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From: johnl@ima.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: The Final Word version 2
Message-ID: <97800007@ima.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 30-Sep-85 17:02:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: ima.97800007
Posted: Mon Sep 30 17:02:00 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 3-Oct-85 04:39:48 EDT
References: <1789@brl-tgr.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:brl-tgr:-178900:ima:97800007:000:1586
Nf-From: ima!johnl    Sep 30 17:02:00 1985


We have been a beta-test site for Final Word 2 for about six months.  I
haven't used the editor at all, because I like Epsilon, but the formatter
seems to be greatly improved.

They heavily rewrote the formatter so that practically all of the commands
you would use are in fact environments or macros that are defined in a
configuration file, which you can edit if you don't like it.  It does a
good job of driving the HP Laserjet in all its typesetter-ish glory, and
of driving my aging Diablo.  All of the device configuration is also
table-driven, so you can adapt it to new printers fairly easily if you need
to.  It looks very Scribe-like, but I haven't used Scribe recently enough
to know if the commands are actually the same.

The main complaint that I would offer is that it is clearly a formatter
written by and for programmers.  You ask for it, you got it, even if that's
not quite what you were expecting.  For producing large documents, it's hard
to beat -- we did an entire several-hundred page manual on it including
fancy page titles, cut-outs for illustrations, and so forth.  If you just
want to do a two page letter, it's a pain because you always seem to have
to tweak your macros to get them just right.  But it sure is flexible, and
you can make it do amazing things if you're persistent.

John Levine, Javelin Software, Cambridge MA 617-494-1400
{ decvax!cca | think | ihnp4 | cbosgd }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.ARPA

The opinions above are solely those of a 12 year old hacker who has broken
into my account, and not those of my employer or any other organization.


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