plw@sgfb.ssd.ray.com (Paul L. White) (02/23/91)
I have used PageStream and its subsequent upgrades since 1989. From this experience, I have formed this analogy.... PageStream is to desktop publishing as Maxwell Smart's Cone of Silence is to security. My frustration overflowed last weekend. This is my opinion...you can care or not. Begin now. ============================================================================= Paul White plw@rayssdb My employer and I rarely share opinions =============================================================================
fhwri%CONNCOLL.BITNET@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu (02/23/91)
> > I have used PageStream and its subsequent upgrades since 1989. From this > experience, I have formed this analogy.... > > PageStream is to desktop publishing as Maxwell Smart's Cone of Silence is to > security. > > My frustration overflowed last weekend. > This is my opinion...you can care or not. > Begin now. > > ============================================================================= > Paul White > plw@rayssdb My employer and I rarely share opinions > ============================================================================= > OK, I'll begin. I got ProPage 1.3 in November '89 and fell in love. The output on my HP DeskJet + was superb, and I found myself doing a national newsletter for a local organization within a couple of months. I had read the comparison between ProPage 1.3 and Pagestream 1.6 in the late lamented AMIGO TIMES, and tended to agree with what it said. In May of 1990, a used copy of Pagestream 1.8 came into the local store for $40. In a "what the hell" mood, I bought it. Soft-Logik was kind enough to make me a registered user. I started using it, originally attracted by the font selection. The more I used it, the more I liked it. I was notified about the upgrade to 2.0, and sent in my $75. (Note: I still haven't heard from Gold Disk about upgrading ProPage...). While I have some complaints about PageStream, it's a small list compared to the complaints I had with ProPage. For example: I was creating a style sheet for each font with ProPage; that is, a sheet showing a single font in many different sizes and styles. I intended to clone the page and change the font and keep going. (I had bought the Gold Disk CG font set). Every time I tried to do this, ProPage GURUed on me. In frustration, I tried the same thing with PageStream. (I had gotten 8 Soft-Logik font disks with the program.) Not only was I able to accomplish the style sheet cloning, but I was able to create a single file with a separate page for every font I had. The structured drawing tools included with PageStream are FAR easier to use than the ones in ProPage, or even ProDraw (or, for that matter, Adobe Illustrator), although, of course, ProDraw (and Adobe Illustrator) are far better tools for complex illustrations. I ended up deleting ProPage entirely from my hard drive. I have seen ProPage 2.0 at my local store, and I'm not impressed. Rotation and tags are something that the program SHOULD have had a long time ago, and they don't work any better (or nearly as well, IMHO) than PageStream's. PageStream 2.1 is even better, with its ability to import ProDraw clips (and there are a lot of them in Amiga format, ready to use), and the ability to use Adobe fonts (easy to convert to Amiga format with CrossDOS). I have used PageMaker 3.1 on the Mac, and I simply prefer PageStream. I have yet to see a program that will do all the things it does. Saxon Publisher wil have to do more than create polygon text boxes for me to change my mind. The earlier releases of PageStream were buggy as hell, but Soft-Logik has made GREAT strides in improving it, and they almost completely rewrote the manual (a near first in software publishing). I guess I'm a fan, but I think I have good reason to be. --Rick Wrigley fhwri@conncoll.bitnet ~~~second-hand smoke is THEFT~~~
divineg@prism.cs.orst.edu (Glade Diviney) (03/02/91)
In article <378@sgfb.ssd.ray.com> plw@sgfb.ssd.ray.com (Paul L. White) writes: >PageStream is to desktop publishing as Maxwell Smart's Cone of Silence is to >security. I'm sorry, I have to disagree. I have used PageStream extensively, and I'll be the first to admit that there are tons of bugs....still, it produces amazing output (even on my dinky Star Micronics NX-1000) and rotates boxes and fonts like it was chewing cotton candy... in fact, my poor I*M friend, Keith, wishes there was an comparable program out for his 286......Tally one up for Amigas! -divineg@prism.cs.orst.edu (Glade Diviney)
rlcollins@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (Ryan 'Gozar' Collins) (03/05/91)
