changwoo@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Chang P. Woo) (05/05/89)
How are the performances of MacWrite II and Word 4.0?
I've just sent my upgrade card to Microsoft for Word 4.0, but some
people who had seen/heard about Word 4.0 described to me that the speed
in 4.0 is a lot slower than the previous version--speed for screen
updating, drawing menus, etc. Ugh. Although I like Word's endless
feature list, I don't want to touch Word if I have to wait for
computers to display what I type. (I type about 85 wpm)
Well, fortunately I have a copy of MacWrite (remember when Apple used to
bundle them?), so I can update to MacWrite II for $75. Now I am
considering this as an alternative. Is the upgrade worth it? For a
student, whipping out $150 in a week for software upgrade is pretty
hefty. But if Word 4.0 turns out to be not of my kind, I am willing to
invest extra $$ to buy MacWrite II.
So would any one in net.land give me some feature list and comparisons
between MacWrite II and Word? I understand that Word must have a lot
more features than MacWrite II, but I don't need many of them (such as
math equations, indexing, and outlining).
I am looking for comparisons in following categories:
1. spelling checker
2. thesaurus (if MacWrite II has it)
3. glossary
4. footnote/endnote
5. references? (How I loathe for FullWrite! Too bad that I have an SE)
6. multiple header/footers
7. style sheet: I know that MacWrite II doesn't have them. But does it
have any alternatives for style sheets?
8. Extended Keyboard support
9. Multifinder support and amount of RAM it munches
10. Default font other than Geneva (like WriteNow, Word, and FWP)
11. Support for other word processors (for MacWrite II, does it read
Word 3.0 file that is fast-saved? Ability to read/write RTF (like
WriteNow) is "tolerated")
12. Search/Replace function that can check particular font and style
(like FWP)
13. Use of font name instead of font IDs
14. Some way to shorten font menu (Please don't flame me. I actually
*like* font menu that fits on my screen!)
14. And the most important: SPEED!!!
Thanks in advance,
Chang
----
Chang Woo changwoo@eleazar.dartmouth.EDU
HB 2932, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Don't you love reading disclaimers too?krazy@claris.com (Jeff Erickson) (05/05/89)
From article <13358@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>, by changwoo@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Chang P. Woo): > How are the performances of MacWrite II and Word 4.0? > > I am looking for comparisons in following categories: > 1. spelling checker You've seen my posts. We're way better. > 2. thesaurus (if MacWrite II has it) MWII comes bundled with MicroLytics' Word Finder DA. > 3. glossary No, sorry. > 4. footnote/endnote Easy as pie. Always WYSIWYG. > 5. references? (How I loathe for FullWrite! Too bad that I have an SE) No. > 6. multiple header/footers No. Not yet. > 7. style sheet: I know that MacWrite II doesn't have them. But does it > have any alternatives for style sheets? The closest thing we can offer are named character styles. They aren't attached to the text; they're just shortcut menu items. > 8. Extended Keyboard support What? Huh? You mean binding commands to function keys? In MWII, F1 through F4 are undo, cut, copy, and paste, like it says on the keyboard. "Enter" is a page/column break. "Help" brings up the help system. The arrow keys, page up, page down, home, end, and forward-delete (the funky arrow with an X in it) all work as expected. > 9. Multifinder support and amount of RAM it munches We ship with a 590K MultiFinder partition. > 10. Default font other than Geneva (like WriteNow, Word, and FWP) Helvetica. Unless you set up a stationery document. Then you can have any defaults you want. > 11. Support for other word processors (for MacWrite II, does it read > Word 3.0 file that is fast-saved? Ability to read/write RTF (like > WriteNow) is "tolerated") MWII reads and writes text, MacWrite classic, MS Works, MS Write, and MS Word 3.0, *including* fast saved format. We do not read RTF or Word 4.0, *yet*. > 12. Search/Replace function that can check particular font and style > (like FWP) Yes! Word 4.0 doesn't! (Hahaha!) > 13. Use of font name instead of font IDs YES! WORD 4.0 DOESN'T! > 14. Some way to shorten font menu (Please don't flame me. I actually > *like* font menu that fits on my screen!) Nope. Sorry. > 14. And the most important: SPEED!!! Yes, yes, yes, yes, etc. And don't forget the secret spell checker feature! You too can be rich beyond your wildest dreams!! -- Jeff Erickson Claris Corporation | Birdie, birdie, in the sky, 408/987-7309 Applelink: Erickson4 | Why'd you do that in my eye? krazy@claris.com ames!claris!krazy | I won't fret, and I won't cry. "I'm a heppy, heppy ket!" | I'm just glad that cows don't fly.
