Re: Windows vs. DOS XyWrite

[nsivin@xxxxxxxx (Nathan Sivin)]

To continue the conversation,

1. The discussion logs are available, as explained in the welcome message you
receive when you join. Contributions up to some time in August are in the file
xywrite, and those afterward are in xywrite.94xx where xx is the month.

2. A number of the XyWin advantages Jack Shafer mentioned are also standard or
assignable to default in XyDos. Another main element of choice is whether you
want to do everything in Windows, and am willing to pay the price of long waits
to load, unload, etc. On my 486 DX66, XyDos with fonts etc. loads in >10 sec.,
and unloads immediately, even though I have the log function assigned to a key
to record the state of all open files. I don't use XyWin, but I use WPWin for
fancy graphics, Chinese, etc. It takes more than a minute to load from the DOS
prompt, and half a minute to return to the DOS prompt (including NDW to
overcome the inadequate design of Program Manager). I have tried a couple of
other Windows applications, but they are so ponderous and slow to use compared
with a well-customized DOS program that I stick with the latter, and load
Windows only when I need to write something in Chinese.

-- Nathan Sivin
History and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA 19104-3325