Re: How does XyWrite compare with Nota Bene?

[Wendell Cochran atrypa@xxxxxxxx]

Your experience & mine seem approximately parallel, so I risk
miscellaneous comment:

As a magazine editor in D.C. I used XyW in the early '80s -- so early
I didn't even know the program had a name. . . . Then I retired &
bought a Morrow MD-2 with CP/M & WordStar & used them till the early
'90s. . . .

I don't recall why I didn't buy WordStar for my Zeos 386. I did try
PC-Write, Ami Word, & WordPerfect -- & did not like them. But I
liked XyWrite III+ from the start, & hope I never have to change.

XyW's reputation is intimidating, but I believe that's mistakenly due
not to XyW itself but to the XPL language (of which I know virtually
nothing).

For months I've been lurking in the XyWrite-List, & find it -- well,
different from all other lists I know. For many weeks it consisted
almost exclusively of technical discussions by XPL hackers, a small
but vicious flame war, & almost total silence by the list owner &
TTG. . . . Neither the list owner nor TTG replied to direct inquiries
from me, & I posted no questions or comments because they'd have seen
wholly out of place. . . .

Then for a week or more there was almost total silence.

Recently -- suddenly! -- came a burst of fairly human discussion,
though what provoked it defeats me. (I know one or two other lists
that could benefit from creative prodding.) If only it keeps up!

Dorothy Day of Indiana has given me the address of a Nota Bene list,
& if you want I'll dig it out of my paper log. . . . I've not
subscribed yet, but mean to if only as insurance against orphanage.

In all the time of my lurking, TTG has shown no real interest in
XyWrite. In fact, someone who calls himself 'k' seems not only
reclusive but surly. . . . The list owner nurses a grudge against
Nota Bene's present owners. . . . Most flames concern operating
systems -- mostly OS/2 vs any other O.S. Well, at least there's no
MacBigotry. . . .

Such are my views: I hope they'll not mislead you, but instead save
you time & uncertainty.

Ad astra per aspera . . .

Wendell Cochran
West Seattle