<!-- Converted to DocBook/SGML by Kevin Conder -->
<section id="PrefaceName">
  <title>Why is this called the <emphasis>Alternative</emphasis> Csound Reference Manual?</title>

  <para>
    When I originally started my manual project, there was already an Official Csound Reference Manual (last known address: <ulink url="http://www.lakewoodsound.com/csound/hypertext/manual.htm"><citetitle>http://www.lakewoodsound.com/csound/hypertext/manual.htm</citetitle></ulink>). The Official manual was maintained by &namedavid;. I found its layout confusing and I wanted to change it. But since it was maintained with a commercial word processing program, I couldn't. I could neither afford this program nor was it available for my main computing platform.
  </para>

  <para>
    So I created an alternative to the Official Csound Reference Manual. I distributed my manual using the <ulink url="http://www.docbook.org/"><citetitle>DocBook/SGML</citetitle></ulink> format so that anyone on any platform could edit it with a text editor. This manual can also be produced with freely available programs.
  </para>

  <para>
    &namedavid; wasn't interested in maintaining my DocBook/SGML version of the manual. He was also concerned that people would confuse his project (the &quot;Official&quot; one) with mine. So out of respect for his wishes, I named my project the Alternative Csound Reference Manual. I made this decision so that nobody would confuse my project (the &quot;Alternative&quot; one) with his.
  </para>

  <para>
    Written by &namekevin;, October 2002.
  </para>
</section>