In article <1991Mar02.111149.16956@lynx.CS.ORST.EDU>, divineg@prism.cs.orst.edu (Glade Diviney) writes: > In article <378@sgfb.ssd.ray.com> plw@sgfb.ssd.ray.com (Paul L. White) writes: >>PageStream is to desktop publishing as Maxwell Smart's Cone of Silence is to >>security. > > I'm sorry, I have to disagree. I have used PageStream extensively, > and I'll be the first to admit that there are tons of bugs....still, it > produces amazing output (even on my dinky Star Micronics NX-1000) and > rotates boxes and fonts like it was chewing cotton candy... in fact, my > poor I*M friend, Keith, wishes there was an comparable program out for his > 286......Tally one up for Amigas! I guess I'll have to add to the praise!! My roommate recently did one of his projects on my ST with Pagestream. And he was so impressed. Even more impressed when he found out the price, and of the things it could do that his $500 Ventura Publisher couldn't. And the fact that it is very useable with only two floppy drives. Maybe its Tally one up for SoftLogic? :*) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ryan 'Gozar' Collins Question for IBM Users: rlcollins@miavx1.BITNET |||| Power Without How DO you move/copy a rc1dsanu@miamiu.BITNET / || \ The Price!! Subdirectory? R.COLLINS1 on GEnie ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
m0154@tnc.UUCP (GUY GARNETT) (03/06/91)
Paul L. White writes: >PageStream is to desktop publishing as Maxwell Smart's Cone of >Silence is to security. I have been an Amiga PageStream owner for the beginning. Releases before v1.8 were definitely unusable due to bugs. *BUT* v1.8 has been out for more than a year now, and v2.1 has been around for several months. If you have not used these versions, go back and look at PageStream again. A number of new facilities has been added, and the bugs have been roundly stomped. PageStream makes the most effective use of limited (read affordable) hardware of any DTP program I have ever used. It will work fine on a two floppy system with 1 to 2 megs of RAM and a dot matrix printer. And produce gorgeous results for you! If you have higher-end hardware (like a postscript laser) or more memory, all the better. PageStream is *NOT* low-end in terms of the facilities provided; it is (IMHO) the best available Amiga DTP program, and is competitive with packages on other machines. This is what SoftLogik originally promised PageStream users, and (although it has taken them far too long to deliver) they have delivered on that promise. Wildstar PS: I produce newsletters, resumes, letterhead, business cards, and other DTP jobs on my Amiga 1000 (2.5Mb RAM, 3 floppies, NEC P7). For quality output, I send the PostScript file out to a laser printer (usually an Apple LaserWriter). All done with PageStream v1.8 (and now v2.1)\
cs166wbq@sdcc8.ucsd.edu (03/06/91)
In article <4090.27d25c80@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> rlcollins@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (Ryan 'Gozar' Collins) writes: >In article <1991Mar02.111149.16956@lynx.CS.ORST.EDU>, divineg@prism.cs.orst.edu (Glade Diviney) writes: >> In article <378@sgfb.ssd.ray.com> plw@sgfb.ssd.ray.com (Paul L. White) writes: >>>PageStream is to desktop publishing as Maxwell Smart's Cone of Silence is to >>>security. >> >> I'm sorry, I have to disagree. I have used PageStream extensively, >> and I'll be the first to admit that there are tons of bugs....still, it >> produces amazing output (even on my dinky Star Micronics NX-1000) and >> rotates boxes and fonts like it was chewing cotton candy... in fact, my >> poor I*M friend, Keith, wishes there was an comparable program out for his >> 286......Tally one up for Amigas! >Maybe its Tally one up for SoftLogic? :*) > Well, perhaps you should give credit to the Atari ST, which is the native environment for PageStream and where SoftLogic got started.
es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) (03/07/91)
In article <746@tnc.UUCP> m0154@tnc.UUCP (GUY GARNETT) writes: > >I have been an Amiga PageStream owner for the beginning. Releases >before v1.8 were definitely unusable due to bugs. *BUT* v1.8 has been >out for more than a year now, and v2.1 has been around for several >months. If you have not used these versions, go back and look at >PageStream again. A number of new facilities has been added, and >the bugs have been roundly stomped. > You must have a different 2.1 than I do! PageStream has a lot of excellent features and is very easy to use. But it most certainly still has bugs. I've had it crash (i.e. guru) twice on me when I switched from the pointer to text tool. Rotation is fine if you do absolutely nothing to the object while it is rotated. There are various and random bugs all over. The most annoying things are trying to set things like font and text and when the requestor pops up it doesn't tell you accurately what font they are in now. Its font support is excellent, I just wish it handled Adobe fonts a bit quicker. Also, the redraw could definitely use some improvement. When I scroll, it clears the whole screen and redraws from scratch rather than moving whatever piece of the screen is still there and redrawing only the new. -- Ethan Upon leaving office, Ronald Reagan began renting an office in the penthouse of the Fox Plaza, the Los Angeles high-rise used as the location for the terrorist movie "Die Hard".
