SIGNATURE

[ROBERT HOLMGREN]

Here's something to chew on. *Supposedly*, the Signature user manuals don't
delve very deeply into the myriad customization/configuration options of
Signature, and IBM says that's because they don't want to overwhelm new users,
particularly those unfamiliar with XyWrite, but that "XyWrite pros will know
what they can do" (via such things as getting and using VA values in XPL, etc.
etc. etc.).

So, how do you like them apples? If true -- and this was the impression of
someone who has perused drafts, but I didn't get a sense of how carefully -- it
won't be an unfamiliar situation (I feel like I've spent five years deducing
the missing pages in the v3.50 Manual, with mounting anger frankly, because it
would have been so *easy* for XyQuest to simply describe things like the
Ascii-253 screen controller sequences, and how to handle them -- instead of
never ever even *once* mentioning them -- not here on this BBS, not in the
manual, not nowhere). But it shivers me; must we start all over again,
figuring the bloody thing out?... Still, I'm much less concerned that it will
be a crippled WP. I think it will be a better WP. But for me, the key questi
on is emphasis. I could care less about graphics or importing pictures; I want
*fixes*, and native (not XPL) commands: kerning, linked windows, cases in
Styles, XPL control over CapsLock, abolition of limited define/copy/move/delete
buffers, true left-center-right centering on the same line, non-buggy memory
management, and so forth. **Word** processing refinements for writers!

Interesting to notice in the trades that IBM has just released an enhanced
version of DisplayWrite and still has yet to "confirm" Signature's existence
(when Signature is supposed to be DisplayWrite's replacement rather than mere
alternative). What's going on? Hello?