Re: Xywrite antiques

[yesss@xxxxxxxx]

I logged on recently for the first time since early
February, so pls excuse this very belated response.

≪ Many XyWrite users have purchased Nota Bene, but
frankly, I am surprised that there haven't been more. ≫
--Anne Putnam  Fri, 18 May 2001

A good part of the time I was offline I was
immersed for the first time in xyWin and nbWin
(I compare first impressions of both products with
NoteTab at http://www.escape.com/~yesss/_x45w4nt.htm).

I'm very kindly disposed toward NB the company,
Anne, and wish it nothing but the best. In that
spirit, and in the wake of my recent experience,
*I* must admit surprise that NB apparently considers
that, with xyWrite development now history, xyWrite
and NB software user proclivities have become the same.

NB seems to be attuned to NB software users' needs
and the gentle users seem perfectly content to go
along with whatever interface NB the developer thinks
best. xyWrite users prize above all else software
we ourselves can bend to our diverse needs.

To presume that a product with a hard-coded keyboard,
e.g., would "provide what many of you are looking for"
reveals a basic misperception and proves that--when
what we already have meets basic needs and is so
user-configurable to meet new ones--we are rightly
skeptical about new-software promises. The offer
of a "free xyWrite keyboard" gave a hint of
reduced flexibility, but I couldn't have imagined
an apparently binary-mapped xyWrite-family kbd.

≪ Well, I do have to admit that NB is a Windows program. ≫

Uh ... xyWrite for Windows leaves the kbd almost
entirely free for user remapping. It comes as
no shock that I must disengage my treasured,
otherwise-universal Windows kbd remapper KR
http://linux.kurt.hu/marczi/welcome.html to
use either xyWin or nbWin, but when I do that
to load nbWin I sacrifice virtually all Windows kbd
freedom. When I load xyWin, my kbd is locked to cua
only in other Windows apps.

While I was unable to vanquish the seemingly hard-coded
kbd, I easily reclaimed all those user &ldpms the NB
overlay seizes. U1s are in effect U2 files that belong
to the developer. Instead of using one, in this case
the developer coopted user options. I quickly shuffled
all that &ldpm code to a U1, which admittedly isn't
debugged. I just wanted my &ldpms back and have no
incentive to debug the code; debugging shouldn't take
much longer than transferring xpl and turning labels
into frame names did.

I didn't stop there. I also retrieved the $[A-Z/0-9]
options missing from xyWin as well and for all I know
from Signature and all its progeny. I explain how I did
this stuff at http://www.escape.com/~yesss/_x45xpl.htm,
a page that also discusses nbWin's evil default.lib file
and other nbWin problems I *didn't* solve, e.g., U2 xpl
that xyWin runs uneventfully and that chokes nbWin.

≪ And we are committed to continuing with ongoing
development and support of what we think is the
best word processor in the world! ≫

I salute NB for that, and I'd like to further support
development. If NB ever develops an interest in knowing
what *xyWrite* users think would constitute the world's
best word processor and responds accordingly, I'll be
first in line to try it. Till then, when I want to use
a Windows word processor I'll load xyWin, the most
unfairly bad-mouthed app I know (all too often
by people who never used it). ... Ciao. 		--a

======================================= adpFisher  nyc
	xyWin+nbWin+xyW3 !xyWWWiz Web assistants +
	xyWrite 3 supplements !xyWise and !xyWiz +
	Wolfgang Bechstein's seafaring adventures:
http://www.escape.com/~yesss/ ========================================