShareLaTeX

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Re: Show HN: We've open-sourced our bootstrapped startup, ShareLaTeX

#82
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Word's comment and review tracking system is more intuitive. This. The first person that makes a LaTeX comment and track changes system as intuitive as Word's can have all my money. No, the comment and todo LaTeX packages don't count. There's just too much resistance in getting someone to go through the LaTeX install process just to use packages in a syntax they don't want to take the time to learn.

Could version control get you part way there?

The issue really isn't me tracking my own changes. In that case, version control does great. The problem is adoption by collaborators, particularly for PIs that don't want to take the time to sit down and learn something new.

The problem with Word's track / review features isn't necessarily that they're good, it's that they're so entrenched in academic writing (even in the sciences), that attempting to do anything else gets zero traction from most PIs and collaborators. Even PIs that use LaTeX themselves are hesitant to collaborate using it because of the extra friction it introduces as compared to Word's track/review tools.

As much as I hate to admit it, I think the only way to migrate some collaborators away from Word and to LaTeX in a collaborative setting is to basically duplicate Word's track/review/comment features and incorporate them into a LaTeX-based system.

Re: Show HN: We've open-sourced our bootstrapped startup, ShareLaTeX

#83
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could version control get you part way there?

The issue really isn't me tracking my own changes. In that case, version control does great. The problem is adoption by collaborators, particularly for PIs that don't want to take the time to sit down and learn something new. The problem with Word's track / review features isn't necessarily that they're good, it's that they're so entrenched in academic writing (even in the sciences), that attempting to do anything el…

I meant to suggest that git could be used as the "backend" for a track/review system. I'm imagining being able to write standard LaTeX, but have your editor expose the git history in a way that looks like Word's track/review.

(I'm not familiar with LaTeX or the packages you mention, so maybe I'm reinventing a broken wheel here.)

Re: Show HN: We've open-sourced our bootstrapped startup, ShareLaTeX

#84
post #12

You're doing a great thing by making your platform open source. Even though you make it incredibly easy to get set up with a well written readme, I'd much rather purchase this service because it's not expensive and I know I'm supporting good people that care about contributing to the open source community. Plus, your product is awesome.

Thanks, we were a bit worried that people will stop using the site but we hope everyone is wise like yourself! I think overall the main people who will set up there own versions are those who want to work on a private network which is an group of people we have been unable to help so far.

Do you have a logo for the app? I would really like to add it to the directory at http://libreprojects.net :)
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