stevez@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (steven.a.zubatkin) (04/12/91)
Well, netters, it seems that for myself and a select few others, the
end of an era is coming. My department is moving towards
"standardizing" all software packages and management has asked me to
"justify" the continued existence of Documenters Workbench (DWB).
Since we have just invested in new 386SX PCs, he says what about using
PC packages. After 5 long years, my marriage may "end in divorce".
However, the relationship has been a rocky one, obscure bugs ("Now WHY
won't this work?"), no WYSIWYG, can't be used by non-UNIX people,
etc. Sigh . . . .
Anyway, I'm a relative neophyte when it comes to PC packages. My
investigation for a replacement for DWB has crossed paths with MS WORD for
Windows (concered about features, speed with 16MHz machine), Ami
(ditto), Ventura Publisher (REAL hardware concerns, no WP features),
and Pagemaker (know nothing).
Can you folks help in my search? IS there a PC replacement (or, near
replacement) for DWB? A near replacement might be acceptable if, for
example, I us package A 90% of the time and use package B the other
10%. Note that I use pretty standard fonts on my HP Series II, tbl
alot, lists alot, numbered headings alot, xcip (the pic drawing
program) occasionally, and grap occasionally.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Steve Zubatkin
Morristown, NJwoods@robohack.UUCP (Greg A. Woods) (04/18/91)
[Argh! Another "broken" article -- you can't "Followup-To: poster"! ] In article <1991Apr12.135248.9664@cbfsb.att.com> stevez@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (steven.a.zubatkin) writes: > Well, netters, it seems that for myself and a select few others, the > end of an era is coming. My department is moving towards > "standardizing" all software packages and management has asked me to > "justify" the continued existence of Documenters Workbench (DWB). > Since we have just invested in new 386SX PCs, he says what about using > PC packages. After 5 long years, my marriage may "end in divorce". ARGH! Is your management nuts! Buy someone's AT&T System V (either 3.2 or 4.0) and keep on running DWB! Why, you can even get WYSIWYG with an X-11 previewer! > However, the relationship has been a rocky one, obscure bugs ("Now WHY > won't this work?"), no WYSIWYG, can't be used by non-UNIX people, > etc. Sigh . . . . It's not a bug -- it's a feature (or a misunderstanding by the user!). > Anyway, I'm a relative neophyte when it comes to PC packages. My If you absolutely must keep running MS-DOS, find a DWB port -- there are several: MKS-SQPS (SoftQuad-PS), Elan.... I don't believe anyone who likes working with something like troff or TeX will ever be happy with the current generation of desktop publishing software. I know I'm not! When I want WYSIWYG, I preview it on my 5620-DMD, which is usually only when I'm not near a printer. On the other hand, I'm confident in controlling troff, and thus I don't have to preview or draft-print things very often. -- Greg A. Woods woods@{robohack,gate,eci386,tmsoft,ontmoh}.UUCP +1 416 443-1734 [h] +1 416 595-5425 [w] VE3-TCP Toronto, Ontario; CANADA