CompuServe Thread

An Opinion on Scribble! by Micro Systems Software ( part 1 ) I recently purchased Scribble! from Micro Systems Software to work on a parts catalog I've been commissioned to write for our local Mercedes-Benz dealer. I had bought OnLine! a few months ago & loved the program, so I figured that Scribble! would be of similar quality. I'm writing this review with TxED, incidentally (hint, hint). Upon reading the manual, I was pleased to see that many features I missed on TextCraft were implemented on Scribble!, such as moving text between windows, having multiple documents open at once, and definable tabs. I had called MSS's support line before ordering to find out the maximum file size, and I was elated when they told me it was the capacity of the disk. I figured that I finally had a good Word Processor. Boy, was I wrong! The first thing the manual tells you is that Scribble! isn't copy-protected and to make a backup. When I attempted to do this I discovered that the master disk had a dead track on it & I couldn't copy it with DiskCopy. I was able to copy the Scribble! program to another disk by dragging its Icon, so the dead track didn't effect Scribble!, evidentally. Not a good sign, tho. The next problem arose when I tried to load in the work I had already done on TextCraft. The size of my filewas about 50K, with no special characters or other odd things in it. I assumed that since Scribble! could handle files on a virtual-memory-type basis that a text file of that size would be a snap. So, following the manual's directions I attempted to load a 'general' text file. Using a filename requester identical to OnLine!'s I clicked my file and waited for it to load. And waited and waited. After a couple of minutes I attempted to 'Resume', but no dice. Scribble! had gotten lost somewhere. I rebooted & tried some much smaller files that loaded o.k., but my main document simply would not load. I finally broke it up into smaller sections using TxED, then Scribble! would load the smaller pieces. To try and make the rest of this brief, the above was only the start of the grief. Trying to use the multiple windows to rebuild my file was very frustrating, but I finally was able to get it into one piece again by opening a window and partitioning 100K of memory rather than the default 64K. While I was making some additions to the text, I got an 'Out of Memory' message. I saved my file, and when I rebooted Scribble! and tried to reload my file, Scribble! told me there was an error and refused to load it. Where, I wonder, is this marvelous ability to have a file 'the capacity of the disk'? Here's some other 'features' I discovered : -There is no way to print just one page of a file. -The tab key does not insert a tab character, just moves the cursor. -Headers, footers, page numbering have to be specified in the text as 'Dot' (.) commands, ala PROFF & ROFF, as do super & subscripts and a host of other common functions, such as print size. -The only way to change from draft to letter-quality is to either exit Scribble! and change Preferences or use a 'dot' command ( do YOU know the escape codes for letter-quality by memory? I don't.) -In overwrite mode the backspace key deletes characters rather than overwriting them, and Paste inserts rather than overwrites. All in all, Scribble! is aptly named. I have far better word processors on my Atari 800 than this throw away program from MSS. Scribble! is buggy, poorly implemented and tedious to use, especially the bloody 'dot' commands. I didn't buy an Amiga in order to use ancient UNIX software. I especially resent the out and out LIE they told me of the file handling capacity. I feel that I've been ripped-off by having to buy Scribble!, for I would not waste my time with it if it was free, and I can recommend it to no one at all. Save your money, don't buy Scribble!!!!! David Milligan CIS [70707,2521] BIX dmilligan The WELL dmil