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\centerline{\bf Fallen by the wayside}
\medskip
\noindent
Over the last year or so, many of the commercial \TeX
ware vendors have changed. Some are merely name changes,
but since this lack of continuity is confusing, at best,
and damaging, at worst, it is useful to detail the
metamorphoses.
The first player to fall was Addison Wesley. AW are still
\DEK's publisher, and continue to publish all the \TeX\
books. What has changed is their
attachment to software. At one time they supplied both
the {\sc ibm pc} micro\TeX, and the Macintosh
\TeXtures{}. Of these, perhaps the most noticeable loss
was for micro\TeX, since AW `disinvested' at just the
time that the AM fonts were being replaced by the CMs.
After a very long hiatus, ArborText picked up micro\TeX,
and will market it as $\mu$\TeX{}. There appears to have
been a fair amount of development work going on, and
apart from some qualms about supply and support outside
the US, this change is to be welcomed.
\TeXtures\ had only just reached its `full-release' when
AW returned to books. In any case \TeXpert\ quickly
stepped in; there is at least one other supplier, but she
remains well hidden.
Shortly after \TeXtures\ reached full release status,
Kellerman \& Smith, who supplied not only \TeXtures, but
also a {\sc vax vms} implementation of the \TeX ware,
parted company, to become Blue Sky Research (the Barry
Smith, \TeXtures\ part) and Northlake Software (the David
Kellerman, {\sc vax vms} part). This came as a surprise
to many of us.
ArborText themselves had changed their name from TextSet.
If you have a pc version of \TeX, micro\TeX\ or
pc\TeX, you are probably using one of their driver
programs. The probable reason for changing their name was
to avoid confusion with Texet, who are involved in the
same general area of document software. Or rather, {\it
were} in the same general area. Texet folded last year.
Perhaps TextSet\slash ArborText should have waited.
One other casualty seems to have been {\sl FTL
systems\/}' Mac\TeX{}. Nothing has been heard of them for
some time. They made no appearance at Montreal, nor have
there been any advertisements in \TUGboat{}. McQueen, who
supplied the software in this country have themselves
abandoned all software sales, returning to `real'
printing.
Even in the Atari world the pattern is repeated. Kettler
{\sc edv}, who were supplying one of the two German Atari
\TeX\ versions folded last year, but the software is now
handled by \TeX sys (who are essentially the people who
implemented the software).
I suppose this is all inevitable with software,
but it does confuse, and makes the \TeX\ world look a
little unstable from some viewpoints.
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