M$ Word

[harvey]

At 08:40 AM 11/19/00 -0800, you wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Is there anyone (besides myself) who does not use Word?
>
>If you use another word processor, what do you use?
>
>Thanks.
>
>Horace

Horace, if I didn't know better, I'd say your message was a troll!

I hate Word, but use it because all roads lead to it. Specifically, some 
other programs that I routinely use have built-in WP launchers. Instead of 
being user configurable, most of them are hard-coded for Word. Admittedly, 
the other programs often have built-in templates that are only useable in 
Word. I would prefer writing my own custom templates and having a choice of 
word processors.

If I were doing more writing than I currently do, I would consider going to 
one of the *NIX offerings for TEXT processing and/or text enhancements 
(TEX, LATEX, et al). Of course, I would also need the platform to support 
the programs. This is because I came from the DOS C/PM world that offered 
powerful text editors. I've recently taken a half-way step in that 
direction in the Windoze world, by trying a program called "NoteTab". I'll 
be deciding soon whether to opt for the 'Pro' version. (As mentioned by 
Greg Newell, I also loaded up  Word Pro, but forgot it was there and have 
yet to try it.)

There are reasons why Word became the de facto standard, and in this (one) 
case, it was not entirely Micro$oft's fault. Word Perfect was doing just 
fine, but fell asleep at the switch in terms of reacting to market 
direction. Their first GUI efforts were buggy and slow, and by the time 
they worked things out, well...

Ami Pro was another contender. I think it started as Samna or something 
like that, then was taken over by Lotus. It had an almost cultist following 
before that, is just as powerful and far more logical in interface 
(intuitive) than Word. Yet we don't hear a lot about it either, just like 
we don't hear much about other Lotus offerings as we did years ago.

Now, why do you ask? The question was unusually brief for you! I admit you 
hit a nerve ending with me. The 'theme' could be extended into other areas 
-- I also use but *hate* Eudora as a mailer. At least I don't use M$ 
proggies for this. However, if I could get the  MAPI interface working 
correctly with my Palm Pilot, I'd switch to Pegasus in a flash.

Jim Harvey
[Still needing lessons in brevity]



Jim Harvey, RPT
Greenwood, SC
harvey@greenwood.net
________________________
Greenwood (n): the largest city in South Carolina WITHOUT an Interstate