Re: Nota Bene

[Nathan Sivin nsivin@xxxxxxxx]

As for why some people are switching to Nota Bene, that is mainly
because
it is a live and evolving Windows program. I for one find XyWin
highly satisfactory, but it is in the main a 1993/1994 program
with a couple of features that bug a certain number of people,
and there will be no further versions.

XY did evolve, in fact, into SmartWords, a kind of hybrid program
that is more than a word processor, designed for vertical markets
such as law. SW is taking a path of its own. TG has been
preparing for a couple of years now a version of SmartWords that
is meant for people like us (not to make money; there will be too
few users). It will remain a beta, with limited support. The
problem is that it has been promised again and again, with
extremely irregular progress reports. The vaporware is supposed,
in fact, to condense into reality tomorrow, 11.8, when Kenneth
Frank, the CEO of TG, told us some time ago it will be released
for shipment. The price is very low.

To sum up, some people gave up some time ago, and others are
still waiting. For those who have given up and can't stand
corporate bloatware, NB is the only alternative. As you can see
from recent messages, its business operation is also highly
erratic, although they seem to have improved what used to be a
foul tech support operation. I used it for several years, and had
some really nasty experiences with the previous publisher, so
much so that I want nothing further to do with it.

NB in recent years has two strong points over XY. It is designed
for academic writers. It has a wide range of standard journal's
and press's styles built in, so that you can start an article or
book easily in any of them. Second, it is designed for input in
foreign languages. It is thus excellent for languages such as
Russian. Unfortunately for people like me, it does not support
Chinese and Japanese using TwinBridge and similar input programs.
I am told that the NB people are trying to set it up to do so,
but good intentions are not what I buy programs for.

In short, some people are tired of waiting for SmartWords, and
want a program that will continue to evolve. Others are curious
to see what happens tomorrow. And still others, perhaps a
majority of this list, are quite satisfied with XyWrite as it is
and too busy using it to agonize over such issues.

Anyhow, if you want to follow the suspenseful drama of
SmartWords, the TG web site is www.tgrp.com, and for orders call
(410) 576-2040 and select Option 2.

Cheers,
--
Nathan Sivin
History and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA 19104-6304
(215) 898-7454
nsivin@xxxxxxxx