Anyone still using WordPerfect?

[zridling]

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!

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[Tuxman]

Oh well, MS Office is not cheap either, and it has a, uhm ..., not too well designed GUI.

[zridling]

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]

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.com/get/Office-tools/Text-editors/Aure-RTF-Editor.shtml ).

[attachthumb=#]

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

[Tuxman]

WriteMonkey is not a word processor.

[40hz]

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?



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

[Tuxman]

WriteMonkey is a text editor. Made for editing texts, not for writing letters. 

[40hz]

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?

[Tuxman]

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]

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! )

[Tuxman]

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! )

You started by proposing a text editor.

[40hz]

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

You started by proposing a text editor.

If you say so. 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]

We could as well start a new topic, as a similar discussion ("what is a programming language?") was quite successful recently. 

[cranioscopical]

Still happily using 6.2 for DOS!

[40hz]

Still happily using 6.2 for DOS!

The Man!!!

[zridling]

Still happily using 6.2 for DOS!

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

[Stoic Joker]

Still happily using 6.2 for DOS!

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

Three Cheers for DOS-Shell! PEdit was a nice editor from back then too.

[cranioscopical]

Still happily using 6.2 for DOS!

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

Still using WordStar commands to move the cursor?
I hear there's some new-fangled gadget called a rat hamster mouse coming soon.

[Tuxman]

Who needs a mouse when he has a keyboard?

[40hz]

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..."

[zridling]

Suddenly I thought of the Simpsons and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon's doctoral dissertation.

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[sword]

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]

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.