Re: Pipe dreams

["R Tennenbaum"]

Gosh, I'm almost flattered by the hubbub.

Shawn suggested this discussion go off-list, Leslie sent me a private
reply. There's not much more to say, but:

>From: TBaehr@xxxxxxx 
>To: xywrite@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
>Date: Wednesday, November 11, 1998 5:16 PM
>Subject: Re: Pipe dreams
>
>
>>Interesting wish lists for a "Pipe Dream" word processor. But I
>wonder about
>>the point of the exercise. We already have a command-line word
>processor with
>
>
>Right. Exactly. It seems to me that many of us HAVE the ideal word
>processor
>for our specific needs. Improvements in Xy/Dos might be nice, but
>they would
>likely bulk it up, slow it down, and then we wouldn't have the great
>program we have
>now.

Ladies and gentlemen, I submit I've cleared the lawsuit-from-TTG
hurdle.

>My own view: I'll keep using Xy for my daily reporting work, and have
>a
>Win95 program available when I need to do things XyWrite doesn't do
>well.
>Dreaming of an advanced XyWrite that does all the things MsW does ,
>but as fast
>and as reliably as XyWrite, is indeed a pipe dream.
>
>Just one XyWriter's opinion....

May I say I never proposed any such idea as anything but a pipe dream
(I'm the one who introduced the phrase into the thread). As they go
it's a useful one.

And let me add, it may even turn out to be a necessary one. 1) As has
been pointed out, those who use M$ OSes face a very possible if not
likely erosion in support for DOS boxes and applications, indeed such
is already evident; 2) we have had no reassurances from TTG that Xy4
will be patched into Y2K compliance. One plausible eventuality, far
from heart-warming, is that SW will be the only useable Xy-flavored
product within two years. It is a Windows program -- I seem to
remember it's a 3.1 program, though that might have changed -- and
therefore by its nature not the solution of choice for many if not most
of us here.

I'd like to use Xy4 for as long as I write and until I see a better
alternative, have no plans to switch. However it's going to be
difficult for me to use it if the timestamps on the files are munged,
or if I can't get a directory listing within Xywrite which has the most
recent files at the top.

A pipe dream, perhaps. But given a choice between my little
hypothetical app and a broken XyDOS, SW, and M$ Word, there may be a
few people who'd like to see it become a reality. Nuff said, I guess.

Rafe Tennenbaum
raphaelt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.ray-field.com