 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Notes on Wordperfect Ray Beatty raybea@melbpc.org.au |
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The other day I had a call on the Help line from a fellow trying to import graphics into WordPerfect. The problem was simple (most of them are, thankfully) and quickly sorted out. Then he asked the tricky question: "Should I use WordPerfect for DOS or Windows"?
Now I'm not going to argue the merits of Word for Windows or AMI Pro - this is about WordPerfect after all! No, the choice is between solid, established Big Brother and its rapidly growing adolescent sibling. The path you choose depends on the type of person you are, and how you use a computer. For example, I'm a touch typist (learnt the skill before I shaved) and it's still one of the most useful things I ever learnt. I use an AT-style keyboard with the F-keys on the left since that was designed for real typists - why IBM changed the style is beyond me. At 60 words-a-minute, I can blaze through a document at a pace that even impresses my secretary, and for me a mouse is a tedious hindrance.
However, one of my tasks is writing about software. Now this is where WPWin comes into its own for me. I check out a feature in the software package I'm studying. Click! I switch to WPWin to write a paragraph about it. Click! Back in the package to check out the next feature. So long as your machine has a bit of grunt, task-switching is a dream.
WPWin has all of today's trendy alphabet soup - OLE, DDE, GUI, MSG (sorry, that's Wonton soup). As a piece of software, it's a work of art and, with the help of Windows and sculptured button bars, it makes a pretty picture too! It will even check your writing with Grammatik which is bundled in the box and accessed from within the program. I even used it myself once, before I threw the pompous ass off my system - I'm a professional writer and we get touchy about anyone who thinks they know grammar better than we do. If, on the other hand, you're not so confident about your use of conjunctive clauses or the passive voice, you might find it useful.
The best thing about 5.2 is its bundled Adobe Type Manager (if you have a laser printer). Suddenly, you have lots of extra typefaces to play with - still not enough to cure you of Mac envy but a damn sight better than you've been served by DOS before.
After a couple of weeks I was getting warm and squishy about WPWm; it's a lovely package. But then an urgent job came down the line - the client wants a rewrite by 3 pm today and it had better be right! Well, all warm and squishy emotions evaporated as I punched the switch, loaded up old faithful, boring WordPerfect 5.1 and sent the sparks flying off the keycaps as I raced the deadline.
So this was the message to my enquirer. If you want it pretty and fancy, use WordPerfect Windows. But when you need it fast, there's no beating DOS!
Reprinted from the July 1993 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
