Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!purdue!bu-cs!dartvax!eleazar.dartmouth.edu!changwoo
From: changwoo@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Chang P. Woo)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: MacWrite II vs. Word 4.0
Keywords: MacWrite II, Word 4.0
Message-ID: <13358@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Date: 4 May 89 23:27:20 GMT
Sender: news@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU
Reply-To: changwoo@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Chang P. Woo)
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Lines: 49

How are the performances of MacWrite II and Word 4.0?

I've just sent my upgrade card to Microsoft for Word 4.0, but some
people who had seen/heard about Word 4.0 described to me that the speed
in 4.0 is a lot slower than the previous version--speed for screen
updating, drawing menus, etc. Ugh. Although I like Word's endless
feature list, I don't want to touch Word if I have to wait for
computers to display what I type. (I type about 85 wpm)

Well, fortunately I have a copy of MacWrite (remember when Apple used to
bundle them?), so I can update to MacWrite II for $75. Now I am
considering this as an alternative. Is the upgrade worth it? For a
student, whipping out $150 in a week for software upgrade is pretty
hefty. But if Word 4.0 turns out to be not of my kind, I am willing to
invest extra $$ to buy MacWrite II.

So would any one in net.land give me some feature list and comparisons
between MacWrite II and Word? I understand that Word must have a lot
more features than MacWrite II, but I don't need many of them (such as
math equations, indexing, and outlining).

I am looking for comparisons in following categories:
1.  spelling checker
2.  thesaurus (if MacWrite II has it)
3.  glossary
4.  footnote/endnote
5.  references? (How I loathe for FullWrite! Too bad that I have an SE)
6.  multiple header/footers
7.  style sheet: I know that MacWrite II doesn't have them. But does it
    have any alternatives for style sheets?
8.  Extended Keyboard support
9.  Multifinder support and amount of RAM it munches
10. Default font other than Geneva (like WriteNow, Word, and FWP)
11. Support for other word processors (for MacWrite II, does it read
    Word 3.0 file that is fast-saved? Ability to read/write RTF (like
    WriteNow) is "tolerated")
12. Search/Replace function that can check particular font and style
    (like FWP)
13. Use of font name instead of font IDs
14. Some way to shorten font menu (Please don't flame me. I actually
    *like* font menu that fits on my screen!)
14. And the most important: SPEED!!!

Thanks in advance,
Chang
----
Chang Woo                changwoo@eleazar.dartmouth.EDU
                         HB 2932, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>     Don't you love reading disclaimers too?