[texhax] which TeX?

[Arno Trautmann]

Karl Berry wrote:
>      Maybe this document might help you to understand the various *TeX names,
>
> Another place where I tried to address the question (briefly) is
> http://tug.org/levels.html.

Ah, nice, I didn't know that page. I surely will steal some text for my 
document ;)

>      >  w32tex
>
> For the record, it is true that the Windows binaries in TeX Live come
> from w32tex, and Akira Kakuto, the w32tex author, is as involved as
> anyone with TL development and release.  Indeed, it's hard to imagine
> where we'd be on Windows without him.

Then is there a reason that w32tex is separate from TeX Live? As far as 
I see, w32tex is not really useful as a standalone-distribution, and TeX 
Live cannot run on Windows without it – why not merge the two projects 
to reduce confusion? Is this given historically or is there a deeper reason?

cheers
Arno