Old user seks new advice

["Fred Powledge" fredpowledge@xxxxxxxx]

Dear XyWriters,

I haven't used Xy for years, but have always delighted in the program,
especially since when I started with it, the publisher was that funky,
friendly little group in Bedford, Massachusetts. This was back in the
prehistoric days where technical support and bug fixes existed. Somehow I
got diverted (perverted?) to Word, and now the publications for whom I write
wouldn't know what to do with anything that wasn't in Word format (and damn
few of them know what to do with even that!). I've got, carefully preserved,
all my old Xy disks going back to I suppose Version 2; also Xy for Windows;
also even Note Bene. Also even (gulp) Signature! All of it's properly bought
and registered. I've got the manuals, too, and whole transfer boxes full of
notes and programming files I wrote and probably can't fathom any more.
Going back to Xy would, in short, be a major undertaking.

Nevertheless, I am being pulled back to Xy by nostalgia, the energy and
enthusiasm of this list, and an ever-growing dislike for Bill Gates and his
confederates.

The question: I no longer have a 5.25" drive, so I would have a lot of
trouble installing the XyDOS disks, and wonder even if the program would run
on my P-II, 330-mhz machine. I *do* have XyWin on 3.5" disks, and made a
stab at installing it recently, only to run into a lot of trouble which I
won't recount here. I know, from lurking on the list, that there are those
among you who have installed most versions on modern machines without much
trouble.

Does anybody have any suggestions about steps I should take to install the
good old days in my setup? I would be satisfied, I guess, with XyWin, but it
would be nice to be able to work on XyDOS, too. I would like to do this
without sending TTG any money, since it was TTG's treatment of XyWrite's
users that helped drive me into the arms of Micros**t in the first place.

Thanks.

--Fred Powledge

============================================
Fred Powledge - Writer, Editor, Consultant
Voice: 301-373-5466  -  Fax: 301-373-3788
fredpowledge@xxxxxxxx - fredpowledge@xxxxxxxx
  http://nasw.org/users/fredpowledge/
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