@PeterSommerlad @cstross @rudi
It depends a lot on what the flow looks like. If you're starting with simple markup, it's easy. If you're starting with something where you've done some things to make sure that the LaTeX output has the correct layout, then it's likely to be harder.
@david_chisnall my best toolbox to date: vim, Markdown, pandoc, git, scripted builds
I'm a big believer in FOSS software. But I recognize that asking someone to change the tool they use *and the entire industry they interact with* over FOSS principles is absurd. It doesn't matter how valid those FOSS principles are.
Having said that, I think some significant portion of the word processing features you're talking about - collaborative editing, etc... - are implemented in Etherpad. So _when_ _plausible_ it makes sense to consider it.
EtherPad, OnlyOffice, and a few other things support this kind of thing. It's not that there aren't F/OSS things that do it, it's that people are unconditionally recommending the one that doesn't.
EtherPad is a really interesting comparison because it does far less than LibreOffice, but it might do the thing that a specific set of users actually care about. And, if you understand what people are doing with it, then it's possible to recommend something that solves that problem. And it may even solve it better than the thing that they're using now.
@david_chisnall (warning: tedious detail for minor sub-point of your argument) @cstross reports that LibreOffice’s Track Changes interoperate with Word well enough for novel-length texts now https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2025/11/in-the-eyeball-waiting-room.html#comment-2221980
@rudi @david_chisnall @cstross
FWIW, I was using LibreOffice edit-with-change-tracking, round-tripping with MS Office (e.g. Office 365) users, a decade ago. It works, has worked for quite a while, and works pretty well.
But mostly I was working as a freelance editor, typically only working with 1 writer: the simplest possible scenario.
@lproven @rudi @david_chisnall … And I'm pretty sure you weren't round-tripping book-length files with >2500 changes to the text, >400 notes, and EVERYTHING modified to fit a very specific style sheet.
@cstross @rudi @david_chisnall Fair points, and all true.
@david_chisnall @rudi I work in trad publishing. There is no live editing flow—it runs on the waterfall model (and *can't* run on live editing, because it's all outsourced to different contract agencies who bill by the hour).
@david_chisnall @rudi Yes, and this is why word processors are not suitable tools for novelists (they're designed around office work, not book-builders).
@cstross @david_chisnall @rudi
Why do publishers then insist on receiving Word files?
@david_chisnall fwiw, it looks like the Typst app supports both of these things.
(not to be confused with the Typst compiler, which the open-source part that the app depends on.)