fhwri%CONNCOLL.BITNET@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu (03/07/91)
> Well, perhaps you should give credit to the Atari ST, which is the > native environment for PageStream and where SoftLogic got started. > True, true, but I'm quite curious to see just how many copies of Atari PageStream have been sold, as opposed to copies of Amiga PageStream... I'd be willing to bet that the Amiga version has well outsold the ST version. --Rick Wrigley fhwri@conncoll.bitnet ~~~---second-hand smoke is THEFT---~~~
griffin@frith.uucp (Danny Griffin) (03/07/91)
rlcollins@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (Ryan 'Gozar' Collins) writes: >In article <1991Mar02.111149.16956@lynx.CS.ORST.EDU>, divineg@prism.cs.orst.edu (Glade Diviney) writes: >> In article <378@sgfb.ssd.ray.com> plw@sgfb.ssd.ray.com (Paul L. White) writes: >>>PageStream is to desktop publishing as Maxwell Smart's Cone of Silence is to >>>security. >> >> I'm sorry, I have to disagree. I have used PageStream extensively, >I guess I'll have to add to the praise!! My roommate recently did one of PageStream is very impressive. We recently purchased ProPage for our club to use on the newsletter, along with templates and CG fonts, etc. Quite a big package. After using it a little while, we threw away everything except the CG fonts and stuck with PageStream (v2.1 now). What a waste of money (ProPage, that is). -- Dan Griffin griffin@frith.egr.msu.edu
sk2x+@andrew.cmu.edu (Sun Kun Kim) (03/08/91)
Perhaps I am missing out but I've been using Professional Page for
sometime now doing our IVCF(InterVarsity Christian Fellowship) prayer
bulletins and I've been very happy with the results. I tried using Page
Stream but I just didn't like it. It was sorta clunky. The
display(compugraphic fonts) on Pro Page was very nice and the interface
was quite nice as well. As for bugs, I haven't noticed much. It never
crashed on me and being able to create a post script file is good too(I
don't know if this is possible with page stream but I suspect it is.).
I do my DTP work on my Amiga, and then upload the postscript file to my
school's computer system and print it out on the laser printer. The
result is very professional and very NICE.
People ask me if I did it on the NeXT or on the Mac(PageMaker 4.0). I
politely respond with "No, I did it on my Amiga". They are quite
surprised by this and it is funny to see their reaction. Some still
think that there is NO software for the Amiga but their opnions are
changing to... perhaps I should get an Amiga. I would recommend it to
anyone. I am thinking of getting the Pro Page 2.0. It looks extremely
good, but my budget is saying no.
Of course, your opinion might differ with mine but I think it just
depends on which software you used first. I just feel that I am happy
and satisfied with Pro Page since it does everything I want to do and
don't need another program. PageStream looks like a neat program but I
just prefer Professional Page(1.3 that is).
Sun...
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| Carnegie Mellon University Sk2x+@andrew.cmu.edu |
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(.sig file version 2.4)fhwri%CONNCOLL.BITNET@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu (03/09/91)
> Of course, your opinion might differ with mine but I think it just > depends on which software you used first. I just feel that I am happy > and satisfied with Pro Page since it does everything I want to do and > don't need another program. PageStream looks like a neat program but I > just prefer Professional Page(1.3 that is). > > Sun... I was happy as a clam with ProPage 1.3, also, UNTIL someone I was doing a job for asked me if I could put a line on a diagonal. I futzed around with ProPage for six hours, trying to get it to do a rotate, which is a ROYAL pain, and failed. It just couldn't be done, I told my client. A week later, I found a used copy of Pagestream 1.6 for $40 and in a "what the heck" mood, I bought it. Rotation was easy; tags were great. The big advantage of ProPage is the integration with Transcript/write, but that's the only advantage IMHO. It's wonderful being able to import more than just ProDraw clip art (and Pagestream 2.1 does ProDraw clips as well!... --Rick Wrigley fhwri@conncoll.bitnet ~~~---second-hand smoke is THEFT---~~~