Re: Xywrite antiques -Reply

[Bill Troop bill@xxxxxxxx]

> Such as, but not limited to, the notion that the st in 21st century
> should be superscripted. And now, things being as they are, people think
> this is correct because Gates's software defaults to this.
Well, in fairness, I think WordPerfect (a work of genius compared to MS
Word) also shares this sin; and is it necessary to personify all
technological evil in the name of Mr. Gates? I find it very hard to believe
that the man Gates even knows what superscript is. After all, he pronounces
the word processor as having two syllables.
Here's a question for the technical gurus: MS Word has a somewhat useful
feature whereby you can "expand" type by a given amount -- for instance,
one point. In typesetting vocabulary, you can track the type positively. I
work with a writer who is addicted to this feature, though he holds no
brief for MS Word. Is there that one could fake this feature in XyWrite? It
doesn't seem as if it would be that difficult . . . . .
which reminds me that I have always, always, always thought that, if
XyWrite Windows had ever been perfected, and an elegant method of dealing
with tracking and leading (a la Quark) had been added, and a little support
for ligatures had been added, we would have had a tool that would quickly
have become the darling of those who need to typeset most books and many
magazines. I can't believe that it would have taken more than a year to get
XyWin bug-free and with an expanded feature set.
Alternatively, if XyWrite DOS had ever been able to rasterize either
TrueType or, preferably (from the typesetter's point of view, and also from
the point of view of any user going beyond the hundred or so highly
optimized TrueType fonts that exist) PostScript -- - - - - ? But no, you
really do want true WYSIWYG when it comes to typesetting .. . . . .
With regard to ancient history, I think Signature has had something of a
bum rap. It wasn't, after all _that_ buggy. I gave it a very positive
review in PC Sources when it came out. Was that in 92? Let's remember that
it was the first full featured DOS word processor to have WYSIWYG. It was
an amazing technical achievement at the time, though WordPerfect soon
caught up.
I _still_ think an actively developed, _bug-free_ XyWrite for Windows would
have an excellent chance of gathering a small but significant cache of
market share, though I ended my review of Signature thus: "Without IBM's
marketing muscle, however, the program may coast invisibly across the
market, its powers a secret known but to the select few who actually give
it a try."
However, marketing is different in the internet age, and XyWrite is perhaps
the one ancient program good enough to deserve an active future.