topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Thursday March 28, 2024, 6:42 am
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Author Topic: Anyone still using WordPerfect?  (Read 25120 times)

zridling

  • Friend of the Site
  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,299
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« on: December 22, 2009, 12:52 PM »
I see they want $300 for their new version. Love that fancy XP screenshot. It really shows me what WordPerfect can do. Are they serious? C'mon!

screenWordPerfectOfficeX4.jpg

Tuxman

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 2,466
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2009, 01:52 PM »
Oh well, MS Office is not cheap either, and it has a, uhm ..., not too well designed GUI.

zridling

  • Friend of the Site
  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,299
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2009, 02:16 PM »
Yea, I'm not a fan of anything that sits there eating up valuable screenspace. Anymore, I only want to see a toolbar or menu bar when I hit the ALT key! Jeez, I'm a lazy bass.

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,857
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2009, 02:52 PM »
Try using WriteMonkey ( http://writemonkey.com ) then.  :-*

You can use it in blank screen or windowed mode. All commands are accessible via hotkey or from a popup menu. (Don't forget to turn on the typewriter sounds. It helps. Trust me.)

If that's too spartan, try Aure's RTF Editor ( http://www.softpedia...ure-RTF-Editor.shtml ).

AurelRTFEd.gifAnyone still using WordPerfect?

If you need fancier formatting and styling you can always just compose and then import into Word afterwards. Works for me. 8)

Tuxman

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 2,466
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2009, 03:22 PM »
WriteMonkey is not a word processor.

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,857
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2009, 06:11 PM »
WriteMonkey is not a word processor.

Ok...I'm sitting down.

Why do you not consider it a word processor?

I come from an era before the advent of WYSIWYG wordprocessing*, so we apparently have different definitions of the term.

I'm guessing you'd prefer to call it something like a "text" processor?

 :)

-----
* Not a typo BTW. "Word processor" was usually spelled as a single word back then. 8)

Tuxman

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 2,466
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2009, 06:13 PM »
WriteMonkey is a text editor. Made for editing texts, not for writing letters.  8)

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,857
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2009, 06:25 PM »
Funny. I write almost everything I do in the Windows environment using WriteMonkey.

I've composed magazine articles, several pieces of short fiction, a couple of AV scripts, a client product user manual, various professional reports - and reams of personal and business letters using it. I find it a very versatile app.

I didn't know it wasn't made for writing letters though.

So I guess that means I'll need to start using something else next time I write one? ;D





Tuxman

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 2,466
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2009, 06:29 PM »
I didn't know it wasn't made for writing letters though.
From the WriteMonkey website:
Zenware for full screen distraction free creative writing.

Made for writing contests AFAIK. Of course you can edit every kind of text in it...

Would you say Vim is a word processor then, too?

Wikipedia:
Word processing typically implies the presence of text manipulation functions that extend beyond a basic ability to enter and change text (...)

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,857
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #9 on: December 22, 2009, 06:54 PM »
Made for writing contests AFAIK.

Not really. More for writing drafts in a distraction free workspace. It's been discussed in previous DoCo threads. It's author (iztoks) is a Doco member.

Writemonkey bears an uncanny cultural resemblance to the DOS-based XYWrite wordprocessor. XYWrite, in turn, was based on the ATEX word processing program which ran on mainframes way back when. ATEX was the wordprocessor for its time. ATEX was used extensively by major news agencies and newspaper publishers such as the New York Times.

Would you say Vim is a word processor then, too?

I would when it's being used to 'process' words.

Same goes for EMACS.

(We're starting to get seriously off topic here BTW! :tellme:)



« Last Edit: December 22, 2009, 07:12 PM by 40hz »

Tuxman

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 2,466
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2009, 06:56 PM »
I would when it's being used to 'process' words.
Editing text is processing words.

Same goes for EMACS.
Pah, Emacs.

(We're starting to get seriously off topic here BTW! :tellme:)
You started by proposing a text editor. :P

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,857
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #11 on: December 22, 2009, 07:24 PM »
(We're starting to get seriously off topic here BTW! :tellme:)
You started by proposing a text editor. :P

If you say so. ;D But maybe we can wrap it up by acknowledging we each have very different ideas about what constitutes a word processor application. (It may be fun to discuss, but I think we're about to start going in circles on this topic.)


