#Word Processors
38 messages in this thread
I know it's nearly futile to argue about which WP software is the best,
but there should be a consensus of some sort out there.
At any rate, I've just bought an A-3000 and an HP DeskJet 500. I love
both of them, but I'm still using excellence! v. 2.0 that I had when I
still had my A 500. It wasn't adequate then and it sure isn't now.
I've heard some good things about Word Perfect but have never used or
seen it. What's the consensus on it? I've heard some good things anouy
Final Copy as well, but to tell you the truth, I'm suspicious of most Amiga
productivity software if it isn't written by one of the industry leaders
from the DOS or Mac world (Which Word Perfect surely is). From what I've
seen there's a lof of junk out there in Amigaville and it's one of the
machines serious drawbacks–although I wouldn't trade mine for all the
clones in China.
I need some advice from folks who have used a lot or WP software or have
compared a few. I'm not interested in DP or using a lot of grafix in the
text, just fast and accurate word processing–not to mention good
compatibility with my DeskJet. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Mike Cullison
It is important to note that Amiga Word Perverse is no longer sold by WP
Corpse. In anu case, it was a WP 4.1 clone with minimal — at best —
amiga support. You can get _support_ for Amiga WP through WP Corp., but
_NO_ updates will _EVER_ be released.
Final copy wins any output quality contest hands down, and is quite
responsive on an A3000 — I use it myself. ProWrite's output is fairly
primitive in comparison unless you use 2.04's outline fonts.
Right now, Prowrite has a few more paragraph formatting options, and a
couple of other useful features — like fastert screen updates. I hope
that New Horizons and SoftWood get into a little "feature war." both
programs need to have a few features added.
Features I'd like to see in an Amiga Word Processor:
Footnotes or endnotes,
The ability to have multiple headers/footers in a document
The ability to change the number of text columns within the doc
(1 col on page 1, 2 on all others)
One of these days, I'll have to do a feature-by-feature breakdown of what
these programs can, and can't, do…. All I need is a few days (like about
fourteen) to do it….
Brian — putting in by 2 cents worth
Do you have any idea how Final Copy compares with excellence!? One of
the other messages here says there's a V 3.0 of excellence! out now. I
didn't know that, nor have I heard or read anything about it. I wonder if
it is any better than previous incarnations. One can only hope. Thanks,
Mike exit
The new version of excellence was just announced a few days ago, via a
mailing to registered owners. I doesn't look like a major upgrade from what
I could tell, but it does now support tow (optional) foreign language
dictionaries (french & German- $224.95 ea or $39.95 for both).
Call MSS for more info.
Michael
….from the north coast (go Cavs!)
What?!?!? that's $24.95 not $39.95!!!!!
(that's right, you get a $410 savings when ordering both… shyeah.)
hehe… opps. Well if you (MSS) were online here a bit more often, you
wouldn't have folks like me mis-quoting your prices by $200 <g>
Andy: How about posting a 'features' list for excellence 3.0?
Michael
….from the north coast (go Cavs!)
Sure…, okay, I'll go into more detail later, but this is the text
directly from the back of the brochure….
User Specified Automatic Timed Saves Support for ECS productivity
mode French and German Spelling Checker Support AppIcon/Appmenu item
(WB 2.0) up to 8 coloumns/page Automatic Palette Correction Opens on
up to 16 color screen Document reading with speach device Adjustible
cursor option Customizable Grammar checker User Definable color
elements Improved ruler with many new features Multiple backup levels
(up to ten) ASL style font/file requesters ARexx Bookmarks
Compugraphic fonts 2.04 "look and feel" interface… (works under 1.3
also)…
that doesn't go into much detail, but that's the list….
That is, of course, the new stuff, the old stuff (like footnotes,
postscript, etc.) is all still there…
Next time I'll try to keep the formatting…
Yep, there is. If you have 2.0 and didn't get a stat sheet/upgrade offer in
in the mail, then we probably need to update our database…, anyways, drop
us a note or call for info…
Michael…
There is a demo version of ProWrite from New Horizons in the New Horizons
library in AmigaVendor. You should check that out.
BTW, MSS has just releasd excellence v3.0… cost to registered users for
the upgrade from 2.0 to 3.0 is something like $29.95.
Michael
….from the north coast (go Cavs!)
I haven't heard anything about excellence! 3.0. Do you know what features
and/or improvements it includes.
