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From: grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Graham Thomas)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: 1st Word Plus
Message-ID: <4069@syma.sussex.ac.uk>
Date: 19 Dec 90 10:47:49 GMT
References: <6529@vice.ICO.TEK.COM>
Organization: SPRU, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, UK
Lines: 44

From article <6529@vice.ICO.TEK.COM>, by keithr@vice.ICO.TEK.COM (U.D.M.):
> This is a little off the original subject (okay, a lot), but has
> anyone had a problem with First Word Plus locking up when you type
> too fast.  Our secretary will be typing away at blinding speeds and
> all of a sudden the ST will start repeating one character across the
> screen for several lines and then lock up.  Anyone else experienced
> this problem?

Oh yes.  Oh yes.  Also (with UK version 3.xx - 3.15 is current) it
sometimes just stops accepting keyboard and mouse input, effectively
freezing the program.  Wordplus doesn't have an autosave function, so
when this happens you lose all you've typed since the last time you
saved manually.  It doesn't seem to depend on how fast you type.  Even
the slowest typists here have had it happen to them. 

The producers of Wordplus say it's something in GEM (which might be
borne out by the fact that similar 'phantom typist' problems happen with
other programs).  Atari spokespeople generally say that it's to do with
the way the program handles keyboard input.  Nobody, except for a few
users who've realised it's not just their fault, seems to be interested
in tracking down the problem.  Atari tech people tend to use text
editors rather than full word processors, and GST (the originators of
Wordplus) don't worry too much about the ST market these days, as they
know they've already made most of the money they're ever going to make
from the program.

So you, and we, either have to grin and bear it or change to a new
program and probably a new machine too.  People here at Sussex
University (where literally hundreds of STs have been sold in the last
five years) are taking the radical option and moving away from the ST
altogether.  Users who mostly use just wordprocessing software tend to
blame 'the Atari' when they lose an afternoon's work - they're not too
bothered about where the problem lies.  IBM and Microsoft are now making
a lot of money here because of the bugs in the Wordplus/Atari
combination. 

Shame, but there it is.

Graham
-- 
Graham Thomas, SPRU, Mantell Building, U of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RF, UK
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