Fat.Tag@SU-SIERRA.ARPA (06/28/84)
From: Tim Gonsalves <Fat.Tag@SU-SIERRA.ARPA> Thanks to those who responded to my request for info on spelling checkers for MS-DOS. Appended is a summary. Tim Gonsalves ------ Try the ibm sold Word Proof; it's a bargain ------- After reviewing 4 spelling checkers, I feel the best one is IBM's WORD PROOF at $60 -- a better buy than public domain software. It works with ASCII files and can not only find spelling errors, but guess related words and substitute directly in the file. It has a 120,000 word dictionary expandible. It also has a synonym dictionary. It is the fastest spelling checker of any available. Its overall performance on a PC is far superior to any spelling checker I have used on a DEC 20. Two limitations: dictionary can only be expanded with about 2000 words and 2) it doesn't function very well from a hard disk. It is better to use it from floppies or ramdisk. ------- I use The Word Plus from Oasis Systems Inc. It has a 50,000 word dictionary, runs reasonably fast (it seems disk-bound most of the time), allows *two* update dictionaries, has a reasonable user interface, and costs ~$150. ------- Both The Word Plus and the Random House Proofreader are excellent programs. I have used a scaled-down version of The Word Plus on my Osborne for two years and have been very happy with it. But for the price of $50 (less at mail-order places), the Random House Proofreader can't be beat. ------- there is a spelling checker (from?) using the Random House Dictionary (>REAL< BIG) for MS-DOS that I saw working on the Z-100 Z-DOS. Clarkson University's PROOF [for Z-100 ZDos] is a down and dirty, but functional hack of a spelling checker. The last version I got allows the addition and deletion of dictionary words, but does not yet have any text correction capability (the CU pgms are in constant flux, with newer versions every month sometimes). Goes for $49, with the Galahad word processor. Contact: Donna Lee, 310 Clarkson Hall, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13676 ------- -------
melmoy@nprdc.ARPA (06/29/84)
I ditto the message singing the praises of Word Proof. It is an amazing value. After seeing and using it for the first time, I criticized its editor, but was impressed by it spelling checker which gave you SOUNDEX type alternatives and its synonym finder capability. My estimate for its cost far exceeded its actual cost. Upon learning the real price, I decided to give up any more attempts at software development---leaving it to people who can do a much better job for a fraction of the cost.