c162-br@zooey.Berkeley.EDU (Warner Young) (02/24/88)
Well, it's the first Safety-Seal (mini) Review of this semester,
and I'm happy to say it's an optimistic one. This is about Word Perfect,
and my experiences with their bug-fixes.
After waiting patiently for a bug-fix to arrive, I finally called
WP Corp., and talked to a nice woman told me that I wanted the Jan. 8
version of WP. I then got transferred to Customer support, where a woman
told me that I didn't want that version, but the Jan. 29 version, and then
transferred me to the Orders department. Two days later, all six disks
of the new version arrived by Federal Express.
The new Word Perfect is a slightly bigger program, and behaves
differently in several respects:
It now uses separate SYS files, depending on whether it's run on
color or mono systems.
The cursor key repeat rate has been slowed down (ala 1st Word) so
that you can't over-scroll your text. It's a bit too
slow for my taste, though, as I had no trouble with the
previous version's scrolling.
The window sliders behave correctly now, and are almost always
the right size, too.
When you have a menu popped down, you can't still move the cursor
around and type text (the old Oct. 1, 1987 version had
this bug).
WP now allows a default document directory, so it won't keep
asking you for the directory name when you use its
own file selector.
WP now seems to give up all the memory it takes. Previously,
some exits would leave about 100K locked away.
It doesn't seem to lock up or crash as often. Actually, I haven't
had any problems with at all, but one of my roommates has
hung it up once.
The version number (date and all) used to be only in the Help
screen. It is now also in the About WP... dialog box.
It now comes with CONVERT.PRG, which can convert 1st Word,
Word Writer, and ST Writer files into WP format. No
reason not to switch now!
Aside from these, the subsidiary program for the printer drivers has been
changed, too (well, its file size is different). Some more printer drivers
have been added to the data file, including one for Atari's laser printer.
On the bad side, it seems to take about two seconds more to run from
the hard disk; after the initial screen pops up, it takes two seconds before
you can do anything. It seems to be accessing the hard disk, but I don't
know why; the older version didn't seem to do that.
Overall, I'm impressed. Their initial documentation seemed to
suggest that they would send out bug-fixes to us when they were finished,
but I had to call for them; of course, a toll-free number plus the quick
delivery dispels any qualms I might have had. Another thing to remember,
for some of you, is that I've gone from the Oct. 1 version to the Jan. 29.
Some of these fixes may have been in effect in earlier bug-fixes, but I
don't know that.
Last thing...
I had the opportunity to play a new game called Star Trek: The
Rebel Universe. I have not played it extensively, but I think it's a
very good game. There is a lot of detail, quite a few solar systems to
explore, and some very nice digitized sounds, too. Of course, since I
keep getting destroyed (I'm a terrible player), I can't say if the
ending is any good. Anyways, I recommend checking it out at the store
if you have a chance.
\ /arner - Writer of the dreaded Safety Seal Reviews
\ / / - Owner of the vaporware group Safety Seal Software
\/ \_/oung
| - Disclaimer: I'm not associated with any of the companies
\_| above, in any way except (possibly) as a customer.