Tuxman

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 2,466
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #12 on: December 22, 2009, 07:26 PM »
We could as well start a new topic, as a similar discussion ("what is a programming language?") was quite successful recently.  :D

cranioscopical

  • Friend of the Site
  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 4,776
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #13 on: December 22, 2009, 09:53 PM »
Still happily using 6.2 for DOS!

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,857
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #14 on: December 22, 2009, 11:36 PM »
Still happily using 6.2 for DOS!
-cranioscopical (December 22, 2009, 09:53 PM)

The Man!!! :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:


zridling

  • Friend of the Site
  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,299
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #15 on: December 23, 2009, 04:16 AM »
Still happily using 6.2 for DOS!
-cranioscopical (December 22, 2009, 09:53 PM)

What, DOS 5.0 wasn't good enough for you, Mr. Elitist, Mr. Early Adopter?!  :P

Stoic Joker

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 6,646
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #16 on: December 23, 2009, 08:22 AM »
Still happily using 6.2 for DOS!
-cranioscopical (December 22, 2009, 09:53 PM)

What, DOS 5.0 wasn't good enough for you, Mr. Elitist, Mr. Early Adopter?!  :P
Three Cheers for DOS-Shell! PEdit was a nice editor from back then too.

cranioscopical

  • Friend of the Site
  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 4,776
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #17 on: December 23, 2009, 08:30 AM »
Still happily using 6.2 for DOS!
-cranioscopical (December 22, 2009, 09:53 PM)

What, DOS 5.0 wasn't good enough for you, Mr. Elitist, Mr. Early Adopter?!  :P
Still using WordStar commands to move the cursor?
I hear there's some new-fangled gadget called a rat hamster mouse coming soon.

Tuxman

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 2,466
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #18 on: December 23, 2009, 08:35 AM »
Who needs a mouse when he has a keyboard?

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,857
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #19 on: December 23, 2009, 08:37 AM »
Mouse???

I don't care what they come up with so long as it's still compatible with DESQ and my Quadram card!

"Riding on a carousel! Got to get back to you..."
;D


zridling

  • Friend of the Site
  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,299
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #20 on: December 24, 2009, 04:21 AM »
Suddenly I thought of the Simpsons and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon's doctoral dissertation.

apu2009d.jpg

"He graduated first in his class of nine million at Caltech -- the Calcutta Institute of Technology -- going on to earn his doctorate at the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology. His dissertation was the world's first computer program to play perfect tic-tac-toe. Bart Simpson ruined it by plucking a random punch card out of the box along with several others and the comment, 'Hey, what's this one do?' Apu promptly pitched it into the trash."

sword

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 200
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #21 on: January 05, 2010, 04:05 PM »
Their marketing is not strong. I believe their product is excellent and worth every penny. I use earlier versions, up to v12. WordPerfect Universe and Barry McDowell's Toolbox show some features and have links to other uses. Tables, columns, searching files, very large page sizes, indexing, macros, master documents, file lists and reveal codes are some of my favorites. If you have something that you would like it to do, I'll try to locate the help file or method. There is a reason why law firms, government, universities and writers prefer WordPerfect. It works very well.

xtabber

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 618
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Anyone still using WordPerfect?
« Reply #22 on: January 05, 2010, 10:30 PM »
Writemonkey bears an uncanny cultural resemblance to the DOS-based XYWrite wordprocessor. XYWrite, in turn, was based on the ATEX word processing program which ran on mainframes way back when. ATEX was the wordprocessor for its time. ATEX was used extensively by major news agencies and newspaper publishers such as the New York Times.

In DOS days, the New York Times, and many others, also used XyWrite as their standard PC word processor,. until Microsoft leveraged Windows integration to make Microsoft Word the de facto standard. XyWrite on an IBM PC-XT was faster than MS Word 2007 is today on just about any current personal computer, which is why it was beloved of those who wrote for a living.

ATEX and XyWrite were based on a markup language not unlike HTML and used style sheets, allowing for greater separation of content and presentation than any other word processing system. That also meant that one could concentrate on writing and add the styling later, instead of trying to format as one types, as is encouraged by programs like Word. Although XyWrite itself is long gone, it lives on as the core of Nota Bene, a word processing system specifically designed for academics.