Unitary (always loved that word)

[Carl L. Distefano (70154.3452@xxxxxxxx)]

Annie:
-> What am I missing? I thought that this is what xyDOS 4 does.
-> If you mean a graphical window with dtp-like capability ...

Harmon:
-> Well, isn't that what you have when you run XYDOS in full-screen
-> mode under OS/2 -- switching to graphical view and back, or even
-> running two sessions or more --??

Actually, what I have in mind is rather like what I get when I run one
or two XyDOS sessions *and* a XyWin session all together under OS/2. I
don't insist on a DTP capability -- don't need it, really -- but I do
appreciate, and occasionally actually need, editable WYSIWYG. Which
XyDOS 4 decidedly does *not* have -- func WZ being incrementally better
than TYS, but little more. On the other hand, the WYSIWYG you get with
XyWin really *is* editable -- and at least as fast as WG mode in DOS;
unfortunately, the draft view in Windows is execrable. The
multitasking kludge is all well and good so long as you have complete
command-set compatibility between XyDOS and XyWin, so that files
embedded with Win-specific deltas don't set off a barrage of "Invalid
formatting command" beeps in DOS. That's what we have, for now at
least. But it's clear from Ken Frank's recent tantalizing tidbits that
the future development curve (such as it may be) is all Windows and
little or no DOS. What happens when new commands native to Windows
trigger errors that cripple editing under DOS? So much for multi-
platform sessions under OS/2. That's why I say a unitary solution --
one program, with fully functional character and graphical video modes
-- would have been a brilliant flash. Barring that, I can only hope
that XyDOS will continue to be brought along, at least to the point
where new Windows commands don't cause problems. I'd be content to
look at inert triangles in DOS, with Windows still an Alt-Esc away.

I've always heard good things about GEOS; if it's as elegant as you
describe, Annie, then a pity it didn't catch on. I'd be tempted to
take a look, but running XyDOS under OS/2 is more than enough arrows in
*my* back. And good enough for now, and the foreseeable future. It
would take something really compelling to get me to abandon character-
based draft view. I fondly recall those rock-solid IBM green monitors
that came with the original PC; turn the computer off, and 15 minutes
later you could still read the last page you'd written. In fact (don't
laugh), for while, after I got my first color monitor, I used a palette
tool to emulate that look under VGA. Old habits die hard. --C.

--------------
Carl Distefano
70154.3452@xxxxxxxx