richard@claris.com (Richard Scorer) (05/08/89)
In article <13358@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> changwoo@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Chang P. Woo) writes: >How are the performances of MacWrite II and Word 4.0? > [ Extra lines deleted ] >1. spelling checker We have an exceedingly fast spell checker, with international dictionaries available. Also spell as you type is an option. >2. thesaurus (if MacWrite II has it) We provide WordFinder DA and large thesaurus with every US copy of MacWrite II. >3. glossary MWII doesn't have one. >4. footnote/endnote Footnotes are on the screen, no windows open for editing of headers, footers or footnotes (unlike WriteNow, not sure about Word 4) >5. references? (How I loathe for FullWrite! Too bad that I have an SE) No references, or re-referencing. >6. multiple header/footers Well, no. Left and Right Page headers and footers, or every page. Not multiple though. >7. style sheet: I know that MacWrite II doesn't have them. But does it > have any alternatives for style sheets? We have Custom Styles. These are not style sheets, they are a way which you can define your own styles, consisting of character attributes only. If you modify a Custom Style, it does not update the style runs already in the document. >8. Extended Keyboard support ? What kind of support ? Command-arrows do have functionality, Cmd-home takes you to the start of the doc, cmd-end to the end, etc.. >9. Multifinder support and amount of RAM it munches Multifinder friendly. We can run in an 800K partition, but as with everyone nowadays we like lots :-) >10. Default font other than Geneva (like WriteNow, Word, and FWP) Our default font is Helvetica 12. Don't like it ? Use a stationery file in your system folder to set up any default font you like. >11. Support for other word processors (for MacWrite II, does it read > Word 3.0 file that is fast-saved? Ability to read/write RTF (like > WriteNow) is "tolerated") We can read in Word 3.0 fast save files, and also WriteNow, WordPerfect and MacWrite 5.0. More filters are in the works, and we're testing a bunch right now (eg Word 4.0 including fast save). >12. Search/Replace function that can check particular font and style > (like FWP) You bet. Every attribute is searchable (except color). >13. Use of font name instead of font IDs You bet. We wouldn't dare do anything else. >14. Some way to shorten font menu (Please don't flame me. I actually > *like* font menu that fits on my screen!) Sorry, no. We display in font style only (i.e. each font in menu is written in native font as SuitCase II does) - not an option. >14. And the most important: SPEED!!! > If you're on an SE, we're faster than Word 4 in page preview, and faster than WriteNow 2.0 on a Mac II. >Thanks in advance, >Chang >---- >Chang Woo changwoo@eleazar.dartmouth.EDU > HB 2932, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Don't you love reading disclaimers too? I hope you like the program, should you get it - let us know. If you have any more questions, let me know. Richard Scorer * UUCP: {ames,apple,portal,sun,voder}!claris!richard Claris Corporation * AppleLink: Scorer1 * CompuServe: 74017,344 -- Richard Scorer * UUCP: {ames,apple,portal,sun,voder}!claris!richard Claris Corporation * AppleLink: Scorer1 * CompuServe: 74017,344
gjditchfield@watmsg.waterloo.edu (Glen Ditchfield) (05/08/89)
In article <13358@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> changwoo@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Chang P. Woo) writes: >10. Default font other than Geneva (like WriteNow, Word, and FWP)? In article <10109@claris.com> richard@claris.com (Richard Scorer) writes: >Our default font is Helvetica 12. Don't like it ? Use a stationery file in >your system folder to set up any default font you like. Why didn't you use the current setting of ApplFont for the default font? MacWrite Classic does.
alex@rata.vuw.ac.nz (Alex Heatley) (05/11/89)
And now for those of us who spend a lot of time recovering crashed hard disks, smashed floppies and corrupted files... Does MacWrite II still use the wonderful MacWrite file compression scheme? This scheme, which saves a few bytes, makes the process of recovering a corrupted or damaged document a lot harder. With MS-WORD you can always change the file to be a text file and then edit out the formatting info, with MW, you run one of the decoding programs over the file (or if you're unlucky the entire disk) and then present a mess to the semi-hysterical person, suggesting that they remove everything from the file that doesn't look like their text. I would consider it a great boon, if this compression scheme was dropped, people don't care about space usage. They want files that are robust and can be recovered. I once started to write a WP that had tagging information on every block, so that you could put it back together if any block disappeared and that clearly marked formating information, so you could do simple search and replaces to get rid of it if necessary. Unfortunately I didn't get very far with it (too much time spent recovering disks and files). So Claris, have you dropped the compression scheme? And have you any plans to make your files more robust and easy to recover? Alex Heatley Computing Services Centre Domain: alex@rata.vuw.ac.nz Victoria University of Wellington Path: ...!uunet!vuwcomp!rata!alex P.O Box 600, New Zealand. Trolls can often be found under bridges ... or in Computing Departments.
