The post complains that markdown engines render supposedly-the-same-thing in ways different enough to constitute breakage, and that neither engine in question uses a formal grammar to indicate how the language is parsed, making translation between the two very difficult.

The complaint is not actually about any kind of syntax at all -- he mentions that pen and paper is his favorite alternative -- but rather the language's ability to yield consistent and reliable results across different implementations.

And maybe fitting, the blog entry contains broken formatting at the end:

"LaTeX is better than markdown by far, but it has a fundamental

flaw. The computer decides where the text goes, not me - I want to be in command."

>"The computer decides where the text goes, not me - I want to be in command."

Is that possible for any program to do it in plaintext? The only things I know that can fully control character positions are something like inDesign, I don't see anyone would like to write a paper in it.

> Is that possible for any program to do it in plaintext?

Sure, TeX.

The above quote mentioned the quoted one wants to take full control of character position, is this achievable with plain TeX?

Yes, but it'd be painful.