Re: Pipe dreams

["R Tennenbaum"]

Leslie Bialler wrote:

>
>> from writing
>> a wp that acted like Xy, accepted Xy files, could export Xy files, and for
>> all intents and purposes was like Xy except was deviod of mentioning explicitly
>> that it was a Xy emulator?
>
>. . . But the Tech Group would probably sue your butt off if you tried
>to do that w/o their permission, which they'd probably not grant. Can't
>say that I I'd blame them, either.

I hold TTG personally responsible for most of what's wrong in the
world.

What's disinctively copyrightable about Xywrite? The command line?
Hardly. The mnemonics? Arguably. The double-chevroned formatting
markers? Probably.

The secret to doing this, I believe, would be improving that which has
been begging to be improved about *something like Xywrite* while
retaining what makes it so good.

Let's take for example, the chevrons, which long ago should have been
got rid of in favor of SGML-functional delimiters. To me what
distinguishes Xy -- even more than the command line, or even its
splendid customizability -- is the ability to edit and review in either
expanded or regular view. SGML and its niece, HTML, are in a way
knockoffs of Xy/Atex formatting. Maybe the thing could turn into the
premier HTML composing tool. Of course, what's essential for our
purposes is that it remain text-oriented.

It should be everything like Xywrite (fast, with a comprehensive macro
language, ideally guaranteeing simple conversion from XPL). It should
be fast and it should be cross-platform (ie, Java). And it should be
open source. Besides, whoever made such an animal could give it away
and still make a fortune -- might stand a chance of bringing us back to
ascii where we belong. And make the world a better place.

Rafe T.
raphaelt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.ray-field.com