I find the revised form definitely preferable, but is it absolutely
essential for such a message to be displayed automatically each and every
time that one opens Maxima? It would seem appropriate for such
information, and other, to be available from a menu 'Help' or 'About
Maxima'.
I have modified slightly the grammar and composition in the two
paragraphs below.
J. F. Ogilvie
On Fri, 14 Dec 2007, Stavros Macrakis wrote:
> A relatively minor thing, but something that annoys me every time I read
> it. I think some of our intro text could be improved. Currently, it reads
> (in part):
>
> Maxima is ...
>
> e.g.:
>
Maxima is an open-source release of Macsyma, a computer program for algebra
developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology during 1967 - 1982.
Macsyma inspired other systems, including Maple and Mathematica,
which retain a strong resemblance. Maxima is a publicly available
descendent of Macsyma, with an active user community that continues
to maintain and to extend it.
William Schelter<http://www.utexas.edu/faculty/council/2004-2005/
memorials/schelter/schelter.html> maintained Maxima from
1982 until his death in 2001. In 1998, he obtained permission to
release the source code under the GNU General Public License (GPL). We
are grateful for his work, which made the survival of Maxima possible.