Simplify your laptop buying
Office & productivity software: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use?
- 10/3/07 4:58 PM
pc-write etc
by briegull - 10/4/07 5:08 AM In reply to: Microsoft Word Usage by feemeryyou caught my eye mentioning pc-write. Ah, yes, the little cat!
I've been using word since it was only on the mac, but also taught many people to use its various iterations up through 2003. Since I retired I've done volunteer work and one program I've worked with, an on-line database, installs a macro in Word which I needed but which slowed my own Word down to a crawl. So I downloaded Open Office II and found it fast, easy to figure out - MOST of the expected keyboard shortcuts work and those that don't are ones that emulate the shortcuts in other programs. But they're easily changed in the Options dialog. I can comfortably recommend the PC version to people who retire and have to buy their own software, and walk them through changing the default program for saving to be Word.
There is, by the way, a database component of OO which emulates Access to some degree (I've never been comfortable with Access so I can't really speak to it). It is apparently based on Adabas, so if you know that you should be comfortable with it. I haven't really used the spreadsheet program much in OO.
But I have a question: how easy is OO for the MAC to install and maintain? I guess the new version is out ?? or almost out?? Is it stable enough for non-tech types to use comfortably?
-Briegull
I have always preferred WordPerfect
by MiracleInspirations - 10/3/07 9:22 PM In reply to: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Since I first started using word processing software in the 80's, I have always vastly preferred WordPerfect and hated working with Word.
In WordPerfect, I have absolute control over what happens in my document. Total and complete control. With Word, it is ridiculously difficult to accomplish what I want with the document's formatting. And heaven forbid if I want to change document formatting in Word. I never know what I'm going to get.
I compare working with Microsoft products to squishing my document or data through the holes of a colander then making sense of what comes out the other side.
I do 95% of my word processing in WordPerfect. I then convert to Word if the document needs to be sent to someone else. Unfortunately, documents received from others are always in Word, and text copied from e-mail or the Internet usually imports most easily into Word.
Word is like the common currency format for the world's text documents. As the world's financial currencies are changing, perhaps it is also time for a new document currency.
Open Office is sorta okay
by xotic224 - 10/3/07 9:27 PM In reply to: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It crashes sometimes, but I like the price! I keep Office around because my husband likes Outlook. After losing all of his email in Netscape twice a few years ago, he appreciates having Outlook. The look of the 2007 version is highly strange, it's as though Microsoft is trying to channel Apple after all these years!
outlook
by briegull - 10/4/07 11:56 AM In reply to: Open Office is sorta okay by xotic224Gmail is great for its searching capabilities. Free, and has many of the things you need at home (not some of the things that integrate with Word, though)
open office for me...
by 7aji88 - 10/3/07 9:32 PM In reply to: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
since I found open office, I never went back to MS office. I mainly use the word writer to write papers for school. I never used The other programs but they seem exactly like MS office, but for FREE!! Also Google Docs are very useful. I save some of my paper on them so I can open them at school or at my friend's house.
MS Word 2003, but...
by rbsjrx - 10/3/07 9:48 PM In reply to: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Like many people, I use MS Office for business reasons. I would have dumped it years ago, but for the fact that it is the lingua franca of office suites and no one else was compatible enough.
HOWEVER... I now use SoftMaker Office on my notebook computer (see http://www.softmaker.com/english/). Published in Germany, it's compatible enough for 99+% of my required business uses, costs a fraction of what MS Office costs, is small and fast, and comes in a compatible Linux version (I first found it when searching for MS-compatible Linux software).
I will never upgrade to MS Office 2007. And, as long as I have SoftMaker Office, I'lll never have to. I recommend it highly to anyone who either wants to get out of the clutches of Microsoft but needs MS compatibility, or who simply wants a more affordable yet truly compatible alternative. No, it's not free, but as OpenOffice has proven, sometimes you really do get what you pay for (in the case of OpenOffice, a slow, bloated, incompatible mess).
Softmaker Office is a great product, highly recommended - check it out!
WordPerfect I love it
by sconaway1 - 10/3/07 9:52 PM In reply to: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have used WordPerfect beginning with 5.1. In the beginning it was because my wife used it at the law firm where she worked and we got it installed free on our home computer. Then came 6.0 for windows and I went out and bought it because my wife still clings to 5.1 (to this day it's 5.1 on her office computer) I'm using ver 12 now and still wouldn't have any other word processor. I do reports that use the same basic phrases over and over, so the ease at which you can create a macro and setting up template forms saves me time and keystrokes. I tried MSWord but just couldn't get the hang of it. WordPerfect documents can be saved into almost all popular processor types with very little loss of formatting with the conversions. In my mind there is no better word processing program around.
Open Office, but willing to try others...
by danrulz98 - 10/3/07 10:15 PM In reply to: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I usually use Open Office, but I have heard of others that I'll have to try sometime. One of my computer teachers in school taught us how to use Open Office because not all of the computers in his lab had MS office. Since I learned Open Office and very little of MS Office, I'm a little lost with MS.
Word, Different Versions
by Daniel Duncan - 10/3/07 10:17 PM In reply to: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I tried Word 2007 and had to remove it because the interface is too weird. I could always count on previous versions to have a similar interface, menu-driven, and could find my way very quickly in each new release. The 2007 seems to be trying to imitate the surface (not the actual inner logic) of an ad executive's idea of a Mac interface, and in trying to go them one better, has effectively taken away the menus.
Excel 2007 goes them one better or worse really in eliminating the Data Form feature, forcing the now disoriented user to enter rows and columns instead of the handy and easily verifiable Data Form gizmo.
