Re: Just wondering

[Robert Holmgren holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to note from xywrite@xxxxxxxx Tue, 24 Feb 1998 15:38:56 -0500

Well, you're not gonna get your wishlist without the collaboration of TTG
programmer(s, assuming there's more than one, which I don't). All your stuff has
got to be hard-wired. I've been playing lately with a way to access the OS/2
clipboard, but not sure it will be satisfactory (can't figure out what the REXX-
clipboard hooks are, which is not a good sign!). Pretty small potatoes, compared
to what you want...

We may all be surprised to find that some of these tools exist in NBWin. If I
can't get my hands on SW, I'm gonna buy NBWin just out of curiosity (I'm a
registered NB user from way back, although I scarcely ever use it). The thing that
takes me back, is that this is going to be a HUGE leap for NB-ers (and, I
should think, for NB's own in-house programmers). Think of it: from about v3.52 or
v3.54 level (notwithstanding what Dorothy says about v3.57, I can't get late-model
v3 XPL to run under NB v4.5), to post-XyWin. That's just daunting. Leaping at
least four releases in a single bound. They will go bananas. On the other hand,
they're nothing if not disciplined (I hope that's a non-disparaging way of saying
"sheep-like" -- but very nice people, impeccably civil to one another, you
wouldn't believe it), they read the manuals and follow the rules, so maybe it will
roll out smoothly. I'm quite excited about NBWin, I truly believe it is the only
path forward for us (not that I really want to run a graphical WP), and I think NB
is a far more responsive organization than TTG (which is almost criminally
promiscuous with empty promises, having led us on for years now about SW, and
absolutely nothing to show for it).

> Incidentally and apropos of nothing, it continually surprises me
> how frequently I see Xywrite. In fact in the pressrooms of
> sporting events I've been to in the last couple years if it hasn't
> got a plurality on the laptops, it's sure close.

Funny, isn't it? I read (or at least touch base with) about 30 newspapers a day,
and it is just astonishing how often 3-byte characters are embedded in their
texts -- a dead giveaway. Sydney Morning Herald and The Age (Melbourne) seem to
use it, South China Morning Post and Le Monde stringers all use it, as of course
does the WSJ, where you often see things like:

    "=4Eewest =57ashington Game: =53wallow the =4Ceader"



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Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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