\def\TeXline{{\sl\TeX\kern-0.1emline}}
\centerline{\bf\TeX\ in Europe}
\centerline{\bf end of term report}
\smallskip
\noindent
Great things have happened in Europe in the last year. It
would be good to think that \TeX\ might have played some
small but significant role in the liberalisation of
Europe. \TeX's ability to put the power of the printing
press back into the hands of the people gives it some of
the hallmarks of the tools needed for democracy. But
perhaps we hope for too much.

I was lucky enough to visit Poland in the autumn of 1989
at the invitation of Janusz Bie\'n, and to be entertained
both by him and by other \TeX\  colleagues. There can be
little doubt that there is a surprising amount of \TeX\
activity in the country. This was, of course reinforced
by Marek Ry\'cko's paper at \TeX89 in Karlsruhe, where he
won the best paper award, and more recently by Bie\'n's
paper in TUGboat. Although `traditional' computing power
(`mainframes') is present, its use has tended to be
rather controlled. The availability of personal machines
however places comparable computing power  into many
hands. A more powerful limiting factor  are output
devices and their consumables. But anything written now
is likely to be out of date very soon.

Elsewhere, an officially recognised \TeX\ group has been
established in Czechoslovakia, (\v Ceskoslovensk\'e sdru\v
zen\'\i\ u\v zivatel\u\ \TeX u), as the result of the
merger of two informal groups. In Hungary, another group
`Hun\TeX' has come into being. This group is fortunate to
have email connection and regularly receives both {\tt
texhax} and uk\TeX. It is hoped that Hungary can be
supplied electronically with much relevant public domain
\TeX ware. Chris Rowley was recently in Budapest (in his
role of spouse) and met some of the Hungarian \TeX ies.

Recently news broke that Poland is also to join the
electronic mail domain. Not only will this simplify
communication, but again it will allow the transfer of
\TeX ware. The re-unification of Germany will presumably
lead to the integration of electronic mail within that
country. Rumour has it that shortly the Soviet Union (or
as much of it as is left) will also be connected by email.
(The spooks in Washington will have many happy hours
decoding hexed \TeX-files!)

The NTG, GUTenberg, {\dante} and the Nordic group remain
healthy. The meetings of {\dante} and GUTenberg in
particular are well-attended and encompass a wide range of
\TeX\ subject matter and expertise. It is also
encouraging to see NTG cooperating with the Dutch \sgml\
chapter in organising a joint meeting.

In addition to the conferences and meetings organised by
the `local' groups, Euro\TeX89 was held at Karlsruhe in
September. This was a well attended conference which
provided another useful addition to the accumulation of
\TeX\ knowledge and expertise. Apparently painlessly run,
and with some fine social events. The organisers, Anne
Br\"uggeman-Klein and Rainer Rupprecht deserve much
praise. I keenly believe that the European \TeX\
conferences are essential for the long term viability of
\TeX, TUG and \TeX-in-Europe. Without these meetings, and
without participation from the whole European catchment
we will all be a great deal poorer. 

Of course, there are other activities which are relevant
to us: the `Raster Imaging and Digital
Typography' Conference in Lausanne covered subjects close
to the hearts of many of the \TeX-literate. One outcome
of this was the {\sc Didot} project, a project designed
to establish training in digital typography. If this
becomes established it could help to increase cooperation
between those involved with traditional and digital
typography.

Several more books have appeared in europe. Norbert
Schwarz'  `Einf\"urung in \TeX' was translated into
`Introduction to \TeX' by himself and his colleague Jost
Krieger. There will also be a `\LaTeX\ Cookbook' by Theo
de Clerk. And of course, eventually the \TeX88 Conference
Proceedings have appeared. Not before time! The {\it
Cahiers GUTenberg\/} continue their high standard (even
including colour printing now), and have this year been
joined with {\dante}'s Die \TeX nische Kom\"odie. 

Lest complacency set in as we review our past
achievements, let's consider what has not happened. There
seems to be no organised user groups in \hbox{either} Italy
or Spain, despite sporadic activity in the past. It may be
that the formation of user groups is not the best way
forward for these countries. With a few exceptions, \TeX\
makes slow progress against the yuppie tide of {\it
wysiwyg\/}. We still have not managed to get our act
together to explain why markup is a {\it good\/} thing.
And this at a time when \PS, the write-only typographic
markup system continues its dominance of the page
description language arena. My {\it wysiwyg\/} chums still
tell me that \PS\ is wonderful, but that \TeX\ is too
difficult! Equally, the faceless {\sc sgml}, rescued from
the doldrums by the US Department of Defense and the CALS
initiative, is hailed as a great leap forward. A markup
{\it meta}-language, it can describe the structure of a
document, but requires some friendly help to let that
structure be realised on a sheet of paper (or a screen).
And where does that friendly help often come from? --
\TeX\ or \LaTeX. But those who embrace {\sc sgml} shy
away from \LaTeX. What is the difference: simple --
standards. The way of the future is through the standards
world. We join in or become a backwater. C'mon in, the
water's lovely!

Summary: some useful progress, but could do much better
if we tried.

\section{Bibliography}{\parindent0pt\parskip5pt
Norbert Schwarz \& Jost Krieger, 1990, Introduction to
\TeX, Addison Wesley, 278p.

Theo de Klerk, 1990, \LaTeX\ Cookbook, Addison Wesley (to
appear).

Malcolm Clark, 1990, \TeX: Applications, Methods, Uses,
Ellis Horwood Publishers.

Jacques Andr\'e \& Roger D Hersch, 1989, Raster Imaging and
Digital Typography, Cambridge University Press, 292pp.

Janusz Bie\'n, 1990, On standards for computer
modern font extensions, TUGboat 11(2), p175--182.
}
\smallskip
\author{\mwc}
