Why TeX Live?

I am sometimes asked why I recommend that people install TeX Live, even on the Windows platform, to people installing a TeX distribution.

Of course, on Windows people could choose the MiKTeX  distribution.  There is no doubt about it: lots of people around the world use this system and it does great for them. 

The two have essentially the same software (MiKTeX is somewhat more relaxed about license requirements and so carries a few packages that TeX Live does not).  So what is it about TeX Live that tips the scale for me?   I see two differences.

1) The first is that MiKTeX can do the on-the-fly installation of packages. That is, if you get a LaTeX source file from someone that uses a package that your MiKTeX does not already have it installed then it goes out on the interwebs and gets it (from the MiKTeX repository, not just from any old place).  That's neat.

(MiKTeX can do this but TeX Live cannot because MiKTeX is a one-platform system.  So it knows what supporting software, and what version of that software, is installed.)

But, although on-the-fly is neat, I personally don't find that I need it. My practice is to install the full version of TeX Live and I almost never need anything else.

Sometimes people respond that TeX Live full is very big.  It is, in 1995 terms. But today is today.  My kids download whole movies and think nothing of it. I use TeX during perhaps 20% of my waking day, so the size seems to me to be not much. (And, frankly, my TeX Live installation is a couple of years old. My work buys me a new computer every three years and I install then and forget about it.)

So doing on-the-fly, while cool, is just not relevant to the great majority of my work. I suspect that it is not relevant to the overwhelming majority of the people who ask me which distribution they should install.  If you need it, well then of course I'm sure it is important to you.

2) The second difference is that TeX Live is an example of a good project in Free stuff.  There is an understanding that handing people bits, even bits that are Free, does not suffice.

MiKTeX is really a one man show. A very admirable project, for sure, and I don't know how he does it, but a person worries about errant busses. 

Said in a less flippant way, the TeX Live project is connected to others.  There are core people, but there is an understanding that connections bring real benefits.  For example, it is coupled to the TeX User Group and other such organizations. These are folks who provide a forum such as the annual TUG meeting and next year's Pratical TeX for interested parties to get together, provide a journal, and provide financial development support to the extent that they can. In my experience all this stuff matters, a great deal, in ensuring that TeX and friends continue to be there, and to be relevant, for years to come.

It is reason number 2 that persuades me.