Re: TTG marketing woes

[Paul Falzer prf@xxxxxxxx]

>
> I keep swearing off religious wars (Mac vs. PC, Win vs. DOS, etc), but it's
> hard not to get sucked in. So my two cents:
>
> (1) Any word processor that requires one to take a hand off the keyboard
> to manuipulate a mouse was not designed for writers.
>
I agree with you here.

> (2) Or to put it another way, GUI represents the ascendance of form over
> content.
>
I can only assume that you don't actually use GUI software. There are good
reasons for working in a GUI environment, not the least of which is the
ability to do more than one thing at a time, along with the ability to
transform textual and graphic information.

WinWord, for example, doesn't require a mouse for opening files, saving,
entering and editing text, and doing all of the other tasks that are part
and parcel of what is called "writing." Further, WinWord's keyboard is more
easily and fully configurable than XyWrite's. WinWord is more stable, more
full-featured, and far better than XyWin in every conceivable respect but
one: WinWord and its GUI cousins, WordPro and WordPerfect, are slow, clunky,
and mammoth, whereas XyWin is lean and quick. I've said on other occasions
that WinWord is like driving my father's Oldsmobile. Heaviness and
awkwardness are not what I am looking for in a writing instrument, and
watching an hourglass is not conducive to doing creative work.

Whatever you (and I) may think of Microsoft, there is no question that it
will be around next year. It's a mean and greedy company, but it has a low
weirdness coefficient. TTG is quite another story and its XyWin is an
embarrassment. In a recent review of word processing programs in *PC Mag*,
Ed Mendelssohn discussed XyWin and said, in rather delicate terms, "skip
it." He lauded NotaBene, WinWord, and WordPerfect -- especially WordPerfect
6 for DOS.

I am eagerly awaiting NotaBene for Windows 95, and I'll lurk here to see if
by chance TTG eventually manages to release a serious GUI word processor.
Until then, I will continue using WinWord, not because I actually like it
but rather because it represents for me the best compromise currently on the
market.

Best regards,

Paul