Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!hsdndev!cfa203!chris
From: chris@cfa.harvard.edu (Chris Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Advice about buying apps and IAC
Message-ID: <1991May11.003807.8888@cfa203.harvard.edu>
Date: 11 May 91 00:38:07 GMT
Organization: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA,  USA
Lines: 32


I'm thinking about unloading some reasonable bucks to buy a 1) good
word processor and 2) a good spreadsheet.  MS Word 4.0 and MS Excel
3.0 seem the logical choice (especially at University discounts),
but...

In the May '91 issue of MacUser (pg 239), M. Swaine discussed the
benefits of interapplication communication (IAC) under System 7, and
noted that Microsoft's implementation of IAC (object linking and
embedding or OLE) is different from Apple's IAC (Publish and
Subscribe).  Sooooo...

Now I'm worried.  If I go with a Word+Excel combo, will any of my
other programs (graphics programs, drawing programs, etc.) "talk" to
them?  (I'm looking forward to exporting my spreadsheet numbers to a
capable scientific graphics package like KaleidaGraph or Igor without
continually cutting and pasting.)  Or should I go the Claris route
(true Apple IAC Publish and Subscribe), with MacWrite II (upgraded to
Pro when available) and the as-yet-unavailable Claris spreadsheet?

Comments?  Opinions?  Suggestions for other duos?

	Thanks!
	  Chris

===========================================================================
Chris Smith                           |  BITNET: chris@cfa
Center for Astrophysics               |  Internet: chris@cfa.harvard.edu
Cambridge, MA                         |      or chris@cfa160.harvard.edu
===========================================================================
The opinions expressed above are my own, and not those of my employer...
Come to think of it, I'm not even sure I want to claim them!