Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET (Z4648252) (06/01/89)
I originally raised the issue of whether we, as STers, should not
deserve better software. After all, the ST has been on the market for
four years now. However, some replies have taken off into a MAC vs.
ST discussion and I certainly didn't want THAT. Of course that is
easy to happen, considering the fact that the ST can emulate faster
than real time a 'standard' Mac or 'standard' IBM.
I must respond though to Peter Szymonik's statement that the
ST "has lots of software that matches or outdoes Mac and IBM software."
That the ST has versatile, powerful, and friendly software goes with-
out saying. That's not my point. My point is that our software is
typically buggy and most of all ROUGH.
Also, in many cases, comparable ST software is more expensive, no
doubt because of the lower volume of units sold. I can purchase many
other Mac packages that are at least the power of Calamus and certainly
friendlier for almost half the Calamus cost.
Peter mentioned LDW Power, Superbase and DynaCadd. Yet none of
these use the full power of the ST and are clones, rough at that, of
another system. Nothing approaches the power of Excel, for example.
Again, for writers, I've yet to find an intuitive piece of soft-
ware that really shows me, FAST, on the screen what I am really going
to get on the printer. WordPerfect has the features but is unable
to display the printout on the screen, font-wise. WordUp crawls
like molasses. DTP packages, such as TimeWorks' DeskTop Publisher
are the closest but still crawls when compared against Mac's Full-
Write.
I maintain that we deserve comparable packages and certainly
programs that are less buggy. Although I use IBMs, Macs, and the
ST, I would prefer to use the ST. However, I find myself, in
order to do a project, having to emulate another system. Although
enjoyable, dependable, and a lot of fun, I'd rather use the ST in
its native environment rather than emulating another's.
Again, we as STers deserve better.
Larry Rymal <Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET>