Re: General advice beyond Org

[Devin Prater]

I agree with this. As a blind user of Emacs, with Emacspeak, I know that
sometimes people must use non-free software, like Voxin TTS on Linux, or
MacinTalk on macOS, to get speech synthesis that is enjoyable to use.
But I do use as much free software as I can to get work done, which is
mainly just sticking to Emacs because somehow I can remember all the key
commands and my reading comprehension is amazing there, relative to
using screen reading, content-unaware systems for the blind. Most blind
people, though, use Windows, Microsoft Word, and a screen reader that
costs $1099+ and yet could never measure up to Emacspeak, well besides
web content but I’m sure that if EWW gained Javascript and HTML5
support, I’d never need to leave Emacs, ever. So, my point is, I have to
interact with these other blind people, and people in Assistive Tech
organizations, and I do that well with converting .org files to .docx
with Pandoc, using Twittering-mode in Emacs while other blind Mac users
pay $20 for Twitterific, and Gnus for email, which is used very often by
the blind for list-serves because Email is very accessible for us.
I don’t use Latex, yet, and may never have to because Org is so
powerful, but you could just use Pandoc for that as well. That’s one of
the great things about Free things, they try to work with everything,
while proprietary software tries to lock users in because their way is
supposedly best. Aside: Why am I using a Mac? Accessibility, and great
Text-to-speech built-in.
Jason Yamada-Hanff <jyamada1@gmail.com> writes:

> Don't die on this hill. Collaborating with others, especially superiors,
> means sometimes adjusting. I split the difference in grad school and used
> emacs and other free software where I could and MS where it made
> collaboration possible. My first piece of writing was handed to my advisor
> as LaTeX. He asked me to convert it to Word, and I did. I wrote my thesis
> in LaTeX. When we turned a chapter into a paper, I converted it to Word
> before we started collaborating on it. When I handed him my lab notebook as
> a series of org-mode files he could search instantly by text, he liked
> that. Sometimes you win.
>
> Your professors arguments are good. Her tools work well for her. Why should
> she switch to new ones? Your moral principles aren't going to have a lot of
> away. Further, git and other version control does not provide the full
> features of Track Changes in Word.
>
> Sent from phone
>
> On Fri, May 18, 2018, 9:20 AM Alan E. Davis <lngndvs@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I worked as a teacher in a school in a third world context, where the
>> district was severely underfunded.  I held out as much as I could.  I had
>> to use proprietary systems, eventually, to report attendance and grades, so
>> I installed Virtual Box.  It was a long and hard battle: printer drivers
>> were not up to snuff; networking was difficult compared to the M$
>> approach.  Back in the day---I started using GNU/Linux in the pre-1.0
>> kernel days---many things did not work smoothly, but the Linux
>> Documentation Project was a breath of fresh air, and a beam of light
>> enlightened the scene.  (As an aside, I note with misgivings that the LDP
>> is not well maintained---but I am partially responsible for this, because I
>> didn't work on documentation as perhaps I ought to have.  Then again, the
>> state of the "Linux Desktop" is such that other supports are available and
>> many of the hands on configuration and administration tasks are either
>> automatic or much simpler and more intuitive.).
>>
>> I would suggest, in your context, that you do not have to abandon free
>> software, nor, I sense, are you advised to refuse to use the infrastructure
>> that has been given.  I use emacs for much, I really like org-mode a lot
>> and even thought I am not able to take advantage of many of the more
>> sophisticated tools of org-mode.  You may find, like many before you, that
>> the tools of free and open source software many streamline your workflow,
>> and give you an edge, even while you are using the ordained tools for your
>> specific disciplinary work.  When people see that the free and open tools
>> work for you, gradually you may make inroads, and not at the expense of
>> your career.
>>
>> I believe this approach has been behind much of the achieved success of
>> Free and Open Source software and operating systems.
>>
>> I am rooting for you.
>>
>> Alan Davis
>>
>>
>> On Fri, May 18, 2018 at 8:31 AM, <tomas@tuxteam.de> wrote:
>>
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>> > On Fri, May 18, 2018 at 08:50:32AM -0500, Kevin Buchs wrote:
>> > > As a student, you simply need to go along with your supervisor's
>> > > recommendations. You are not in a position to dictate the terms.
>> >
>> > Nobody talks about dictating anything. Some supervisors are more
>> > enlightened than other, so trying to talk to them doesn't seem
>> > wrong.
>> >
>> > >                                                            Using the
>> > > proprietary tools will not hurt you, unless you need to buy your own.
>> >
>> > With that I disagree strongly: free is not primarily about price
>> > (more so in the OP's case, as he stated clearly). Reducing "free"
>> > to price totally misses the point, IMO.
>> >
>> > [...]
>> >
>> > > So, you need to adjust your attitude. It may be that you are presenting
>> > the
>> > > issue of principles - I prefer free, you prefer proprietary, but that
>> is
>> > > not really the true issue. Maybe you don't know the proprietary tools
>> and
>> > > don't want to learn them or feel you can't learn them. Choice of tools
>> > you
>> > > use is no reason to switch graduate programs.
>> >
>> > This whole paragraph comes across as somewhat... condescending.
>> >
>> > > This is entirely a matter of getting along with other people, not being
>> > > selfish, etc. These are life skills we are talking about.
>> >
>> > Definitely. And part of this getting along is trying to negotiate
>> > what matters to oneself and to others. I do agree that an intransigent
>> > attitude isn't helpful, but Edgar didn't show something like that.
>> >
>> > Fostering free software is exactly about "not being selfish".
>> >
>> > Cheers
>> > - -- tomás
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>>
>>
>> --
>> [Fill in the blanks]
>>
>> The use of corrupt manipulations and blatant rhetorical ploys ...---
>> outright lying, flagwaving, personal attacks, setting up phony
>> alternatives, misdirection, jargon-mongering, evading key issues, feigning
>> disinterested objectivity, willful misunderstanding of other points of
>> view---suggests that ... lacks both credibility and evidence.
>>
>>              ---- Edward Tufte (in context of making presentations)
>>