ericw@manta.NOSC.MIL (Eric Williams) (01/14/90)
*
* Dateline: San Diego
* In the pitched battle between Macintosh and IBM forces, two new
* products arrived today to shore up sagging IBM positions. The long
* awaited Microsoft Word for Windows, which is to give PC'ers the same
* true WYSIWYG editing and document layout ability that MAC'ers have
* enjoyed since the opening shots of the war, and Fox Software's
* FoxPro. This escalation is expected to rise tensions on both sides.....
*
Although I am a Mac convert, I still have to do a lot of work on
MeSsy-DOS machines. Two new products that I recently experienced
impressed (and distressed) we with their Mac-like interfaces.
I found Word for Windows a big disappointment, but then so is Windows
itself. I was hoping the Windows version would be 100% the same as the
Mac version, so I could use Word on machines (and at sites) that don't
(yet) have Mac's. A dream prehaps, given the severe limits of the
PC. But my problem with Word is the way Microsoft implemented it. The
menus were close, but Microsoft didn't use the same keyboard short cuts
for both versions. This will make switching from one to the other
harder. But I think my real disappointment was with Windows itself.
This is what Apple was suing Microsoft over? I was confused the whole
time working with the window controls. The word 'Close' seems to have
several contexts, (e.g.: close a window, close a document, close an
application, close Windows itself), and it isn't clear which one goes
with which.
FoxPro on the otherhand, was so Mac like it was shocking. The window
controls, menu bars, SFDs, everything was the same. The 'About FoxPro'
was first thing under the first menu-title and 'Quit' was last item under
the file title (unlike Windows). The keyboard shortcuts for
Cut/Copy/Paste and Undo were the same (unlike windows). It even has
DA's and uses the multi-button PC mouse as a single button mouse (it
ignores the other buttons!). Best of all, it does this in text mode,
which we all agree, the PC is extremely good at. So when you move a
window, it moves it all, not it's outline. Who would expect all this
from a database?
Well, this should keep the debate up for a while longer. Tally-Ho!
_________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eric D. Williams Adam: Is that an Apple?
Computer Sciences Corp. Eve: No silly,
ericw@nosc.mil It's a Mac!
_________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~