Very sad

[Carl L. Distefano (70154.3452@xxxxxxxx)]

Annie laments ...

-> "Until about a year ago, Smith College was a XyWrite campus."
-> Dorothy: That's one of the saddest things I've read on the list.

Amen, amen.

... and, in another message, says:

-> I have a bias against using guis to read, write, or edit
-> text (I have this weird notion that they're best used for work
-> that's intrinsically graphical).

Annie, the logic is compelling, but ... what's logic got to do with it?
I share your bias totally. I took up the computer precisely to get
away from a "graphical" environment -- pencil and paper -- where things
got so messy and unmanageable so quickly. Remember cut-and-paste (the
literal kind)? A cold shiver runs down my spine. Now with pen OSes
and GUIs and such, we're expected to go back to drawing pictures, or be
written off as dinosaurs.... I get hoarse repeating it, but what's
needed is a character-based environment for writing/editing, coupled
with a graphical environment for formatting and other visual tasks.
TTG could've staked out new territory by combining char-based DOS and
graphical Windows in a unitary XyWrite, but ... it's a dead letter now.

-- Carl.

--------------
Carl Distefano
70154.3452@xxxxxxxx