[ANN] New MathType 6.6 brings math support to over 350 applicationsand websites

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Accepted.

--
Hope this helps,

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

Please reply only to the newsgroups unless you wish to obtain my services on
a paid professional basis.

 

[Greg Maxey]

<I don't think it deserved the kerfuffle it's generated.

Other than the one comment by the unfailingly polite resident troll , I
think it has been a very interesting discussion. We have all learned alot
about Bob Mathews, Gordon has met his objective, and most importantly for me
I now know that [ANN] is the proper label for an announcement.

One clarification: Equation Editor does ship as part of Microsoft
Word, even though the version used in Word 2003 and earlier was
created by an outside concern. In Word 2007, MS took over creation of
its own editor. This is a continuation of a trend to bring in-house a
number of parts of Word previously contracted out, including spelling
lexicons and drawing tools. While the makers of those third-party
tools have never (to my knowledge) maintained a presence in these
NGs, I feel sure that users would have found it helpful, since Word's
Help on spelling issues and drawing features such as WordArt (not to
mention Microsoft Graph) has never been especially strong.

This is the first time I've seen an overt product announcement from
Design Science in these NGs, and, while I would tend to agree that it
was unwise, I don't think it deserved the kerfuffle it's generated.

There are so many holes in that argument it makes a slice of Swiss
cheese look like a neutron star.

AFAIK, MathType and Equation Editor are not MSFT products - just
like (for example) Adobe Acrobat is not a MSFT product. Both work
with Word and other Office products, but when there are questions
about Acrobat/PDF maker, I don't see reps from Adobe posting answers
here. The usual response from the community is "contact Adobe
support". Accordingly, rather than prowl the MSFT NGs looking for
lost lambs, I would expect Design Science to host their own user
support forums and for this community (or even Bob) to direct
posters to it as need be. And while I'm sure referring posters to the
Design Science FAQs is
the correct response in many cases, this particular thread is
clearly not one such case. No one asked a question, and there is no
reference to said FAQs anywhere apart from this particular post. This
thread was initiated as advertising plain and simple - with or
without the magic [ANN] label - and the Rules of Conduct clearly ask
posters to refrain from such activities. In addition, as Doug points
out, it was posted separately to multiple NGs, which fits my
definition of SPAM as well. (However, as Bob has since apologised
for this oversight, I'm not especially concerned about it.) In any case,
there is still a big difference between you (note that I
don't say "us" because I'm no longer part of the in crowd) referring
posters to the MSFT knowledge base or the MVP website or "personal"
sites like yours, Greg's, Graham's, Shauna's, etc. For the most
part, none of you have a direct financial interest in directing
traffic to any of those sites. Oh sure some of you might own a bit
of MSFT stock and thus may have a highly-tenuous interest in the
success of MSFT, and the owners of the personal sites may advertise
their services or generate a tiny bit of revenue from Google ads and
the like, but that hardly compares to a full e-commerce storefront.

Finally, I still say that this thread looks like SPAM, and as such I
believe it's fair game for doing what I was trying to do: determine
if my MVP status has been revoked. As was evident from my second
post in this thread, it clearly has been revoked so my goal has been
met. And had you just stayed out of it, the peace and harmony of the
community - something that you've preached to me about so many times
before - would have been considerably less disturbed. One day maybe
you'll figure out that this is NOT your own personal newsgroup and
give up on sticking your nose into everything. Until that day comes
I suggest that you at least refrain from posting in response to my
posts. If I ever need or want your help (or the help of the clearly
smitten Mr Daniels), I'll ask for - and you can rest assured it'll
be a long time before that request is made. "Suzanne S. Barnhill"

It is true that Bob works for Design Science. Part of his job is to
help MathType and Equation Editor users in these NGs. He therefore
keeps an eye on the NGs for posts with questions on those specific
topics. If he has few posts, it is because there are few questions.
When he refers users to the Design Science FAQs, it is because they
answer the users' questions, in the same way that we refer them to
MSKB pages or articles at our own Web sites.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Now I'm confused. Does posting it separately to multiple
newsgroups - with or without the [ANN] label - make it SPAM or not
SPAM? And if I posted a link to some dodgy website but signaled
properly,
would it be OK? Of course, I'm assuming that I fit the "valued
contributor" category, having until _very_ recently been an MVP and
having posted more than five times in the last three months (and
in none of my posts have I ever advised someone to visit a website
or use a product that I'm personally associate with).

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure MathType is a great product and does
stuff that Word's native equation editor (whatever that is) can't
do. However, posts that appear to be intended to generate some
type of commercial gain for the poster certainly look like SPAM to
me. From the Rules of Conduct for the MSFT Discussion Groups:

Advertising/Solicitation: These communities were created as a
forum for providing peer-to-peer assistance on Microsoft products
and services. We ask that you refrain from posting advertisements
or solicitations that do not pertain directly to the intended use
and purpose of the newsgroup or chat.

I also note that there is no mention of the [ANN] label or any
other "King's X" special method of identifying a post as being
exempt from the rules. In fact, if I still had the power to do so
(and could be bothered) I'd probably report this thread as SPAM
and ask for it to be removed.
--
Cheers!

Gordon Bentley-Mix

As it was posted separately to multiple newsgroups .....

--
Hope this helps,

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

Please reply only to the newsgroups unless you wish to obtain my
services on
a paid professional basis.

It is not spam. Bob is a valued contributor to these NGs, and
many Word users are also users of MathType. This is a legitimate
announcement, properly signaled with the [ANN] label.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

message
This looks like SPAM to me, so I figure it's a good place to
see if my MVP status has been retired yet.

Hi,

I know many of you are already MathType users, so I wanted to
let you
know about yesterday's release of MathType 6.6 for Windows.
This new release features handwritten math input via mouse,
tablet, or touchscreen, and compatibility with over 350
applications and websites, including Google Docs, Gmail, and
WordPress. Our goal is for MathType to eventually work with all
applications and
websites used by students, teachers, professors, elearning
authors, scientists, and engineers. Visit our "Works With ..."
web application
at http://www.dessci.com/en/products/MathType/works_with.htm
to see if
your favorites are already in our database. If you don't find
the applications you are looking for, or if you wished any of
them worked
differently with MathType, let us know by emailing
(e-mail address removed)
or with a tweet to @MathType.

Regards,
Bob Mathews
Design Science, Inc.

 

[Greg Maxey]

Saying something in a public forum _is_ an invitation to comment.

Let's see Mr. Daniels? Does this mean that when you poked your troll
nose in an earlier thread in this group and said "Are there no
courtesy requirements for becomng [sic] an MVP?" that you were
inviting the comments and discussion that followed? That the "fight,"
as you wished to call it, was in fact "picked" by you and that
everything that has followed is the poison fruit of the seed that you
sowed?

Dream date, smitten. Is there a story here?

 

[Beth Melton]

'Earlier thread'? That thread was well over two years ago, Greg. That's
right -- two years! Have you ever taken a step back and realized you've been
languishing over this for over two years? Let it go, man, allowing something
to fester for so long can't be good for your health.

And, yes, there is a story here. A story that has a sad ending. You call
Peter a troll. Do you know the objective of a troll, Greg? A troll's
objective is to be the center of one's attention and to emotionally affect
them. I personally don't view Peter as a troll, but I recognize you do
indeed consider him one. Based on this aspect, have you ever taken a step
back and realized Peter has accomplished both of those goals?

I'll summarize for you: I have watched someone that I deeply respected and
admired turn into someone I no longer recognize. I have watched this person
choose to relinquish their MVP status over someone they define as a 'troll'
and I have watched long-standing friendships end.

The sad ending to this story: Peter may have "sowed the poison fruit" but
you're the one who chose to partake of it and continue to return for more.
As a result, Peter is the victor in your long-standing battle for you have
lost respect and friendship. Both of which take years to build. What has
Peter lost? Nothing.

 

[Beth Melton]

Correction, the "courtesy requirement" comment was posted on February 10,
2008. So it hasn't actually been going on for well over two years. It won't
be over two years for another 48 days. So to be more precise, it has been
going on for 683 days.