XYWRITE AND S

[chet.gottfried@xxxxxxxx]

JB-> That's why I'm currently trying out WP/Win 6.1. I still like XyWrite, but
 -> suspect that it is essentially an orphaned product. I am ticked off that
 -> they do not support current products--there are acknowledged bugs in
 -> XY/DOS 4X that they apparently have no intention of fixing. I am
 -> disturbed that they are making NO effort to market XY/Win, which suggests
 -> that this is not a company worth investing my software dollars in. I
 -> needed to change to Windoze--and I'm not confident that TTG is goin
 -> be around to support and improve their Windows product.

In a way, it doesn't depends so much on TTG but on the windows
version itself. After all, the menu system is one long XPL
program; it should be theoretically possible to write something
shorter and simpler that worked more efficiently. That goes for a
lot of its other features too. The big problem is time, and
whether it's worth the effort.

I was never overly pleased with the first DOS version of
XyWrite I tried; it was only after I realized I could do just
about anything I wanted did I get really involved in it. Of
course, at the time, windows or any of the other "visual" OSs
were not the pain they are today. Once I had DOS configured to my
liking, I simply concentrated on an application program itself.
In the post-DOS world, I'd hate to say how much time I spend
testing and exploring different setups and files in windows
itself.


JB-> WP/Win is a shock for XyWriters. It's clearly slower, although a fast
 -> machine makes a big difference. The thesaurus and speller are a big
 -> step down from XyWrite.

JB-> On the other hand: everything seems to work. The "restore session"

WP 6.1 (and 6.0a) has its own problems, and I've used it (and its
macro language) extensively for the past several months.
The most annoying aspect is that I can be working on a file for
several days until its time to change it back to 5.1 to import it
into something else; but the conversion generates a general
protection error. The solution is to cut the whole file and then
save it in a new version, which may or may not introduce unwanted
changes.

Its dictionary is also kind of sloppy; for instance, it accepts
"heterogenous" (a sloppy variant) for "heterogeneous."

I'm also learning Microsoft Word, whose redlining feature is even
better than XyWrite's. Of course, I'd prefer to see some kind of
codes in a file; but I suppose Microsoft wants to protect us from
such nasty sights.

JB-> I still have XyWrite on my disk, and I could get fed up enough with WP's
 -> speed penalty to switch back. But I don't think so. After 8 years with
 -> XyWrite, I feel treasonous. But hey, it's the future, and TTG apparently
 -> isn't ready to meet it.

Why choose? Nothing beats XyWrite's ability to process text. I
also use it as Xtree's editor and SLMR's editor. But for
finishing touches, before going DTP, I don't mind looking at a
prettier display in WP 6.1 or MS Word. Besides using an early
version of XyWrite doesn't do anything for TTG except maybe make
it drool at the idea of additional upgraders. It might even fix
the product.

--Chet
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 ? SLMR 2.1a ? Art + write + dtp = chet.gottfried@xxxxxxxx