frisk@rhi.hi.is (Fridrik Skulason) (07/25/89)
Warning - flame on.
Recently a program VDE131.ZOO was posted on comp.binaries.ibm.pc. Since it
looked promising ("... a small, fast text editor...") I decided to download it
and try it out.
I soon found out that the program was COMPLETELY USELESS, not only to me, but
also to most other Europeans. The reason is that it does not allow the usage
of eight bit characters.
The reason ("WordStar compatibility") was obvious, when I read the manual,
but this is just plain STUPID. Even the Wordstar people now admit that
their software must support eight bits.
But - there was no warning or any mention of this anywhere. So, in the future
please check if software posted to Europe on comp.binaries.ibm.pc supports
eight bit characters and preferably not post JUNK like this at all!
We do not like paying for the transmission of TOTALLY USELESS programs like
this one.
--
Fridrik Skulason University of Iceland
frisk@rhi.hi.is
Guvf yvar vagragvbanyyl yrsg oynax .................jhoward@helps.cactus.org (James Howard) (07/26/89)
In article <1064@krafla.rhi.hi.is> frisk@rhi.hi.is (Fridrik Skulason) writes: >Warning - flame on. >... >I soon found out that the program was COMPLETELY USELESS, not only to me, but >also to most other Europeans. The reason is that it does not allow the usage >of eight bit characters. >... >and preferably not post JUNK like this at all! I am sure the author of vde and the moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc are sorry that vde is not useful to you. The program is useful to me. WordStar compatibility is more important to me than is direct support for non-English characters. By using a modern printer with user definable character sets you should still find vde quite usable even in a non-English language. Thanks again for vde. --- James Howard Howard Electronic Laboratories Products & Services AA5R jhoward@helps.cactus.org or cs.utexas.edu!helps!jhoward
ked@garnet.berkeley.edu (Earl H. Kinmonth) (07/26/89)
In article <464@helps.cactus.org> jhoward@helps.cactus.org (James Howard) writes: >In article <1064@krafla.rhi.hi.is> frisk@rhi.hi.is (Fridrik Skulason) writes: >>Warning - flame on. >>... >>I soon found out that the program was COMPLETELY USELESS, not only to me, but >>also to most other Europeans. The reason is that it does not allow the usage >>of eight bit characters. WARNING: tongue in cheek. Only WIMPY languages need eight-bit characters. Real languages like Japanese need fourteen at least, preferably sixteen or more. I can't remember what VDE was, but I'm sure I passed it by because it couldn't hack any of the languages I need for my work: Chinese, Korean, and Japanese (in increasing order of importance). :) Warning: tongue out of cheek. (If you don't think Japanese is important, look at (a) the size of the Tokyo stock market compared with with any n European markets; or (b) the size of the top n Japanese banks compared with the top n European (or American) banks. Look at the size of the n largest chip makers in Japan versus the n largest chip makers in Europe.) Earl H. Kinmonth History Department University of California, Davis 916-752-1636 (voice, fax [2300-0800 PDT]) 916-752-0776 secretary (bitnet) ehkinmonth@ucdavis.edu (uucp) ucbvax!ucdavis!ucdked!cck (telnet or 916-752-7920) cc-dnet.ucdavis.edu [128.120.2.251] request ucdked, login as guest, no password