Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!plaid!chuq
From: chuq@plaid.Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Word Processing.  Why the silence?
Message-ID: <77260@sun.uucp>
Date: 11 Nov 88 23:02:29 GMT
References: <1988Nov4.221606.20356@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> <430058@hpcea.CE.HP.COM>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: chuq@sun.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach)
Organization: Fictional Reality
Lines: 47

>MacWrite: 
>Don't underestimate the strength of Macwrite
>coupled with Ready Set Go.

I'll second this. If you need a simple processor with occasional leaps into
"pretty words" then MacWrite and a formatting package like RSG or PageMaker
is a great combo.

>MSWORD: 
>Beta versions tend 
>to get sold to the public maskerading as a completed product.

ARGH. This happened once. And not because they wanted to, but because some
internal administration underestimated the amount of testing it needed. 

Compare that with Word Perfect, that literally sold Betaware to their
customers, and then played "release of the day" with them for a few weeks
after that, without bothering to change the release numbering so you
couldn't even tell WHICH version of WordPerfect you got.

Get pissed at them for botching it once, but don't call it a trend. Wait and
see if they do it again with Word 4.0 and then you can call it a trend
(based on my discussions with them, 4.0 will be quite stable when it hits,
if you ask me).

>Tends to
>break whenever Apple releases a new system.

Huh? MSWord 3.0 was buggy. It was replaced with 3.01. That was replaced with
3.02 with the IW2 and some printing related problems.

I've run Word 3.01 on System 6.02, 5.0, and two releases prior to that. I've
never seen ANY "upgrade and break" with Word -- which isn't true about
Excel, 4D, or, for that matter, FullWrite Professional. As far as I'm
concerned, this is completely false and you're giving Word a rap for
something that isn't (unlike some of the other things Word gets bitched
about) true.

>I didn't mention MS Write as I see it as just a crippled MS word.

Yeah. But if you're looking for a low-cost version of Word, it's not a bad
option. A better option might be Works, though...


Chuq Von Rospach	Editor/Publisher, OtherRealms		chuq@sun.COM

It's not justice you want, Roderick! It's blood!