Bibliography software; cross-platform-ness

[Mehta, Shailendra]

Beatrice Reusch wrote:

> [1] Does anyone use a database to store their biblio's -- with
> different
> layouts for different purposes, etc. ? If so, how do you get your DB
> and WP
> software to cooperate?  Since I'm a Mac user, I'm primarily interested
> in
> Mac (AppleEvents, etc.); still, the question is open to the users of
> all
> platforms.
>
> [2] Considering the challenges of cross-platform exchanges for the
> users of
> South Asian languages, and even for people on the same platform but
> using
> different fonts, at what point in our work does something like LaTeX
> become
> a necessity? Again, I'm primarily interested in Mac, but the question
> is
> open to all.
>
I would recommend AGAINST BibTex. I used it for several years and was
sorely disappointed and frustrated.  For the last several years I have
used Endnote from Nisus systems (who are based in Berkeley if  I
remember correctly). It -

1. organizes bibliographies (including large ones with tens of thousands
of references) flawlessly; searching is a pleasure here.

2. It comes with a module to interact with Microsoft Word. It is quite
easy to use it.

3. It is cross platform - DOS and Mac users can easily exchange files
without modification on DOS diskettes (which Mac users can easily work
with)

4. Very simple customization can get it to generate LaTeX codes for full
BibTex replacement; once customised (it takes a half an hour) it works
seamlessly with LaTeX

5. It is great for reading in tagged output from commercial databases

6. If you are thinking of using LaTex on the Mac, think of Textures. It
comes with menus which can to a large extent automate the use of LaTeX.


Shailendra Raj Mehta
mehta at mgmt.purdue.edu