Re: Writer's Question

From: Michael Slavin (michael@THEWEBSTER.COM)
Date: Thu Jan 11 2001 - 22:40:59 AEDT


quoth Ian Greig (ian.greig@CLARA.NET) on 1/11/01 2:42 AM:
>Some versions of MSW from 6 onwards were not considered all that stable
>whereas NW is frequently praised for being rock solid.

I'm not sure of others' experiences but I assume that Word must be a LOT
more stable on Wintel machines than on Mac or it couldn't possibly have
the following it does. While I leave Nisus running for days on end, if I
need to open Word I prepare for catastrophe beforehand, save my work etc.
I typically open, select all, copy, and paste into Nisus and look to be
sure there weren't any of those nasty floating blocks that kill the flow.
Sometimes saving as html helps if there are. Then I shut down Word and
say a quick prayer of thanksgiving for having been spared.

Windows applications on the other hand often behave differently, in
Windows anyhow. They often apparently shut down when there are no open
documents. I'm not very familiar with the programming involved, but it
rather looks like in Macs the top priority is to active applications,
while in Win it is to open documents. This might influence the choice for
applications that "do everything" as my wintel friends often quit
applications as they move from task to task. I guess this is why many who
appreciate being able to do a variety of things well, use Macintosh.

I use Nisus primarily because it works well with others. It integrates
into my grand scheme of things. It doesn't blow up my FTP software
because I'm transferring an open file (though saving a file as it is
being transferred will result in an instant backup with a starred name.)
Nisus native format can be viewed concurrently in several web browsers at
once or run as scripts or whatever, without the need to save another file
in a "plain" format. I can drag text or graphics in or out, to the
desktop or another application, or a different location in tha same
application, or option-drag to duplicate the selection.

Anyhow, bottom line is, what all do you intend to do, and how limited do
you want to remain in capability? If you must choose Word, you might be
more comfortable in Windows as well - and you'd likely get better
performance from it. I find it down right scary on my machine.

-m

Michael Slavin  /o\~/o\~/o\~/o\  Bx 553 Baldwin City, KS  66006-0553
theWebster  ***  electronic internet publishing and graphic services
<http://theWebster.com>                                 (everywhere)

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