jazzman@claris.com (Sydney R. Polk) (05/13/89)
From article <14788@comp.vuw.ac.nz>, by alex@rata.vuw.ac.nz (Alex Heatley): > And now for those of us who spend a lot of time recovering crashed hard > disks, smashed floppies and corrupted files... > > Does MacWrite II still use the wonderful MacWrite file compression scheme? > This scheme, which saves a few bytes, makes the process of recovering a > corrupted or damaged document a lot harder. > > With MS-WORD you can always change the file to be a text file and then > edit out the formatting info, with MW, you run one of the decoding > programs over the file (or if you're unlucky the entire disk) and then > present a mess to the semi-hysterical person, suggesting that they remove > everything from the file that doesn't look like their text. > > I would consider it a great boon, if this compression scheme was dropped, > people don't care about space usage. They want files that are robust and > can be recovered. I once started to write a WP that had tagging > information on every block, so that you could put it back together if any > block disappeared and that clearly marked formating information, so you > could do simple search and replaces to get rid of it if necessary. > Unfortunately I didn't get very far with it (too much time spent > recovering disks and files). > > So Claris, have you dropped the compression scheme? And have you any plans > to make your files more robust and easy to recover? > > Alex Heatley Computing Services Centre > Domain: alex@rata.vuw.ac.nz Victoria University of Wellington > Path: ...!uunet!vuwcomp!rata!alex P.O Box 600, New Zealand. > Trolls can often be found under bridges ... or in Computing Departments. I am not on the MacWrite II team, but I don know that the compression scheme was dropped. -- Syd Polk | Wherever you go, there you are. jazzman@claris.com | Let the music be your light. GO 'STROS! | These opinions are mine. Any resemblence to other GO RICE! | opinions, real or fictitious, is purely coincidence.
richard@claris.com (Richard Scorer) (05/16/89)
In article <14788@comp.vuw.ac.nz> alex@rata.vuw.ac.nz (Alex Heatley) writes: |And now for those of us who spend a lot of time recovering crashed hard |disks, smashed floppies and corrupted files... | |Does MacWrite II still use the wonderful MacWrite file compression scheme? | | ... | |So Claris, have you dropped the compression scheme? And have you any plans |to make your files more robust and easy to recover? | Yes. There is _no_ compression scheme in the MacWrite II file format. -- Richard Scorer * UUCP: {ames,apple,portal,sun,voder}!claris!richard Claris Corporation * AppleLink: Scorer1 * CompuServe: 74017,344
cyosta@taux01.UUCP ( Yossie Silverman ) (05/17/89)
Well, I played with a friend's copy of MW II an have the following observation. It doesn't convert FROM Word3.0 too well. I tried opening a Word3.0 (3.02) file, it worked, but the result bore only a partial resemblence to the original. The topic was all screwed up (in fact, the words TOPIC appeared in the header of every page!). The formatting of paragraphs and spacing of characters was very different. Not something I could live with. I guess I will have to stick to Word3.0 for now, though I might consider doing new docs in MW II. -- Yossie Silverman What did the Caspian sea? National Semiconductor Ltd. (Israel) - Saki UUCP: cyosta%taux01@nsc.COM NSA LSD FBI KGB PCP CIA MOSAD NUCLEAR MI5 SPY ASSASSINATE SDI -- OOCLAY ITAY
krazy@claris.com (Jeff Erickson) (05/18/89)
From article <14788@comp.vuw.ac.nz>, by alex@rata.vuw.ac.nz (Alex Heatley): > And now for those of us who spend a lot of time recovering crashed hard > disks, smashed floppies and corrupted files... > > Does MacWrite II still use the wonderful MacWrite file compression scheme? > This scheme, which saves a few bytes, makes the process of recovering a > corrupted or damaged document a lot harder. No, no, a thousand times no. No compression scheme. > With MS-WORD you can always change the file to be a text file and then > edit out the formatting info, with MW, you run one of the decoding > programs over the file (or if you're unlucky the entire disk) and then > present a mess to the semi-hysterical person, suggesting that they remove > everything from the file that doesn't look like their text. That's only true if you aren't using Word's fast save mechanism. In that case, you can get your text back, but not in logical order. MWII's file format is much the same way. You can get the text out, but not in the right order. You should find the text in close-to-512-byte chunks, though. I may be able to provide more details by E-mail if you're interested. No guarantees, though -- the file format may still be confidential. -- Jeff Erickson Claris Corporation | "MacWrite II is both sexy and 408/987-7309 Applelink: Erickson4 | effective." krazy@claris.com ames!claris!krazy | -- MacWeek 4/18 "I'm a heppy, heppy ket!" |