From jwagener@trc.amoco.com Tue Aug 25 16:39:14 1992
Received: from noc.msc.edu by dkuug.dk via EUnet with SMTP (5.64+/8+bit/IDA-1.2.8)
	id AA11872; Tue, 25 Aug 92 16:39:14 +0200
Received: from uc.msc.edu by noc.msc.edu (5.65/MSC/v3.0.1(920324))
	id AA01941; Tue, 25 Aug 92 09:39:04 -0500
Received: from [129.230.11.2] by uc.msc.edu (5.65/MSC/v3.0z(901212))
	id AA08213; Tue, 25 Aug 92 09:39:14 -0500
Received: from trc.amoco.com (apctrc.trc.amoco.com) by netserv2 (4.1/SMI-4.0)
	id AA03141; Tue, 25 Aug 92 09:39:11 CDT
Received: from crmac1 by trc.amoco.com (4.1/SMI-4.1)
	id AA07904; Tue, 25 Aug 92 09:39:09 CDT
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 09:39:09 CDT
Message-Id: <9208251439.AA07904@trc.amoco.com>
From: Jerrold L. Wagener <jwagener@trc.amoco.com>
To: SC22WG5@dkuug.dk
Subject: processing words
X-Charset: ASCII
X-Char-Esc: 29

To X3J3:

Lately the timing of notes has been almost scary in their coincidence.

item: as I was preparing the paper on OOP (92-183), OO notes hit the net

item: the paper on subgroup reorganization (92-181), in the mill for a while
      now, is about ready - just as this topic also is hitting the net

item: this morning a note on wordprocessors was waiting in my emailbox,
      and just yesterday I had gotten an answer to an inquiry I had made


This last item is what I would like your input on now, as I want to make a 
decision fairly soon.  It concerns the mechanics of producing the next 
revision.  The realistic choices, it seems to me, are Word, Frame, or a 
markup language such as LaTeX or SGML.

Microsoft has offered to provide us all with free copies of Word, as long as 
we "promise" to use it for the next revision.  Word is available on Macs and 
PCs, apparently with compatible binaries, but is not available on Unix.

Frame is willing to give us 6-8 free copies of FrameMaker, on whatever 
platforms we wish; Frame runs on all three - Macs, PCs, and Unix - with 
compatible binaries.  Apparently there are no strings attached to this offer.

At the Milpitas meeting (Nov'92) the straw votes were in favor of a markup 
langauge.  (This is almost a year later, however, and the world marches on.)

Personally, I favor Frame, for the following reasons:

  - it can import markup language format (current option are SGML and MML)
  - it can import Word format (but Word currently can't import Frame format)
  - it runs on the three platforms of greatest interest
  - it appears to be an extremely powerful "desktop publishing" system

The disadvantages of Frame are that it is not currently as widely used as is 
Word and some of the markup languages, and we all can't get free copies (it's 
expensive for those that wouldn't get the freebies).  If we went with Frame, 
I would think that the editorial committee should get copies and others on 
the committee who would expect to produce a fair amount of material for the 
document and for who it would be difficult to get Frame through their 
employers or sponsors.

So I need to know two things from you:

  (1) do you have any strong opinions (or "show stoppers") on any of these? 

  (2) if we go the Frame route, who would need a copy and on what platform?

I'll let you know how this "poll" goes, and we'll see where we go from there.


Thanks.

Jerry