computers: advances that are less than perfect: steve homer berates his word processor for losing sight of the essentials in favour of more bells and whistles - where can i buy a document camera

What really brings computers into the office is word processing.
For me, when you type, accepting characters, storing them, and then manipulating them at your leisure is still one of the wonders of computing.
To correct spelling and typing mistakes, let me change my mind, move a paragraph once in a while, and then make an original good-looking document, is a pleasure for me.
However, word processor manufacturers, too, have to admit that users have been attracted by this simplicity.
"May I have some more, sir ? " Users cry and more features are turned on.
Now, the word processor has undertaken many of the tasks of the desktop publishing package.
They will allow you to write in columns, as in newspapers, including images, changing the size of letters, using hundreds of different fonts.
Nowadays, word processors even allow you to link to spreadsheets and other programs and allow you to send faxes.
Nowadays, many packages can even include sound notes and small video clips.
There's almost nothing you can't do in a word processor today.
As early as 1989, WordPerfect launched version 5.
1 Basic PC for Dos-
Compatible operating system.
I have been using it since then.
Earlier this year, the company launched version 6 for Dos, but there is no advantage, and the way you access many of the most commonly used features has also changed.
It is important that the use of the mouse seems almost essential.
It can do almost everything Windows programs can do, but to run normally, it requires the power of a machine that can run Windows, the graphics of a PC --
This seems to have missed this based on the operating system. Version 5.
1 for Dos provides you with a spartan screen that shows almost no program power.
But with a small app, you can do all the important tasks by clicking a few keys.
When you use the key to enter the word you are working on, it is logical to use the key to perform operations such as checking the spelling of the document, counting the number of words, retrieving the file to be processed, and so on.
Word perfect for Windows 6 should be a huge leap forward.
But the problem began almost immediately.
Under Windows, the characters on the screen are not as clear as they are running under Dos.
I found it hard to read the text using my medium resolution 14-Inch VGA screen.
I then tried a Super VGA screen with a higher resolution, which really didn't improve much.
Then I finally tried a new glory.
The Philips inch SVGA Display is awesome.
But it costs more than £ 1,000.
All this money just to be able to read what I wrote easily again.
One more question.
Programs running under Windows communicate with hardware in a more complex way than under Dos.
This means they are slower and more likely to stop working.
I have a lot of questions.
WordPerfect technical support solved my original problem, but I left it in different places, mostly random crashes.
I wasted more than two hours trying to make a Christmas Fax because every time I tried to move some part of the design the computer was locked and I had to turn it off and start over.
However, Wordperfect for Windows 6 is a very powerful product and the company assured me that I was unfortunate due to the number of crashes.
There's a lot of fancy stuff.
Includes a very good spreadsheet, graphic drawing and graphic package
And will do almost everything you want to do in document preparation.
But as someone who is primarily interested in writing, I have very simple requirements.
I don't need to worry about how my document looks.
I just want to arrange the correct words in the correct order.
I will still recommend Wordperfect 5 for simple writing. 1.
Among other things, 5.
1 will run on a slow 386 computer with 1 MB of memory, while Wordperfect for Windows does require a 486 machine and 8 MB of memory.
Microsoft's Dos Word 6 runs even on stones
8086 PCs is another great choice.
But if you want to change from the perfect text of the DOS word processor to the perfect text of Windows 6, there is a big problem.
When you use a product like a word processor, it has been shaped to your needs for years.
The special words you use in the type of writing will be stored in the supplementary Dictionary.
You may have written the macro. shortcuts -
For frequently repeated tasks, etc.
Most copies of WordPerfect's new word processor are sold to users of the existing version of WordPerfect, who will spend many hours fine-tuning their system.
But WordPerfect provides a bad program to convert macros, completely ignoring supplementary dictionaries and other related files.
Also, although it claims that users familiar with the Dos version can use their old key commands, this is not true at all.
There is no simple conversion process in its documentation.
"If you are used to doing X, then I'm sorry that you have to do Y in the new version ".
Ironically, Microsoft Word's documentation provides users with more focused help than Wordperfect products to convert from WordPerfect to Dos.
A machine that could cost £ 2,500 just a year ago can be your machine today for less than £ 800.
This should mean that you can do something faster that you can't do before.
The trouble is that as things get more and more complicated, the basic functions seem to be pushed aside, the performance of the basic word processing work --
Move around in the document, use the spell checker to find the file, and so on-
If any, it becomes slower, harder to use, and harder to find.
Unfortunately, the word processor manufacturer did not use this increased power to improve the function of the central word processing.
Microsoft began to try some clever tricks in the latest version of Word.
However, WordPerfect does little new to make its flagship a better word processor in a strict sense. (
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