Re: For Kenny Frank Re: TO Robert Holmgren

["James D. Besser" jbesser@xxxxxxxx]

My two cents:

All this talk about the future of XyWrite seems to be aimed at a
very small group of power users with very specific requirements.

The fact is, however, that XyWrite's primary audience in the past
were seriouswriters and journalists who appreciated the
program's flexibility, but who probably didn't know REXX from a
hole in the ground. Hey, guys,
I have a highly modified Xy setup, but *I* don't really know what
REXX is , or much care.

For these users, flexibility is important--but even more important is
stability and reliability and features that make our lives easier.

I'm finding that WP/Win brings me into the Windows world with all
the flexibility I need, and some really nice features aimed at
writers and journalists--ie the QuickFinder module, which I
gather is what Orbis should have been. The speed difference
isn't much of a factor with today's fast machines; I can
customize my keyboard almost as completely as I did with Xy/Dos,
and with much greater ease. The speller isn't as good as
XyWrite's, but it lacks the bugs that still haven't been fixed
(ie the overwrite problem when entering a replacement word).

What I'm suggesting is that Ken Frank may be on the right track
when he seeks a balance between the needs of power users and the
demands of a broader audience. *Most* XyWrite users in the past
weren't programming wonks; they were writers who wanted to do
stuff better and faster.

Many times, I've gone into press rooms and seen a dozen or two
laptops, all running XyWrite. But the journalists at the
keyboards weren't computer hobbyists, generally; they were people
who used the program because it made life easier for their
production people, or because it offered specific
features--speed, ease of formatting, etc.--that other programs
did not provide.

We're finding that programs like WP can offer many of those
advantages these days. If TTG puts its resources into writing
software for those of you who really care about REXX, they'll be
playing to a diminishing audience.