[texhax] TeX Live - $30!?!

Karl Berry karl at freefriends.org
Tue Jun 28 19:44:00 CEST 2005


Hi Chris,

    The ISO images are available for d/l of course, but
    I was wondering about just getting a CD from tug.org.  

Although it is possible to install for macosx from the CD, if you have a
decent connection you might be better doing i-Installer over the
Internet, since updates are more feasible (and there have been some
fixes).  http://www.rna.nl/tex.html.

    I understand that they must charge a bit for costs, but $30?  That
    seems quite excessive.  Does anyone have an explaination of why it
    would be so much?

Well, for one thing, "they" (ie, we) want to encourage people to join as
members, vs. buy a CD as a sort of "product".  As a nonprofit
organization, setting prices is one of the harder choices to make.  Of
course we want low prices for the sake of making it affordable to as
many people as possible, but we also don't want to lose the opportunity
(one of the few) to actually generate a little revenue to fund the
various projects and initiatives.

TL is all free software and if other people make a CD that's no problem.
Almost all the user groups distribute it.

BTW, there may be a MacOSX dvd this fall.  We'll see if it comes to
fruition ...

Best,
karl



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