Re^2: wordprocessor in unix

[Walker]

Here we go, don the asbestos leisure suit...


dhesi at bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Rahul Dhesi) writes:

>irf at kuling.UUCP (Bo Thide') writes:
>>We bought the UNIX release of 'WordPerfect' for one of our HP9000/300
     ^^^^^^
   NOTE: this means spent bucks on.

>>boxes running HP-UX.  It's really the 4.2 version but it utilizes the
>>fact that it runs in a UNIX environment and therefore has extra capabilities
>>compared to the PC version (up to 9 -sic- documents at the same time, a
>>few 'vi'-isms thrown in etc.)

>I have a couple of complaints about these statements.

So do I.


>Minor nit:  Up to 9 documents at the same time is easily achievable
>under MS-DOS.  I do it all the time with BRIEF, and even the small,
>QEDIT lets me edit multiple files.  If WordPerfect doesn't do it under
>MS-DOS, it is WordPerfect's fault, not MS-DOS's fault.

So what does that have to do with info-unix??


>Major nit:  It is theoretically *impossible* for a general terminal-
>independent version of WordPerfect to exist under UNIX.  After
>extensive research I have determined that WordPerfect *cannot exist*
>unless you have all or most of F1..F10, Ctrl-F1..Ctrl-F10,
>Alt-F1..Alt-F10, and Shift-F1..Shift-F10 keys available.  Since most
>terminals used for UNIX do not have such keys at all, the conclusion
>follows.  What you used under UNIX may have been called WordPerfect,
>but it was something else.

Welcome to the world of non-standard equipment.  If the manufacturer
didn't support many different types of terminals, the product would
not be sold for Prime, HP, VAXen, Sun, etc.  Or the product would not
be selling at all.

We use officepower from cci on cci machines (power5, power6) and vaxen
(780) totalling around 2000 users.  They use LANPAR, TAB, DEC (and others)
terminals.  They also use pc's with xtalk, vterm, kermit, procomm, etc..
there are even some users on MAC's with versaterm.  My question is this...
If I have a cci terminal with a bold key, but my secretary has a vt100 
and has to do a F1-b to bold, are we not still using officepower??  The
mapping of your keyboard is a personal convenience, not a 'written in
stone' feature of your word-processor.  

As long as supported terminals are able to access the features of your
package, it is functional.  If my arrow keys don't work in Emacs 
because my emulation is bad, I can still use ^F, ^B, ^P, and ^N, am
I not still using Emacs??

I am more likely to trust the experiences of someone who has invested 
time and $$$$ in a product than to trust in the opinion of someone who 
has done "extensive research".


sorry to be so verbose,
just one man's meager opinion
and probably not my employer's.

bill.

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wrwalke at nswc-wo.arpa  (WORK)   |     Bill Walker
uunet!ictgate!wrwalke (????)   |     ICT, inc.

"Sure, quote me if you want, my employer doesn't think i have opinions"
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