Leslie:
I tossed the dexcription sheet right after I faxed my upgrade order (dumb!)
but nothing really stood out as dramatic to me. If I recall correctly:
Support for OS 2.x system fonts
Suport for foreign language dictionaries (and charachters)
FRENCH and GERMAN dictionaries $24.95 ($39.95 for both)
Improved graphics support
And a long list of other stuff that didn't mean enough to me to remember.
Michael
….from the north coast (go Cavs!)
The upgrade doesn't sound too dramatic to me either, but, I'll wait until I
get the mailing from MMS. The difference between 1.0 and 2.0 was huge!
Actually, there are a lot of nice features in e!2.0. It is MUCH faster
than the earlier version. The only thing I don't like is the way it does
graphics but the rest is pretty good.
Since this is the first vocal presence we've had on here, I'm not sure if I
should try to set up shop in the vendor section again rather than plug
here… (to think we once ran a compuserve Telecom sig eons ago!!)…
Anyways, once I get that straightened out, I'll be happy to answer any and
all questions. Well, relating to ex3.0, anyway.
Hi Andrew. I just got your mailing for excellence! 3.0. While there isn't
a whole lot of features that I want the upgrade price isn't very steep so
I'll probably get it. I like the timed backup feature mentioned. Speed was
REALLY increased from version 1.0 to 2.0. Has it been speeded even more?
As much as possible… I run it on a '20, and exept when inserting at the
start of a twenty page paragraph or so don't notice delays…
Andrew,
How does the Compugraphic output from E!3 look? ProWrite's looks
good fontwise, but the interfont spacing is kind of strange…
I think one should take a look at their needs when it comes to word
processors. While Word Perfect is the shinning beacon of MS DOS clones it
has no future on the graphical Amiga — and that's how it should be. Pro
Write and Final Copy are high up there in Amigadom, but my choice is Pen
Pal from Softwood — Final Copy's older brother (and better!). It has a
powerful database to go with unsurpassed text and graphic printing, but it
too can use some minor enhancements: Clipboard support, AREXX, and the new
outline fonts. Version 1.4 is compatible with 2.0, and it's cousin program
Proper Grammar runs well without a hitch. Give it a try…
Michael,
I've been using different versions of ProText for years now – the latest is
version 5.5
It is a very fast WP, which was originally written for PCs I believe. It
won't give you any fancy fonts, only those that are native to your printer,
but you _can_ customise your printer driver, so you can use the printer's
facilities to the full. For example, my printer can do double underlining.
When I run ProText, double underlining appears as an option in the style
menu (got added because I added it to the printer driver).
And, among a host of other features, ProText will do:
Footnotes or endnotes (you get to specify where you want them)
Multiple headers/footers – multiple line headers/footers, which you can
change any time you want to.
Different numbers of text columns.
It has a _fast_ spell checker, with multiple dictionaries. You can even
specify a private user dictionary for just one file, if you need to. (I
do.) The spell checker is fast enough to spell check while you type, even
if you don't have a hard disk.
Built-in print spooling.
Automatic (when you print) generation of table of contents and index.
It can use the ARP file requester, which means you can use Khalid
Aldoseri's file requester.
Multiple files open at the same time.
On-line help (saves digging around for the manual for those rare
commands)
Word count gives a detailed analysis
And many, many other features. If you just want to bash out copy at high
speed, and use the printer's capabilities to the full, it's great.
It's made in Britain, so has an _English_ disctionary, but I believe that
_American_ dictionary is also available.
Regards,
Shraddhan – via Whap! from Hertfordshire in the UK
It would help to know what you intend to do with the Word Precessor. For
good output, as you've heard, Final Copy looks great. From a bit of a
distance, someone thought a print out done with with FC was done on a laser
printer while it was really done on my 9-pin Panasonic. (A good look won't
fool anyone but the output is great.) Another good program for output is,
believe it or not, KindWords. It doesn't have LOADS of features but it
prints out great. (It is limited in its graphics abilities.) For
something quick and easy without graphics I like TransWrite. It can handle
huge docs and is fast.
For what it's worth, I'm more than a little skeptical about buying a WP
solely for output. I spend good money on an old program called VizaWrite
whose focus was great output using proprietary (nonstandard) methods, and
was left out in the cold when PP&S stopped distributing it.
I'm sure market conditions and company strength have a great deal to do
with how well a WP can succeed, but I'm using ProWrite now and am more
comfortable they'll be around for a while than many other companies.
