Use of ``vi'' for business office word-processing

[Darryl P. Wagoner]

>	In my humble :-) opinion, I cannot think of any editor more universally
>useful than ``vi'' (yes, I know about Emacs, but I still prefer ``vi''). 
> 	So my question is: Am I WRONG in advising people to stay with ``vi''
>and not spend money for "word-processing software" in the BUSINESS APPLICATION
>environment?
> 	In my travels I have taken a cursory look at various word-processing
>packages for UNIX machines, and do not find their operation or command set any
>more intuitive than ``vi''.  I am certain that some people will disagree with
>me on this issue; so, tell me, what are the ADVANTAGES of word-processing
>software (like Lyric, Wordstar, etc.) over the standard UNIX editing/formatting
>utilities in the business-only environment?

I really like vi for writing programs.  Vi won't do the things that WordStar
will do, but if you put vi, nroff, troff, tbl and (n)eqn together you have
a very powerful word-processing tool.  The only problem with this is that
it is somewhat difficult to use and has a longer learning curve.  I know
of no other package that can do tables with the same ease as tbl.  The 
following is what I see as the pro's and con's of vi,[rt]roff,tbl and eqn 
as compared to a "word-processor".

				Pro's

	vi and company.				Word-processor

	Smaller storage requirement		What you see is what you get.
	Standard among Unix			Many different product avail.
	Tables and simple graphics using	Left and Right justification
	 pic & tbl				 as you type.
	vi uses less cpu time than a		cpu usage is spread out over
	 fancy word-processor.			 a period of time
						Help menus

				Con's

	[NT]roff eats up a lot of CPU time.	Tables are a real pain.
	The dot commands are painful at best	
	No help commands. (can be an asset)	Menus slows down a sharp
						 user.

Basicly I would have to sum it up with:  If you have a high turnover rate
or somewhat slow secretaries, then go with a "word-processor".  But if you have
sharp people and/or have a low turnover rate, go with the vi and roff package.


> 	At the moment I am being compelled to offer an opinion on a computer
>system for a medium-sized law office; they want to start out small, and do
>not want to spend the money for a law office automation system (like a product
>of Barrister Information Systems).  For three or four secretaries (and to allow
>for growth), I am inclined to recommend a 3B2 or NCR Tower XP as the most
>COST-EFFECTIVE means of implementing a multi-user system.  Comments, anyone?
> 

I have heard not but good things about NCR Tower's.  Except they are 
System V :-)  
-- 
	Darryl Wagoner
	Raytheon Co.; Portsmouth RI; (401)-847-8000 x4089

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