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From: moriarty@fluke.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Word 3.0 - Too Many Bugs?
Message-ID: <882@sputnik.COM>
Date: Fri, 15-May-87 16:53:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: sputnik.882
Posted: Fri May 15 16:53:26 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 16-May-87 15:32:39 EDT
References: <6531@amdahl.amdahl.com> <876@eneevax.UUCP> <6187@dartvax.UUCP>
Sender: news@tc.fluke.COM
Reply-To: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Meyer)
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA
Lines: 44

In article <6187@dartvax.UUCP> isle@dartvax.UUCP (Ken Hancock) writes:
>I realize that Word 3.0 has a few bugs to say the least, but consider this.
>The changes between 1.05 and 3.0 are immense.  There is no possible way
>they could have beta-tested it and found all these bugs.  Given that there
>are some which seem to be pretty obvious, but the majority that I have
>read about seem pretty obscure and happen only when a selected series
>of commands are used -- there is no way a beta-tester could go through
>all the possible series of command.  

Of course not -- and, for light use of Word 3.0 (at home, composing short
articles for the net and magazines), I haven't had that many problems,
either.  But anyone trying to get serious work out of it for the LaserWriter
or the Linetronics can give you story after story about how they've lost
work due to the bugs in this program.

As you say, there will always be bugs in released software; the question is,
how seriously do they (as a whole) impact the use of the program?  For an
informal user, not much; for someone taking MS Word 3.0 to the limits it has
advertised, it appears there are enough to be more than an annoyance.  It
would also seem that Microsoft itself is displeased; after the error reports
began swarming in, they fired the project manager for MS Word 3.0.

As to how they're following up on the bugs -- kudos there.  Microsoft
certainly has one of the best user support networks in the microcomputer
software industry.

I use MS Word 3.0 extensively, and wouldn't switch back to 1.05 or MacWorks
(which has a darned nice word processor), but it still isn't the WP I'm
looking for.  Tons of features, but not a user interface which allows you to
access them intuitively.  Yes, I know, software of this power has a steeper
learning curve; but once you've immersed yourself in it, the curve should
begin to level out.  With MS Word, it seems like your always hanging on with
your fingernails.

                        Q:      How many IBM CPU's does it take to execute a
                                job?
                        A:      Four; three to hold it down, and one to rip
                                its head off.

                                        Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
INTERNET:     moriarty@fluke.COM
Manual UUCP:  {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty
CREDO:        You gotta be Cruel to be Kind...
<*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>