a deeper question

[dembart@xxxxxxxx]

   I have been using XyWrite for nearly 10 years now and
consider it the best word processor hands down.

   I am also aware that XyWrite is yet another example of a
case where the best did not become the standard. I have no idea
why this happens in general or in particular, but it certainly
does happen.  (Remember Beta videotape? It lost to VHS.) The
phenomenon probably has to do with marketing, but I'm not sure.

   In any case, most of my word-processing work is self
contained on my own system, so I can happily use XyWrite without
any problems from anyone else. But from time to time, I have to
give something I have written to someone else, and they almost
always use another word processor, usually Word Perfect. Only
once has that someone else ever used XyWrite.

   To be sure, there are conversion programs available, but
they almost always have to be cleaned up after the fact. If the
writing includes footnotes, it's a real mess.

   Why the world adopted Word Perfect (and more rcently, Word
for Windows) as the standard, I cannot fathom. But I am
increasingly wondering whether it would be wise to abandon
XyWrite and go along with the choice that the rest of the world
seems to have made.

   In the old days, when I was using an 8088 processor,
XyWrite's blazing speed made up for the computer's sluggishness.
 Word Perfect, by comparison, was virtually unusable on that
machine. But nowadays, with 486s and Pentiums (and God knows
what's next), the speed comparison is no longer an issue.

   Before everyone starts flaming me and telling me what a jerk
I am even to contemplate giving up XyWrite, let me say again: I
love XyWrite. If I ran the world, XyWrite would be the
standard. But alas, I do not run the world, XyWrite is not the
standard, and I'm wondering whether the benefits of one
universal standard outweigh the benefits of the better word
processor.

   Any thoughts?

lee dembart voice:   415 989-8413 fax:    415 989-8452
e-mail:  dembart@xxxxxxxx snailmail: 290 lombard
street, san francisco 94133 icbm:   37.775 degrees N, 122.418
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