R: Printing A5

[Eric Van Tassel 101233.342@xxxxxxxx]

I'm grateful to you for taking the trouble to send me a copy of your A5-A4
procedure. But you've slightly misunderstood my dilemma.

(1) I have decided that, for the present, I _must_ use Microsoft Word for
this job: one reason is that I need a variety of fonts and decorative
features, and a number of those fonts I have cause XyWin to crash (but I
can't afford to spend money to acquire new fonts).

(2) Though this is incidental, with my printer (HP LaserJet 5L) sending the
paper through the printer twice (as your procedure requires) would leave a
residue of toner on some of the working parts which, in time, leads to
stains being deposited on the paper itself. I've been told by the HP
subsidiary in the U.K. that there is no way to avoid this with the 5L.

Your comments about the Mac are extremely interesting. My son began his
working life as a Mac user, and he claims to find it highly amusing that I
am loyal to DOS (and reluctantly accept Windows) mainly because of my
enthusiasm for XyWrite. I shall send him your remarks about the Mac. To be
fair, however, he and his wife use their Mac partly for graphic design and
production, and I believe most users still agree that the Mac is a superior
platform for such work.

Of course, you're right about the danger of being dominated by your
computer; and you're right to say that this is the goal of both Microsoft
and Apple. That is why I was so pleased to see that someone in the XyWrite
group recently drew a distinction between a tool (e.g. XyWrite) and a
machine (e.g. MS Word). I have since discussed this distinction with some
of the wisest persons I know, and they all agree that it is a useful and
too little understood perception.

Regards
Eric Van Tassel