I said it was easy to type in configure; make; make install, I didn't say it would always work:-). If you release the source, it's easy enough for distributors package them in rpms and debs.
I remembering manually compiling the Linux kernel back in 1998 (not always successfully). Nevertheless, releasing source code can be helpful. According to Eric S. Raymond, one of the reasons DARPA chose BSD for TCP/IP was that BSD offered source code.
Which totally doesn't address the original point, but yes. I know you can have any directory as a partition.
Which original point?
With Windows due to incompetent architecture it's a PITA to properly separate the user profile from the install and by default it's there on the same partition
Is color (print) duplication that much more expensive? And do ebook readers even support dvi? I would believe that students would just view the dvi files on laptops/notebooks.
An open-source textbook would be one that you can modify without having to write the whole thing over. If I give you the LaTeX source code for the book, you can modify and recompile it.
(b) Use an in-house written textbook custom to the department (done in a lot of lower-level classes) which will be cheaper, lets the department recoup some of the money, but is of much lower quality (fewer exercises by an order-of-magnitude, no proofreading for errors, no graphic design, no color, hand-drawn sketches, etc.)
LaTeX supports color and diagrams; why would you not include them?
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The old "we can't redirect that convoy because then the Germans would know that we broke Enigma" gambit.
Hermione Gringold: Programmis Compilitus!
I said it was easy to type in configure; make; make install, I didn't say it would always work :-). If you release the source, it's easy enough for distributors package them in rpms and debs.
I remembering manually compiling the Linux kernel back in 1998 (not always successfully). Nevertheless, releasing source code can be helpful. According to Eric S. Raymond, one of the reasons DARPA chose BSD for TCP/IP was that BSD offered source code.
He pays you to do what he tells you to do
Your company pays you. If your boss owns the company, then he pays you.
Maybe because the software takes a rocket scientist to build in the first place?
configure; make; make install. Yeah, that's brutal.
There a many good reasons why shipping source is not always desirable or possible.
Granted, one possibility is that the source is either physically or legally unavailable. But what are the other good reasons?
Shouldn't that be: who is the bigger penis?
Perhaps. but how many computers does it take to make the content, as opposed to the number of tablets that can consume it?
If a student can comfortably afford an Air or a PC notebook,
An iPad2 starts at $499. Notebooks aren't much more expensive (if not cheaper) than that,
And why does a laptop require hours of maintenance per week?
Movies? Music? Some people still produce those without computers.
What are these badly written apps?
Converting PStricks to encapsulated Postscript is a bit of a pain, but doable. Per the link, I use dvipdfm.
Store the extra rpms/debs/gzs/bz2s in /usr/local and keep the install disk. back up /usr/local. Not a perfect solution.
Looks the same to me.
Which totally doesn't address the original point, but yes. I know you can have any directory as a partition.
Which original point?
Is color (print) duplication that much more expensive? And do ebook readers even support dvi? I would believe that students would just view the dvi files on laptops/notebooks.
Wouldn't the windows partition be more like /?
I've had quite a few Linux/BSD installs not put Home/ in it's own partition,
Did those installs forbid you from creating a /home partition, or did you just not create it?
You do know that you can have /var as a separate partition, don't you?
An open-source textbook would be one that you can modify without having to write the whole thing over. If I give you the LaTeX source code for the book, you can modify and recompile it.
No, that's spending state money to burn books.
(b) Use an in-house written textbook custom to the department (done in a lot of lower-level classes) which will be cheaper, lets the department recoup some of the money, but is of much lower quality (fewer exercises by an order-of-magnitude, no proofreading for errors, no graphic design, no color, hand-drawn sketches, etc.)
LaTeX supports color and diagrams; why would you not include them?
The problem here is that government is full of clowns who prefer to make noise with stupid laws and more stupid acts than really solve our problems
FTFY.
There's already a Church of GNU Emacs. One of its tenets is that if you take the Church too seriously, seek professional help.