TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.ARPA (01/07/87)
Can anyone compare and contrast these?
archer@hsi.UUCP (Yrrag Rehcra) (01/09/87)
> Can anyone compare and contrast these?
Without going into nitty-gritty, I understand The Software Touch's "Autoworks"
is superior to Beagle Bros' "MacroWorks" and/or "Super MacroWorks". It offers
more features, including mail merge. Forgive the lack of details here, I
don't have any supporting documentation here with me to type in to help you.
InCider magazine has done reviews of both MacroWorks and Autoworks. Whilst
both products are excellent and innovative, besides being very, very useful
additions to AppleWorks, InCider are impressed with both but I get the feeling
that a couple of the editors give Autoworks the nod, even if its just because
of the extra mail merge features.
The original posting came at a time when my old VISA card was getting itchy
to buy me one of these wonderful products. Although Autoworks is a little
bit more expensive (approx $27 versus $18 through mail-order --- see InCider
magazine adverts), I'm going to be ordering Autoworks, soon, if not today
even!!! (...but first I badly need Copy II+....)
I'd like to know if anyone reading this has either product, and what are your
opinions?
General Disclaimer... my views here do not represent in any way those of
InCider magazine, The Software Touch or Beagle Bros., etc, etc. I'm just
a careful Apple software consumer like the rest of us!
--
Garry Archer Esq. ihnp4!hsi!archer
Health Systems International
New Haven, CT 06511
USAmw22#@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (Michael Alan Wertheim) (01/10/87)
I recently bought Autoworks and think it's incredible. Nice features -- Closed Apple Control-C will automatically step thru all appropriate menus to catalog the current disk. Closed Apple R will take you back to the file you were working on. Closed Apple Q will bring you to the next file on the desktop. Programming the macros is easy. There are simple commands to bring you to the main menu, convert upper to lower case and back, and step through lists. Any key can be programmed to act as a different key. For example, one macro makes a numeric key pad by making u, i, and o act as 4, 5, and 6, and by making j, k, and l act as 1, 2, and 3. You can have one macro automatically execute itself after Appleworks is booted (kind of like a Dos 3.3 Hello program). The one sort of annoying feature is that Autoworks is supposed to be able to automatically list the current macros into the word processor so you can edit them and re-compile them (all without leaving the word processor). Unfortunately, when listing a macro that contains Open Apple O, the word processor executes that command and stops listing the macros. This is not much of a drawback because I haven't updated my macros in months. Mike Wertheim (Carnegie Mellon University)
OAF.G.PELLER%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@xx.lcs.mit.edu (Adam Peller) (01/11/87)
Message-ID: <12269883404.39.OAF.G.PELLER@OZ.AI.MIT.EDU> I've been using MacroWorks by Beagle Bros for over a year now and Im very happy with it. (I only use it for the macros -- it has many other utilities on the disk such as multi-column printing) A few days ago, I tried SuperMacroworks, the latest version from Beagle Bros. The only difference besides its compatibility with AppleWorks 2.0 is a slightly more advanced macro programming language. I was a little disappointed - it was basically the same as the old macroworks. Probably the most useful program on the disk was RTN.CHAR. This changes the "blob" that normally represents a RETURN in the word processor to a MouseText arrow symbol. I've also been playing with the Pinpoint Spelling Checker and utilities which I find to be VERY useful... unfortunately, they're not compatible with MacroWorks. Pinpoint makes their own macro program (Keyplayer) but i wasnt very impressed with it. Now I must make a choice between these 2 packages, and i will probably end up with pinpoint. Has anyone else made this decision? Adam Peller -- ADAMP%OZ@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU (Arpa) P.S. I believe that AppleWorks v2.0 has a built in Mail merge making AutoWorks' mail merge useless... -------
TMPLee@dockmaster.arpa (01/11/87)
Thanks to the several who responded to my query comparing these two. Apparently none so far have used the mouse on s.m.w. Is there anyone who has who can comment?
mw22#@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (Michael Alan Wertheim) (01/11/87)
Regarding my previous posting... I decided to add a new macro to Autoworks last night and found that I could not reproduce the error that I previously mentioned, so whatever the bug is, it's pretty obscure. Michael Wertheim (Carnegie Mellon University)
halp@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Bruce P. Halpern) (01/12/87)
Summary:SuperMacroWorks is Recommended(but not compared with competition) Sender:B.P.Halpern,Psychology&NBB,Cornell In article <460@hsi.UUCP> archer@hsi.UUCP (Yrrag Rehcra) writes: >> Can anyone compare and contrast these? > >I'd like to know if anyone reading this has either product, and what are your >opinions? > Garry Archer Esq. ihnp4!hsi!archer > Health Systems International > New Haven, CT 06511 > USA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have been using SuperMacroWorks for several weeks with Appleworks v1.2 and V2.0, both with and without Applied Engineering Expanders. The Macros supplied with SuperMacroWorks are very useful, as is the ability to add a mouse to AppleWorks. It is very easy to use. In contrast to MacroWorks, an options menue is added to the AppleWorks disk, allowing contro of number of lines directly. I haven't written any macros with Super.., but many were written with Macro.. For those who upgrade from AppleWorks <2.0 to >= 2.0, Beagle Brothers will sell Super.. upon receipt of the cover of the Macro.. manual and a modest sum that escapes me now. However, don't discard Macro.. Its ProDrive installation programwill still be needed. To preserve the ProDrive (=/RAM), execute the AppleWorks startup by -SUPER.SYSTEM (not APLWORKS.SYS as in MACRO..). Incidently, Superhappens to have ProDos 8 V1.2 as its operating systtransfers nicely. Bruce P. Halpern Psychology & Neurobiology and behavior Uris Hall Cornell University Ithaca NY 14853-7601 USA
mdj@seismo.css.gov@pro-sol.UUCP ("Mark U. de Jong") (01/13/87)
Mouse works EXCELLENTLY on Super MacroWorks!!!
halp@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Bruce P. Halpern) (01/14/87)
Summary:Mouse on SuperMacroworks (flexible, convenient) Sender:B.P. Halpern, Psych & NBB, Cornell Reply-To: halp@batcomputer.UUCP (Bruce P. Halpern) Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY Keywords: In article <870111023113.258068@DOCKMASTER.ARPA> TMPLee@dockmaster.arpa writes: >Thanks to the several who responded to my query comparing these two. >Apparently none so far have used the mouse on s.m.w. Is there anyone >who has who can comment? Super... allows, but doesn't require, a mouse. The 'options menue' not only allows the user to specifiy whether or not there will be a mouse, but also allows adjustment of the sensativiy to the mouse button, and to the rate of travel of the mouse. Bruce P. Halpern