Back to Word. The earlier DOS versions had three files for any given Word document: the .doc file, the .sty file, and the .prd file. These three files gave a user a lot of control over documents, how they looked onscreen and how they printed, depending on which printer you might be using. Word For Windows folded all this info into the .doc file and left the hapless user with zero control unless he/she could start bit nibbling.
Word needs to go back to its roots and stop trying to be just another pretty interface.
Dan Duncan dunc@newresearch.com
P.S. I installed the new IBM Lotus Symphony and had to uninstall it, since it was just a bunch of basic text editing with no visible controls.
One of my tests for a decent word processor is an outliner, which Word has, but no one else understands. Originally designed by Doug Englebart, it is one of the best tools for thinking with a computer ever designed.
My other word processor is FrameMaker, now in its 8th version, with support for XML and other world-class document strategies. In addition, it has really excellent indexing tools, the best I've seen, it has good graphics control, AND is knows how to manage memory, a feature that Word has lacked for awhile now.
If FrameMaker could find a way to include an outliner, or if Word could get it together in terms of interface, memory management, and graphics control, we might be able to say there is a choice. Right now, for large documents there is only FrameMaker, and for fooling around on Sunday morning, there is only Word.
Are there any marketing people who actually do real market research with real users, or are they spending the company budget on the golf course?
Word Processor, spreadsheet and database
by Dave White - 10/3/07 10:30 PM In reply to: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I use Office 2006 by softmaker, it looks and feels like MS Office. Of course its not free but for around 64.00 it will compare to MS Office at 200.00 and up. It will convert MS Ofice files back and forth allowing you to use your office software at work and softmaker at home. Just recently it has been certified compatable with the new windows operating system and will read and convert MS Office 2007 files. Once you buy in your updates are free.
Lotus WordPro Still the Choice of Serious Writers
by dlauber - 10/3/07 10:40 PM In reply to: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
As much as Word is improved in Office 2007 -- and it is definitely the most productive version of Word so far -- it still doesn't hold a candle to Lotus WordPro 9.8 in terms of power, ease of use, speed, flexibility, and just plain enjoyable to use. WordPro's "InfoBox" gives you complete control over all character, word, paragraph, frame, table/cell, and page formatting -- with an ease of use and power Word fanatics can only dream of. WordPro is the closest word processor to desktop publishing -- it makes the use of paragraph styles a breeze unlike the awkward nightmare they are in Word, WordPerfect, and any other word processor. And paragraph styles make users incredibly more productive happy campers. Word processing has come a long way since good ol' WordStar 3.3 (in C/PM machines) and its wonderful successor WordStar 2000 -- and Lotus WordPro continues to be the apex of word processors. Too bad Lotus, namely IBM, has stopped developing it.
I use WordPerfect mostly and Word some, but I print to Adobe
by Cadillac84 - 10/3/07 10:42 PM In reply to: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have Acrobat 8 Professional and it was the best decision I ever made --- well maybe second best. Anyway, when I finish a document, I print it to Adobe PDF and proof it and send it out. Whomever I target can jolly-well read it and print it and I don't have to answer questions about why Word 97 won't open a Word 2007 document.
Many people think the folks at Microsoft should be lined up against a wall (like in the Gulag) and summarily executed (EXE). I disagree! I think WE should take all the blame for allowing the SOBs to put us in this position.
Why do I use WordPerfect? Let me count the ways!
Number 1, there is no animated paperclip dancing around my screen like I was a charter member of the Mickey Mouse club -- and even if I was, it's none of the paper clip's business!
Number 2, if I send a WPD to somebody who is using WP 6.1 for Windows or WP 7 or WP 8 or WP 9 or WP 10 or WP 11 or WP 12 and maybe even beyond, they can open my document. They can read it and print it. Imagine that!!
Number 3, I have a better chance with WP 12 of saving a document in a form (even before my Adobe PDF trick) readable by somebody with MS Word. All I have to do is assume the guy has Word 97 and ignore the warning that some advanced BS may be lost.
I've got to stop. The more I write, the more angry I get with MS. I started using Word 3 (DOS) and I could make my LaserJet printer dance a jig with the code I could embed in my documents. When version 5.5 was released, I had to revert to 5.0 and when all the versions were Windows based, well just forget it then.
I use Word when I must and only when I must!
Blessings on my Acrobat 8 Pro upgrade which is a real jewel -- although one must still have some kind of word processor and I choose WordPerfect most of the time.
I use WordPerfect for word processing
by aminoff - 10/3/07 10:55 PM In reply to: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have used WordPerfect since it was a DOS program. I think it is superior to Microsoft Word, both in features and in ease of use. I will continue to use it. I have Microsoft Word on my computer but use it only to open .doc files.
For composing I use WordPerfect.
WordPerfect
by rpb1 - 10/4/07 3:05 AM In reply to: I use WordPerfect for word processing by aminoffI installed and learned M$ Office, but I use WordPerfect X3. I've been using WP since version 5 for OS/2 and DOS and it is so far superior to MS Word that I am amazed Microsoft still hasn't incorporated WordPerfect features.
Corel WordPerfect version X3 even loads Microsoft Office Docs and lets you fix them. The WP reveal codes show how whoever drafted the original Word docs used tabs instead of indents, etc. If you want a REAL word processor to make life simpler, use WordPerfect X3. If you just want a feature-lacking BarbieDoll Wordpad pretending to be a word processor, use Microsoft's version.
OpenOffice just works
by staunskaer - 10/3/07 11:19 PM In reply to: Poll: Which word-processing software do you use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I recently downloaded openoffice as it¨s free !! The programs just works and all the core functionality you are used to from MS office are practically the same. I see no reason to waste money on MS office for my home computer the openoffice programs (word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and DB tools) fully meets the needs for your home office.
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