Please Read
Who is Basil (Vasily) K. Malyshev?
BaKoMa TeX is a TeX/LaTeX implementation developed by Russian physicist Basil K. Malyshev (This is not me). It is notable for its True WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) LaTeX editor, BaKoMa TeX Word, which allows users to visually edit LaTeX documents.
Malyshev made significant contributions to the TeX community, including the development of a font converter that translated Metafont output to Type 1 fonts. His work extended to creating a collection of PostScript Type 1 fonts, known as the BaKoMa fonts, which included the American Mathematical Society (AMS) fonts for extended mathematics.
The BaKoMa TeX distribution saw regular updates, with version 8.50 released on May 30, 2009. Starting from version 9.0, an Update Utility was introduced to streamline the process of updating packages. The BaKoMa TeX system includes support for various features such as PSTricks, PGF/TikZ, and XyPic, making it suitable for creating complex diagrams. It also supports slide presentations with packages like PowerDot, Prosper, and Beamer.
Who is Denis Belov?
The author of BaKoMa TeX (Basil K. Malyshev) died in late 2018 to early 2019. His Nephew (Denis Belov) appeared in the forums.
The following is a compilation of key events to help summarize timeline of what happened with Denis:
December 11, 2018: Tijs, one of the most active member of the old community, makes an observation that Basil hasn't been seen on the forum in over a month.
February 09, 2019: For nearly two months we heard nothing on the forums about the status of the project or of Basil, but then we got a glimmer of hope. Denis maked his first appearance in the forums.
February 18, 2019: Denis tells us that he is working on learning the source code, dealing with activation issues, and will be soon providing us with an obituary.
May 31, 2019: More and more people are having issues moving licenses to new computers, and are not getting any reply from support (Denis).
June 04, 2019: People started reaching out to Digital River GmbH, the distributor of BaKoMa TeX software license keys, with unfortunate news: While they distribute the license keys, they are not able to help if they keys do not work or if there are troubles with activation and suggest that they contact Denis Belov directly.
May 20, 2022: Not hopeful, I tried my luck reaching out to Denis to see if they would be interested in selling the project.
May 24, 2022: To my surprise Denis writes back and makes the offer for the project at a price of 10 BTC (~300,000 USD) .
May 24, 2022: I tried, to some extent to get the price lowered, as a project that has been dead for 4 years did not really seem worth anything to me. Further I tried to determine what the current income that the project generates (to at least determine a potential ROI).
May 26, 2022: Denis tells a story from a long time ago when Basil told him he would sell the project for 500,000 EUR (~500,000 USD). And determines he will give a 60% discount from a number that was determined when the software was still being updated.
May 26, 2022: I tell Denis the real worth of a software with a tarnished reputation, that doesn't make any money, and has not been updated in 4 years. I put the max at 50,000 USD and more realistically at 25,000 USD.
May 30, 2022: Denis lowers the price to 3 BTC (~100,000 USD), still nearly double the maximum that I would consider (keeping in mind that even at the 50,000 USD amount it would need to be crowdfunded, as I did not have the funds available for this).
May 30, 2022: I tell Denis that the plan would be to go open source, meaning that this is in no way driven by profit; almost any money that we sink in to acquiring the source code would have to be considered a loss. I reached out to the community on the discord to see if anyone would even consider investing... and while we got some interest, ultimately there was not much draw. which would have left the project at needing to raise ~5,000 - 20,000 USD per investor.
I offered an alternative: We provide a smaller payment for access to develop the software, we keep selling BaKoMa TeX (as it currently was), and he gets a cut of the profit.
June 1, 2022: Is the last time I heard from Denis for qiute some time.... His last message informed me he is stuck on the idea of selling the project completely for 3 BTC (~100,000 USD).
May 02, 2024: This would be the last time I hear from Denis. his newest offer for 150,000 EUR (~150,000 USD).
Today and This Website
This website is for the most part a mirror of the original (which has since been taken down and replaced by a gambling website).
This website allows people who have previously purchased the software to continue to download the software and find the regular information on it.
It further acts as the main landing page for people who stumble across the software from other areas of the internet (reddit, stackoverflow, wikipedia, etc.).
And finally this website offers a link to the discord channel that is now referred to as the new support forum where you can find like minded individuals, help running the software, and alternatives to BaKoMa TeX.