Re: Journals dying?, apparently rather slowly (was ,
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg106931] Re: Journals dying?, apparently rather slowly (was ,
- From: Richard Fateman <fateman at cs.berkeley.edu>
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:46:40 -0500 (EST)
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Nasser M. Abbasi wrote: > "Richard Fateman" <fateman at cs.berkeley.edu> wrote in message news:hjmjg4 > >> OK, I'll go further and even say this: >> >> I would certainly shy away from a presentation that required the reader >> to own a free Mathematica player. >> >> Why? >> >> 1. Most people do not have it, while most people DO have Adobe Reader. >> > > True. But this is just logistics and the case today. Adobe reader was around > much longer than the Mathematica player. I think that the free Mathematica player has been around for quite a few years. The story I heard was that the person who wrote the front end on the Mac insisted that it be given away. Let's say that it has been out for 15 years. How many Adobe reader programs were there 15 years after its introduction? I still remember the times when I > could not open a PDF file becuase I did not have PDF reader installed on the > PC I was using. You must have a good memory or a bad PC. > >> 2. Getting a copy of Mathematica Player seems to require that you supply >> WRI with your email and other information. >> > > OK, This can easily be fixed. not obvious that you can do that -- what if a password is sent to that email? > >> 3. I suspect that downloading Mathematica Player to a computer in a >> public library would not be allowed. >> > > Downloading a PDF reader is also not allowed. It is not necessary because it is already there. ... > > If the player was installed on that public PC, then clicking on a player > file (.nbp extension) should open it, just like clicking on a PDF file > should cause the PDF reader on the PC to open it. It seems that the free player can only load notebooks "curated" by WRI, if I understand the restrictions. So mailing someone a .nb file won't work. > > This is what WRI should do: make the player support all Mathematica > functions, and make arrangements with PC makers to have it in each PC and > also fill the shopping malls and the post officies with CD's that have the > player in it (like they did with AOL many years ago). in few years, the > Mathematica player will be just as widespreadly used as PDF reader is today, > and it will become the main tool of exchanging scientific and mathematical > notes between scientists, engineers and students. This happens after Stephen Wolfram becomes king of the world, and probably closes WRI, since it will no longer earn any money. RJF