Re: XyWrite for Windows

["Bob Brody" rabrody@xxxxxxxx]

From: Robert Holmgren 

> You calling me a mother or something?

Nah, but since you're a father, then you're a mother-fu*ker, no? :)

> I am quite sorry that Xy5 has
> embraced Basic as its macro language (along with retaining XPL), because
> if there was ever a language unsuited to screen manipulation, cursor
> positioning, etc., it's Basic.

If I recall correctly (which isn't a given) the macro language in
Word for Windows is rooted in Basic. Herb Tyson said it was the
best word processor macro language he'd come across, even better
than XPL. Of course, that was up to Signature. I think he bailed
after Signature and didn't get involved in Xy4.

Guy Gallo, a screenwriter and respective prof at Columbia U., who
wrote the book _Taking Word for Windows to the Edge_, wrote a
pretty sophisticated screenwriting interface for Windows Word
called ScriptWright using Word's macro language. Haven't tried it
myself but it's supposedly pretty slick work. And the woman who
introduced me to screenwriting with a word processor, Stefanie
Warren, wrote a supposedly even more sophisticated screenwriting
interface in WinWord's macro language (adopted by many production
companies and TV shows as their standard interface).

So, if it's true that WinWord's macro language is Basic-oriented,
it seems to get pretty high marks from people in the trenches.

Bob