The LaTeX Community

Recently I started to try out XeTeX. It has two main advantages over the plain, old LaTeX: First, you don't need any \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} as XeTeX assumes UTF-8 as default encoding. As UTF-8 is the default encoding for basically ever Linux distribution, it makes things much simpler. Second, it can make use of TrueType, Type 1, and OpenType fonts without configuring virtual fonts or alike. With LaTeX, you need black magic to include new fonts which is why most people stick with Computer Modern.