Re: Power Users and TTG?

[TEBRAKE@xxxxxxxx (William H. TeBrake)]

Harmon, Harmon, Harmon,
Please do not include me when you say that XyWriters are power
users who need to have the latest technological goodies. I, and
many others I am sure, really don't give a fig what OS happens to
be running their word processor just so long as it works as
advertized. I use my word processor to write, not only letters,
memos, tests, course syllabi, etc., but also academic articles
and books. Formerly, I did so under
CP/M and WordStar -- I worte my first book on an Osborne 1 with
it's five-inch screen. My most recent book was written with NotaBene (with
IBID and ORBIS) running in DOS. Over the last year I have begun using
XYWin for some of my writing, though I still return to NotaBene
when I am doing intensive work (just as many members of this list
return to DOS versions of XYWrite). For what I do, NotaBene (and
I suspect a DOS version of XYWrite) remain the best writing tools
out there. I recently began running OS/2 and discovered that my
best writing tool runs perfectly under OS/2 just as it does under
Windows or MS-DOS. I can tell no difference at this point. The
operating system really makes little difference to me for the
moment. What would I like to see in a future word processor?
Essentially the features I presently enjoy with
NotaBene or many on this list depend on in DOS versions of
XYWrite, all of which from a writer's perspective are superior to
any GUI word processor (including XYWin) precisely because they
allow us to see what we do in a font that is readable and won't
make us blind after a few hours of work.
So, give me please, a version of XyWrite with robust versions of
IBID and ORBIS (or NotaBene similarly equipped) that can
optionally display text in fonts as good as the current DOS
versions do but that also allows the use of greater amounts of
memory, can multitask and use other resources made available by a
robust operating system such as OS/2, and
I will be a happy user. Whether or not it is a 16bit or 32bit
program matters much less to me than it would if I were using
software that demands speed, multithreading, etc. Also make it usable for text markup
(via filters/printer files) if that gives it greater market
share. But, please, please, please, build on the strengths that
already are there in the DOS versions (writing, bibliographical
formatting, text manipulation). Mr. Frank, I am eager to see
what you have in mind.
In any case, let's quit the senseless OS wars, please.
Best regards,
Bill
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William H. TeBrake       BITNET:  tebrake@maine.bitnet
Department of History     INTERNET:
tebrake@xxxxxxxx
University of Maine      TELEPHONE:207-581-1923
Orono, Maine 04469-5774 USA  FAX:   207-581-1817
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