Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!sharkey!cfctech!teemc!mibte!jbh From: jbh@mibte.UUCP (James Harvey) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Split Decision - Ami WP Message-ID: <2932@mibte.UUCP> Date: 14 Jan 90 16:32:53 GMT References: <90008.165456JKT100@PSUVM.BITNET> Organization: Michigan Bell Telephone Company Lines: 61 In article <90008.165456JKT100@PSUVM.BITNET>, JKT100@PSUVM.BITNET (JKT) writes: > Both the most recent INFO and AmigaWorld, they compare Pen Pal and > ProWrite 2.5. INFO gave Pen Pal much higher ratings than ProWrite, > while AmigaWorld said that ProWrite was better. > > I'd like opinions on which of these 2 reviews is more accurate and > reputable. I can't believe both of them, or can I? Whose advice > should I heed? > Kurt > ======================================================================== > || Kurt Tappe (814) 862-8630 || Looking for Amigas in all || > || 600 E. Pollock Rd., #5705 || the wrong places...... || > || State College, PA 16801 -------------------------------------|| > || jkt100@psuvm.bitnet or jkt100%psuvm.bitnet@psuvax1 || > || or jkt100@psuvm.psu.edu QLink: KurtTappe || > ======================================================================== I have Pen Pal and my wife has been doing freshman level college work with it. The first release tended to crash if you did things with the menus too quickly, especially the tab requester. They sent a free upgrade to version 1.2 a couple of months ago which is pretty crashproof. Our biggest problem is that What-You-See is frequently NOT What-You-Get. We have a Panasonic 1124 24 pin printer and use the printer fonts exclusevly. Long documents often break the page at a different point than on the screen. Sometimes lines wrap on the screen at different words than on the printout. This upsets my wife no end, and is reason enough for me to NOT recommend Pen Pal for serious production typing. By the way, I complained to the maintenance phone number shown in the manual and the programmer who answered said version 1.3 was being prepared for release probably in January. He said If I mailed him my original disk, they would copy 1.3 on to it but at that time (mid-December) there were still bugs. Pen Pal works perfectly if you print in the graphic mode but the font resolution is MUCH lower than the native Panasonic 24 pin fonts and it's so much slower..... I have several other minor gripes but the WYSINWYG problem is unforgiveable. I have fooled around with ProWrite in the local Amiga store but have not bought it. My wife was turned off by it's interlace mode flicker (I know that's an option). The on-line spelling checker is a plus over Pen Pal and I think it handles the actual screen updating when typing faster than Pen Pal, I was not able to out-type it at my maybe 50 wpm speed. Excellence is horrible in this respect, if you are an even normal speed typist, it is useless. I apologize for such a negative review, but I have yet to find an Amiga word processor that my SO and I really like. My reference by the way, is IBM SMART which is our standard at work. -- Jim Harvey | "Ask not for whom the bell Michigan Bell Telephone | tolls and you will only pay 29777 Telegraph | Station-to-Station rates." Southfield, Mich. 48034 | ulysses!gamma!mibte!jbh