chris@cfa.harvard.edu (Chris Smith) (05/11/91)
I'm thinking about unloading some reasonable bucks to buy a 1) good word processor and 2) a good spreadsheet. MS Word 4.0 and MS Excel 3.0 seem the logical choice (especially at University discounts), but... In the May '91 issue of MacUser (pg 239), M. Swaine discussed the benefits of interapplication communication (IAC) under System 7, and noted that Microsoft's implementation of IAC (object linking and embedding or OLE) is different from Apple's IAC (Publish and Subscribe). Sooooo... Now I'm worried. If I go with a Word+Excel combo, will any of my other programs (graphics programs, drawing programs, etc.) "talk" to them? (I'm looking forward to exporting my spreadsheet numbers to a capable scientific graphics package like KaleidaGraph or Igor without continually cutting and pasting.) Or should I go the Claris route (true Apple IAC Publish and Subscribe), with MacWrite II (upgraded to Pro when available) and the as-yet-unavailable Claris spreadsheet? Comments? Opinions? Suggestions for other duos? Thanks! Chris =========================================================================== Chris Smith | BITNET: chris@cfa Center for Astrophysics | Internet: chris@cfa.harvard.edu Cambridge, MA | or chris@cfa160.harvard.edu =========================================================================== The opinions expressed above are my own, and not those of my employer... Come to think of it, I'm not even sure I want to claim them!
Charlie.Mingo@p4218.f421.n109.z1.FidoNet.Org (Charlie Mingo) (05/12/91)
chris@cfa.harvard.edu (Chris Smith) writes:
CS>I'm thinking about unloading some reasonable bucks to buy a 1) good
CS>word processor and 2) a good spreadsheet. MS Word 4.0 and MS Excel
CS>3.0 seem the logical choice (especially at University discounts),
CS>but...
CS>
CS>In the May '91 issue of MacUser (pg 239), M. Swaine discussed the
CS>benefits of interapplication communication (IAC) under System 7, and
CS>noted that Microsoft's implementation of IAC (object linking and
CS>embedding or OLE) is different from Apple's IAC (Publish and
CS>Subscribe). Sooooo...
CS>
CS>Now I'm worried. If I go with a Word+Excel combo, will any of my
CS>other programs (graphics programs, drawing programs, etc.) "talk" to
CS>them? (I'm looking forward to exporting my spreadsheet numbers to a
CS>capable scientific graphics package like KaleidaGraph or Igor without
CS>continually cutting and pasting.) Or should I go the Claris route
CS>(true Apple IAC Publish and Subscribe), with MacWrite II (upgraded to
CS>Pro when available) and the as-yet-unavailable Claris spreadsheet?
Well, it's may not be as simple as that. My understanding is that IAC simply creates a mechanism which *permits* apps to comminicate, but the actual comm protocols are not defined. In other words, you've got to have some other protocol *on top of* IAC to accomplish anything.
In light of this, it may not be as easy as one might have hoped to get apps from different manufacturers to cooperate. Excel 3.0 (which I just received) supports something called "Dynamic Data Exchange" (DDE), which is described in the manual as if it could link with any application. (Since I don't have System 7 yet, I can't verify this.)
In all probability, only apps from the same manufacturer will work reliably together; and only if you have System 7-friendly versions, as well (for example, I don't think MS Word 4 supports DDE, as it's over two years old; it does support something called "warm links" with Excel, however).
I'd vote for getting Excel 3 now, and waiting for a System 7-friendly version of Word 4 (the upgrade fees are usually more than the cost of the academic version). The Claris apps undoubedly will also work together (but not with MS or any other apps); however, since neither Macwrite II Pro nor the Claris-spreadsheet exist as yet, I think MS more reliably offers a useful suite of applications.
Also, you may wish to consider features other than IAC in selecting a WP/spreadsheet combo: Word and Excel are powerful and widely-used apps, but some find them intimidating and confusingly-designed.
I hope this was somewhat helpful.
PS: Do you work at the same place as Cliff Stoll? Do you know him?
* Origin: mingo@well.sf.ca.us mingo@cup.portal.com (1:109/421.4218)lsr@Apple.COM (Larry Rosenstein) (05/14/91)
In article <674046650.1@blkcat.FidoNet> Charlie.Mingo@p4218.f421.n109.z1.FidoNet.Org (Charlie Mingo) writes: > > > Well, it's may not be as simple as that. My understanding is that IAC >simply creates a mechanism which *permits* apps to comminicate, but the >actual comm protocols are not defined. In other words, you've got to have >some other protocol *on top of* IAC to accomplish anything. There is a standardized language with which one app can talk to another. It's called Apple events, and there are standard suites of events defined already. Applications that implement these standards should be able to talk to each other, regardless of which company wrote the app. On the other hand, there's nothing to prevent a developer from using the low-level IAC mechanisms to send other kinds of data. I would expect that customer demand would encourage developers to follow the standards. -- Larry Rosenstein, Apple Computer, Inc. lsr@apple.com (or AppleLink: Rosenstein1)