Re: Word and Happy99 and things

[Leslie Bialler lb136@xxxxxxxx]

Peter Evans wrote:
>
> Leslie Bialler:
>
> >You are forgetting that XyWrite is basically for writers and
> >editors (what is the name of the EXE file? uhhuh, uhuh).
>
> Cough. The bit about the name of the .EXE rather suggests that you're
> forgetting XyWin.
>

No--xwedit.exe, I do believe.

> >Word is designed for the
> >general public--it is designed for people formerly known as
> >clerk-typists who are now probably called administrative assistants
> >toiling in "entry level" positions.
>
> Possibly true. And, by implication, what a pleasant way to congratulate
> ourselves!
>

Quite so.

> >> So shouldn't they fix the ruddy bugs in XyWrite?
> >
> >Few remain. And those that are of only marginal annoyance.
>
> Perhaps my copy (4.12) of XyWin differs from yours.
>

I have it loaded on my system but seldom use it.

> >Why on earth would system administrators switch to a word processor they
> >would have to train people to use when they know very well that a new
> >hire is odds-on to know MsWord?
>
> You're well ahead of us in the Inscrutable Orient. The new hire here is
> likely to be unfamiliar with any word processor.

"A slow sort of country."

> (Anyway, the docile
> majority of my undergrad students don't know MS Word or anything else.)
>

Good lord.

> Incidentally, the only people I've encountered who *know* MS Word--who can
> do more than the most basic things with it--are also fully conversant with
> at least one of XyWrite, FrameMaker, PageMaker, or TeX. As for the
> majority of Word-sufferers, a lot of them seem unaware of (for example)
> cut/copy/paste.
>
Such people no doubt have VCRs still blinking 12:00.


> How is MS Word advertised in America--

Quite gushingly, actually.

> No, let's drop the thread; it's
> off-topic and fruitless.

Just so.

--
Leslie Bialler
Columbia University Press
lb136@xxxxxxxx
> http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup