Re: Whatsamatter with XyWin?

["Michael P. Kube-McDowell" K-Mac@xxxxxxxx]

Hi, Tim. Thanks for your comments.

> Disadvantages of XyWin:
> 1. Many unexpected and unexplained General Protection Faults. It could be
> that, if you're using XyWin for straight text generation, you won't run afoul
> of this "feature".

By and large, what I do with XyWin is create manuscripts made up of a
couple of dozen chapter-sized files. And as you've guessed, I haven't
run into GPFs often enough to trace any of them to XyWin.

> 2. Unannounced hang-ups that require machine reset. These happen mostly when
> trying to edit files larger than about 4.2 meg. And the DOS version does
> this too, but it usually anounces that your disk is full writing to overflow
> file (even when the disk is fine). In DOS you can often recover without
> rebooting.

Goodness--I'd have to drop a couple of trilogies into a single text
file to get anywhere near 4.2MB. Any idea what sort of text files
come in Giant Economy Size?

> 3. Unreadable draft screen font. This never bothered me, but others have
> found it objectionable. There are work-arounds that have been posted to this
> list.

Very much a matter of taste. It doesn't bother me, either. (But,
then, I survived 8 years or so working in CGA.)

> 4. Slow and somewhat quirky XPL performance. If you don't write complicated
> macros, this is not a serious issue. It was with me.

I don't write them at all, and rarely use macros written by others.
The kind of work I do doesn't lend itself to the sort of repetitive
tasks that are readily automated.

> 5. Generally logy performance compared to Xy4DOS.

But fast compared to other Windows word processors--especially on
a 386 or mid-range 486 machine.

Which reminds me of another plus I'd put in XyWin's column: its files
are very compact compared to those of other Windows word processors.
One hundred-page correspondence file in Ami Pro approaches the size
of a 400-page novel manuscript in XyWin.

Best,

   K-Mac
  ---] Michael Paul McDowell, writing as Michael P. Kube-McDowell
  ---] Author of THE QUIET POOLS and STAR WARS: THE BLACK FLEET CRISIS
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