*** jd
Well…. there is now excellence! 3.0… plug, plug…. Hi, I'm Andrew at
Micro-Systems Software, if you got any questions about 3.0, feel free to
ask…
Is this a new release of E!? Are registered owners going to be
notified? And how can I give MSS my new address?
Well, you could send us a change of address…. or you could call
us…. and I suppose you could just send me a note here (make it
e-mail if you don't want to post it out in the open, though…) or
you could call our BBS (407) 790-0774… all owners whose addresses
we had were already notified.
Well, Andrew, I'm registered (got the 2.0 upgrade notice a couple
years ago) and I call into your BBS, but I've yet to get a 3.0
upgrade notice. So, please send me one at:
R. Legro
2877 N. 47th St.
Milwaukee WI 53210
I rather doubt that Andrew will answer the message that you sent to me.
Ron
But I did, heh….
I saw you on the BBS, it's on it's way.
Well, I happen to be a registered owner of excellence! v. 2.0
(SeriaL # XA 08948). Couple of questions for you. What are the major
improvements in this upgrade? How much does it cost registered users
of 2.0? Has the speed increased? Does it open and handle big files
quicker and better? Is the output improved over previous versions?
Oh, one other thing. Have you gotten rid of that Mickey Mouse way
of changing line spacing and gotten with every other WP with click on
symbols for single, double and triple spacing?
I've already bought Final Copy and I love the output, but I gotta
tell ya it has some real drawbacks. You can only open one damn
document at a time and that's about as Mickey Mouse as it gets. Even
old Textcraft could do better than than. Also the screen display of
Final Copy is nearly unreadable and that's AFTER they say they
improved it.
I've looked at the demo copy of ProWrite and I wasn't impressed
terribly, so what is a person to do?
I have both Final Copy and Excellance! 2.0. I have several documents open
in FC at the same time. Just go and open the document. The screens are
not staggered, as in E!, but they are there. Use the resize and stacking
buttons.
Bill Roberts in Ellettsville In. via Whap!
Well, you still hxve the same line spacing, but incase you weren't aware
(it s many people weren't), holding down ALT when you click on it will let
you jump one level of line spacing up or down (from single to double, to
triple, etc.)
Well, we'll look better on-screen….. we've tried to improve the look as
much as p possible. The major improvements include ARexx (bigtime),
auto-saves, backup levels, speach, multiple dictionaries, font & style
directly on ruler, and especially the interface. The look is so improved i
almost cringe when looking at 2.0 now.
Also improved: color handling, font handling (requester not a menu, etc.),
keyboard access to all items, built-in glossary items (which ARexx programs
can call), # of coloumns (up to 8), bookmarks, etc.
Even if you don't have one, try to use it at least once on a machine with
deinterlaced output or a flicker fixer at hi-res (or ECS productivity or on
an A2024, its there that it looks the best).
I'm using it in interlaced mode now and it is much more readable than in
non-interlaced, especially when using fonts bigger than 12 point. Still
can't open more than one doc at a time, though.
I'm an old MSS software user. I own Scribble!, Excellence!,
Online!, Analyze! and Organize!. I've registered all with MSS. I
never received an upgrade notice the entire 6 years I lived at the
address MSS has. I have since moved half way accross the U.S. I'm
interested in Excellence! 3.0. What is the current phone number I can
call to change my address and hopefully receive upgrade notices.
I have all my registration form copies. I can only clearly
identify Excellence! The others I stored together before I noticed
they weren't clearly marked as what they were for. Please reply.
Rodger I. Padgett (Late of 335 Hayes Cir. Fort Ord, CA 93941)
Okay, you can call us at (407)-790-0770. I'll check with the address to see
if there's a problem. We mailed to everyone in our reg. database, so
obviously something is wrong or missing. You wouldn't have gotten the 3.0
mailing unless we had you down for excellence!, so we might have some of
the other addresses correct (we have a different entry for each reg#, hence
each product, but not for different versions of the same product)….
If you give me your new address I can send you a mailing if we can find you
in our database or get a reg# from you
Can I phone in the excellence! 3.0 upgrade? Thanks.
Sure. 790-0770. If you're going to order and don't live in Florida, use
1-800-327-8724, but that is for orders ONLY. For tech support or
information, call (407)790-0774. The first number up there is area code 407
also.