levin@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM (Joel B Levin) (07/11/87)
I had heard that the 'fixed' Word 3 would be released in June, and not
having received anything I called to investigate. The word from MS
customer support is that it will be released this month, with luck in
about a week. (In case you were wondering.)
/JBL
--
UUCP: {harvard, husc6, etc.}!bbn!levin
ARPA: levin@bbn.combeck@husc4.HARVARD.EDU ( beck) (07/12/87)
I just got a MAC (SE, 2 floppies) and have been using Word 3.00 quite happily. I have heard that it has lots of bugs and that there is any upgrade to 3.01. (Harvard no longer sells 3.00.) What are all these bugs that caused MS to recall 3.00. Thanks in advance Neal Beck Dept. of Gov. Harvard U.
abr@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Adam B Rosen) (07/13/87)
In article <135@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM> levin@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM (Joel B Levin) writes: >I had heard that the 'fixed' Word 3 would be released in June, and not >having received anything I called to investigate. The word from MS >customer support is that it will be released this month, with luck in >about a week. (In case you were wondering.) > > /JBL A friend of mine working at Microsoft over the summer says that they are continually producing updated versions, and he was of the opinion that the version to be released to the public (3.1, if that's what they're calling it) was finished and being manufactured. No guarantees on this, though, and customer support probably knows better, since my friend isn't working on that project. (Info about a week old now.) I guess the upgrade will be nice, although I love version 3.0 and use it regularly. WILL it be free to purchasers of version 3.0? I hope so. I also hope they include stickers for the new Mac keyboards; I wrote to them about this, no answer yet. Adam
briand@tekig4.TEK.COM (Brian Diehm) (07/13/87)
>I just got a MAC (SE, 2 floppies) and have been using Word 3.00 quite >happily. I have heard that it has lots of bugs and that there is any >upgrade to 3.01. (Harvard no longer sells 3.00.) What are all these >bugs that caused MS to recall 3.00. No big deal, really. I've found it to be pretty reliable, and have NEVER lost a file to it, though others haven't been so lucky. Considering the complexity of the product, and the pressure users put on Microsoft to put it out, it runs better than indicated by the heaps of abuse laid on so thick by so many people. A few "journalists" got egg on their face by playing with it for 30 seconds and writing a "review" indicating it was the hottest thing since sex. They obvious- ly were embarassed over their failure to spot some inevitable bugs, as their later vicious attacks show. Other people on this net have indicated problems, and I take their input as more considered and representative of real use. The product is VERY good, and useful work is being done on it by about 10 people in this department. Day in, day out. No crashes. We are not ninny users, either, but are regularly using many of the power features of the program. It has not been recalled, it is still selling, and I understand the "fixed" version will be provided free. There is NO excuse for their "human interface," however. I understand Microsoft fired their implementor over this one. I think they fired the wrong guy, and should've fired their interface designer. But he is one of their golden-haired boys, and can do no wrong --- even copying the WordStar interface on a Mac wasn't a sin in their book! The implementor did a pretty good job, I think. And of course, their interface made the product that much harder to implement, too, as well as to use. But I must emphasize, it IS a useful product, and it IS a powerhouse of a word processor. Even as it stands now. -- -Brian Diehm (SDA - Standard Disclaimers Apply) Tektronix, Inc. briand@tekig4.TEK.COM or {decvax,cae780,uw-beaver}!tektronix!tekig4!briand
clive@drutx.UUCP (07/14/87)
in article <1364@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>, abr@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Adam B Rosen) says: > A friend of mine working at Microsoft over the summer says that they are > continually producing updated versions, and he was of the opinion that the > version to be released to the public (3.1, if that's what they're calling it) > was finished and being manufactured. No guarantees on this, though, and customer > support probably knows better, since my friend isn't working on that project. Actually, for some reason a local computer store I deal with has 3.1, gave it to me several weeks ago. Has the name of some developer placarded on the startup screen; nothing like fatal responsibility. It works very well -- I have had no difficulties with two complex 50 page range user manuals written in the past two weeks (from a quiet town in North Dakota, where I go for things like this...). Which prompts a comment. I think many people might have a better time with Word 3.x if it were presented the way it is clearly designed: as an object-oriented approach to document preparation. The user interface isn't perfect, but makes much more sense if viewed from this perspective. The keyboard equivalents often obscure this, because there are so many, and coded in such a disorganized way. This part does seem to have been either lifted from blue versions, or just tacked on. And it would be nice, since there are so many anyway, if _all_ the functions (menu selection, etc.) worked with old keyboards, instead of requiring the numeric keypad, which I and others refuse. Anyway, I'm pleased, for professional use, and I think it's definitely worth the money I paid for it ($175 for Word 1, $50 upgrade), which is probably about what a mail-order direct would cost. I was holding out for FullWrite, which now I have to also observe was truly presented as vapor. But after using the styles/object orientation, I think it's very likely a much better way to proceed, at least for technical writing and business presentations, than a desktop-publishing-like arrangement. When figures are needed, I need SuperPaint, not a subset of MacDraw. More importantly, I like to write some text, touch it with a style, and get an elegant boxed viewgraph header. This is much, much better than doing _that_ job piecemeal even in a draw program. One caveat: don't depend on QuickSwitch for drawings: only works with MacDraw/Paint, and full of tricky warnings about not altering figure size or lose areas of it. Nice idea, it was. But with a hard disk, also unnecessary. The methods of handling side-by-side text/graphics and multiple columns are much easier to use than describe. Work really well. A desktop-pub paradigm would have to work very smoothly to be better, though it could be. For a counter-example, look at the review of (not sure of its name) in this month's MacUser. There are blocks, except they're clearly some pain to work with. Anyway, on to the next project. I think you'll enjoy this one. Clive Steward
waltervj@dartvax.UUCP (walter jeffries) (07/15/87)
>No big deal, really. I've found it to be pretty reliable, and have NEVER lost a >file to it, though others haven't been so lucky. Considering the complexity of >the product, and the pressure users put on Microsoft to put it out, it runs >better than indicated by the heaps of abuse laid on so thick by so many people. hmmm... I work as a consultant for a major university with ~6,000 macs. I help (or try to help) about 5 to 10 people a day who have run into bugs in Word 3.0. Bugs that hamper their efficiency and often make it impossible to do exactly what they want to do in Word 3.0. This version is a hazard to the sanity of many users, naive and experienced alike. >The product is VERY good, and useful work is being done on it by about 10 >people in this department. Day in, day out. No crashes. We are not ninny users, >either, but are regularly using many of the power features of the program. You've been very lucky. (or are using a different animal than our Word 3.0's) I would estimate the number of unique bugs to be in the hundreds. Someone at Microsoft said it was on the order of 300 to 500. >It has not been recalled, it is still selling, and I understand the "fixed" >version will be provided free. It was recalled by Microsoft from our shelves atleast. I suspect that the only ones you see for sale are copies put into the sales channels before the magnitude of the bugs was discovered by MS. When MS-Word for the Mac finally get's finished it should be a great product. Until then, I avoid it like the plague. -Waltervj.
