[TxMt] Re: Honest assessment of TM2's state please!

[Jenny Harrison]

I am not a developer, but a heavy user of the Latex bundle in TM for about five years.  Latex users in academia who take the time to learn TM love it, and thus I believe there is a large potential group of TM purchasers for Allan.    I have the greatest admiration for his creative skills and have always enthusiastically supported him, especially when I was an active member of this discussion group.    I just want a rough idea of what to expect.   Time is a serious factor for me and the students I supervise.   Gerd mentioned some problems which I have to live with every day, and I see that other software is running circles around TM with respect to these particular problems.  For example, each time I format the source code into a pdf file, I have to wait several seconds. If the file gets long, it takes a very long time for the pdf to show itself.  If there are figures, it takes even longer.  But these are fast computers.  Why can't this be fixed?  Skim jumps around, too when it comes into focus.   I have to look away, otherwise I get distracted by the jumps, and then I have to move the page back to where I was reading before the small edit.   TeXShop cuts the formatting time dramatically and the pdf output does not jump around.  I have not used a stopwatch, but it is noticeably faster.  But I hang onto TM because of the macros and snippets.     I took the trouble to learn all the keyboard commands in the spirit of GTD, as this group taught me,  so my hands never leave the keyboard, but TM is now the block itself for efficiency.  There are other Latex editors coming out.    Should I take the time to learn one of these?  I don't mean to offend anyone by asking that question.  Would I recommend that a new student take the time to learn TM?  I guess I would not now do this.  If we just had a rough idea,  I would know how to proceed.   I can wait a little longer.    

Jenny Harrison
Professor of Mathematics
University of California, Berkeley