Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!apple!motcsd!hpda!hpcuhb!hpihoah!winch
From: winch@hpihoah.HP.COM (Bill Winchester)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: A visit to WordPerfect Corp.
Message-ID: <4640009@hpihoah.HP.COM>
Date: 28 Jun 89 15:56:38 GMT
References: <653dcanfield@yvax.byu.edu>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino
Lines: 86


The following note was posted by Morgan Davis last year.  It describes how I
feel about Appleworks vs Wordperfect very well.  If you use a wordprocessor
to write any LONG documents (books, papers, etc), Wordperfect is, IMHO, the
better product currently.

Morgan I hope you don't mind me reposting this!

					Bill Winchester

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

There's been mention of WordPerfect for the Apple being really incredulously
slow -- and it's true.  It's a dog.  However, I'm talking about the IIe
version.

On the other hand, the IIGS version is very usable, and it doesn't take 7
seconds to go from the top of the page to the bottom, even though the GS
version uses the super hi-res mode of the computer.

I won't begin to describe the merits of WordPerfect GS, but I'll say this much
about it in comparison to AppleWorks, which the Apple world is enthralled by. 
WordPrefect has WordPerfect Corporation behind it.  AppleWorks has (nope, not
Apple, but) Claris behind it.  Think we'll see much support there?  Think
AppleWorks will become the writer's tool that we've all hoped for?  Think
again.

Last year I wrote a 640 page book (Mastering the Apple IIGS Toolbox) using
AppleWorks.  My co-author, Dan Gookin, used his IBM PC with WordPerfect. 
Converting chapters between WP and AW was a pain, but it could be done at the
expense of losing some formatting features in both directions.  I ended up
cursing AppleWorks a lot, simply because it just isn't a writer's tool.  Not in
the least.

To be fair, I suppose I was actually disheartened by the entire Apple II word
processing industry as a whole, and saddened that we've been held hostage by
this five-year-old program, AppleWorks, as the only game in town.  Imagine:
five years of AppleWorks, while everyone else has benefitted from new software
advances.  Fortunately, those who embraced AppleWorks as the end-all/be-all
word processor weren't as eager to latch onto the advent of floppy disk drives
after their cassette tape predecessors.  It's frightening to think that we
might never have been able to explore the miracle of massive storage systems,
and perhaps never would have left those weaning years on DOS 3.3.  But all is
not so cheery.  If your senses are keen enough, perhaps you, too, can detect
that pungent aroma of stagnation wafting by your computer's screen.

>SIDEBAR>
And aren't we lucky?  Last month's A+ Magazine (Ziff/Davis) felt we were due
for Yet Another Cover Story about AppleWorks.  I just love getting A+'s in the
mail and seeing 'APPLEWORKS!!!' splashed all over the front -- as if the 
program had just come out yesterday.  Yawn.
<<

And then it was time for me to move on, when the publisher said, "Good job on
the first book, now do another one."  Shudder to think that I'd go through all
that again.  By that time, however, this new beast, WordPerfect GS 2.0, was
available.  And, lo, the clouds burst open to let a wonderous ray of hope
beam forth!  Well, isn't that ... *extra special* ?!?

Suddenly, word processor and writer were finally working together, instead of
one constantly against the other.  WordPerfect isn't as fast as AppleWorks,
but it doesn't need to be.  (It's a good thing AppleWorks is as fast as it is
-- the less time I had to screw with it, the better).  WordPerfect also made
sharing files between my IIGS and my co-author's IBM PC a non-problem.  The
file format is totally compatible, and you don't have to do any file
conversion at all, in either direction.  All formatting codes are supported
and retained.  And this is nothing really to boast about when compared to the
rest of the environment.  It was a big deal to us, though.

Yeah, this is a testimonial.  You can take my word or leave it.  But remember
that I agonized through 640 pages, jealous all the while of what the rest of
the world had at its disposal.  The second volume of Mastering the Apple IIGS
Toolbox (due out this summer) wasn't nearly as painful to write.  And, I wasn't
about to run out and buy an IBM PC.  After all, we are so quick to emplore
that the Apple can do anything the PC can do, and more.  Right?  I think it is
(or will be) possible.

Disklaimer:

Perhaps WordPerfect Corporation will want to pay me for this plug.  (Which is
to say that I'm not being remunerated in any way for this diatribe).  Now all
we need is a really hot stand-alone spreadsheet and database program, and the
Apple II world will shake itself from this deadly grip that AppleWorks has
imposed upon all of us for half a decade.  Let's move on folks.

--Morgan Davis