fritz@phri.UUCP (Dave Fritzinger) (08/12/87)
Now that I'm hearing all about MS Word 3.01, I was wondering... Who is going to get the free upgrade (or, what constitutes a registered user of Word 3.0)? To be specific, I spent $50.00 recently to upgrade to Word 3.0 from Word 1.05. Am I a regiistered user who is eligable (sp?) for the free upgrade to 3.01? Not that I have had many problems with Word 3.0, but if it is available, I would like it. BTW, has anyone noticed this bug in Word 3.0? If you convert a large Word 1.05 document to Word 3.0, and then try to do anything at all with it (except to save it, thank God), the program freezes and the cursor stays as an insertion point, no matter where on the screen you move it. Anyway, thanks.
chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (08/13/87)
In article <2841@phri.UUCP> fritz@phri.UUCP (Dave Fritzinger) writes: >Now that I'm hearing all about MS Word 3.01, I was wondering... >Who is going to get the free upgrade (or, what constitutes a registered >user of Word 3.0)? Any registered user (you did turn in your registration card, didn't you???) In fact, most, if not all Word 3.0 users should have their upgrade by now. Mine has been here about two weeks. >BTW, has anyone noticed this bug in Word 3.0? If you convert a large Word >1.05 document to Word 3.0, and then try to do anything at all with it >(except to save it, thank God), the program freezes and the cursor stays as >an insertion point, no matter where on the screen you move it. There was a serious bug in 1.05 -> 3.0 conversions for large files (> 32K, I believe). Fixed in 3.01. Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM Delphi: CHUQ We live and learn, but not the wiser grow -- John Pomfret (1667-1703)
levin@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM (Joel B Levin) (08/13/87)
In article <25527@sun.uucp> chuq@sun.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) writes: +In article <2841@phri.UUCP> fritz@phri.UUCP (Dave Fritzinger) writes: +>Now that I'm hearing all about MS Word 3.01, I was wondering... +>Who is going to get the free upgrade (or, what constitutes a registered +>user of Word 3.0)? + +Any registered user (you did turn in your registration card, didn't you???) Dave's point was that he upgraded from Word 1.x to Word 3.0 (as did I). Thre is no registration card that came with the package. I was assured telephonically (twice) by Microsoft, however, that all upgraded users were automatically registered owners of 3.0 and would get upgrades. Of course, I am still waiting for mine. Sigh. /JBL -- UUCP: {harvard, husc6, etc.}!bbn!levin ARPA: levin@bbn.com
palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu (David Palmer) (08/13/87)
In article <292@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM> levin@cc5.bbn.com.UUCP (Joel B Levin) writes: >Dave's point was that he upgraded from Word 1.x to Word 3.0 (as did >I). Thre is no registration card that came with the package. I was >assured telephonically (twice) by Microsoft, however, that all >upgraded users were automatically registered owners of 3.0 and would >get upgrades. I upgraded from 1.0 to 3.0 (no 1.05) and I got my 3.01 two weeks ago. David Palmer palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu ...rutgers!cit-vax!tybalt.caltech.edu!palmer
crd@beta.UUCP (Carl R Daudt) (08/14/87)
> Of course, I am still waiting for mine. Sigh. > > /JBL Note that the MS Word 3.01 upgrade is being sent Bulk rate, not First Class. If you have moved from your original address, you might not be receiving your upgrade-- Call Microsoft in that case. Carl R. Daudt
anson@elrond.CalComp.COM (Ed Anson) (08/15/87)
In article <292@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM> levin@cc5.bbn.com.UUCP (Joel B Levin) writes: > Thre is no registration card that came with the package. I was >assured telephonically (twice) by Microsoft, however, that all >upgraded users were automatically registered owners of 3.0 and would >get upgrades. I also got 3.0 via an upgrade (no registration card). I automatically received 3.01 several days ago, which was some time after a friend of mine. Apparently, they're not sending them all on the same day. Hang in there. -- ===================================================================== Ed Anson, Calcomp Display Products Division, Hudson NH 03051 (603) 885-8712, anson@elrond.CalComp.COM