Rich's Ramblings
By Rich Schinnell
This month, I am going to revert to my old self and report on some new and/or improved products that I have been using. First, I'll talk about the upgrade to WordPerfect for Windows, version 6.1. I am an older WordPerfect aficionado; I started out with SSI's (Satellite Software International) WordPerfect version 3.9 (or was it 4.1?). I bought it primarily because of the recommendation of a good friend who was a writer. I had purchased a copy of (not so) EasyWriter 1.0, which was about the only word processor, (if you could call it that) for the PC back in the 1983-85 timeframe. What a pain to use; it crashed all the time and was so kludgy. WordPerfect was an upstart that had more features, was easier to use, and had the capability to support more printers than EasyWriter. I also still have Microsoft Word ver 1.0, copy protection and all. . . .
I have progressed in upgrading WordPerfect through most of its iterations and changes. I upgraded to 5.0, 5.1, then Windows 5.0, and so on. I settled down on version 5.2 for Windows. I liked its interface and the ease in which it used DOS WordPerfect files without having to save in special format. DOS and Windows shared the same file formats. Then, when version 6.0 came out, I figured that it would be an improvement. Watching grass grow went faster than watching WPW 6.0 load and recompute the printer files each time. <G>
I installed the upgrade to WPW version 6.0a, and it was just as slow, but it did not spend 10 minutes each execution setting up the printers. I kept returning to my old version 5.2 for Windows. OK, I have to admit, I am a Windows person now. I had to either change or remain back in DOS with the wannabees. It was a difficult choice at first, but now I am really into it. Of course, it really helps to have a Windows-capable machine. 486-33, acres of hard disk space, and 16MB of RAM. A great monitor and a laser printer also helps. I can run Windows quite easily and fast on this machine. Anything less and it would be much too slow.
I was an idiot to bite into the WordPerfect upgrade to 6.0 advertised by WP Corp. I ended up paying more for it directly from WP than if I had purchased it from the local Egghead or CompUSA. I promised myself that I would always wait for the local prices to see whether they would be cheaper. Sure enough, Egghead and COMPUSA ended up cheaper than directly from WP/Novell.
Now on to what's new and exciting in version 6.1 (and remembering what all X.0 versions of software turn out to be). 6.0 was garbage (my opinion). Version 6.1 loads faster and is easier to use than its predecessor. A piece of cake to install, and it has an un-install also. (There is a Setup icon that will remove WPW 6.1 or parts of it.) It loads fast and is much more configurable than before. Of course, it has more bells and whistles than ever. That's one of the problems with new and improved software: it has so much baggage that many users never even need or use.
Here are the system requirements for WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows:
- 386 computer
- 6MB of RAM
- Hard disk with 27MB of free space for full installation (12MB
at minimum)
- VGA and Windows 3.1 in enhanced mode
- Minimum of 4MB of free disk space when loaded (this is for
the temporary files that it creates)
- a Mouse is almost a requirement
The local price is in the $98 range for upgrades.
This is not a review of WPW 6.1, only a preview and my personal opinions. Others more qualified will be doing a real in-depth review. From what I see so far, if you have the system to support it and need the advanced features (there are hundreds), then the upgrade is worth the investment. I think I will keep this one on the machine. I had deleted version 6.0a due to the reasons stated earlier.
Having used Word For Windows and Ami Pro, I still return to WordPerfect, primarily for the reveal codes feature. Sound stupid? I like the ability to see what is in the document at the raw level. I can tell that the reason the screen looks different is that there are numerous font changes in the document, and I can go into it and delete the ones I don't want there.
WPW 6.1 is very close to a full-fledged desktop publishing product. Some use it for that and are really pleased. There is at least one "gotcha" that I don't like: when the "Save As" feature saves a WPW 6.1 document in older 5.2 or other word processor formats, it adds so much baggage to the document that it takes forever to clean up after you bring it into WordPerfect 5.2 or almost any other word processor. It reminds me of when Walt Moore, our PR Director who uses Lotus's AmiPro, sent me a .SAM file from AmiPro, and I had to convert it into a WordPerfect document. The conversion process sended up placing font changes on every single line in the file. Well, WPW 6.1 does this when you try to do a Save As to a document in WP 5.2 format. This is more apparent when you have several margin changes and indents in your document. In reality though, the same document saved in 6.1 format takes up less disk space than it does in WordPerfect 5.2. Comment: Many of the new Windows products seem to thrash the disk an awful lot.
Let's go on to other things:
I have been eyeing the new Microsoft ergonomic keyboard, and have finally found a store with them in stock (Egghead). Seems that they are a hot selling item (CompUSA was always out of them). So far, I am pleased, even though it is larger than most other keyboards. There is a bit of a strange feeling at first. This keyboard is not for you "hunt-and-peck" typists. Touch typists will quickly adapt to its unique keyboard layout. I find the ability to program the function keys in Windows a real boon. And of course, like all Microsoft products, it is designed to support their products out of the box. A nice heavy, easy-to-use keyboard. A bit on the high end in cost ($90-100), but worth it, in my opinion. I saw a couple of knock offs in CompUSA, and they did not have the touch or feel of the Microsoft version. I have always in the past liked IBM's keyboards for their heftiness and feel. Microsoft learned something from IBM. This keyboard feels more substantial.
I have also been looking at several new CD-ROM products. One is the program Automap Streets which provides high-quality electronic street maps. It comes on a set of two CD-ROMs for Windows. The program allows you to pick and choose which cities you need and only pay for the ones that you want. The basic product gives you four cities (New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.). You then get to pick one more FREE city, which you unlock with the same procedure as if you wished to purchase more. You must run the install program, select the city, and it then puts a series of numbers in a box on the screen, gives you an 800 number to call (get your plastic out for more than one city), and then afterwards you talk to a computer at Automap, Inc. The robot gives you a series of numbers to enter into a special box on the screen, and your specific selected city is unlocked from the CD-ROM. Make sure that you save the information on diskette, or it will probably give you a lot of aggravation to get it back.
The CD-ROMs have all of the U.S.A. on them, but only the selected (and paid for) cities are unlocked for use. You can copy a section of a map to the clipboard, paste it into PC PaintBrush, modify the map, and then paste it into the letter to your Aunt Doris. It does take a bit of time to clean up the maps if you wish to print them in black and white, but it is well worth the time. To unlock the whole U.S.A. costs over $500, but not many people will use or require that many cities. The cities cost you $30 each after your initial one additional city included, but that's not too bad. The graphics are great, and the detail is also quite good. Those of you from small towns near larger cities will be able to reminisce about certain backroads and such that you're familiar with. Great gift for the traveler who has lived all over the U.S.A.
I have to say this: I had problems getting the clipboard to properly capture the cutout sections of maps and getting them into WordPerfect properly. It kept doing everything in color, and this does not bode well when I try to print it on a laser printer. Another problem that I had was whenever you would select a city that was on the other CD-ROM, it would not read the disk correctly. I solved that by dropping to DOS and typing DIR E: whenever I changed CD-ROMs. Evidently, the smartdrive program in DOS does not properly refresh memory whenever you change CD-ROMs from within Windows. But there is the workaround I mentioned.
They unlocked all of the U.S.A. for me, in order to conduct this review, so I was thrashing the CD-ROMs quite a bit. I did notice that they spelled the names of some of the local streets wrong. Rockville Park instead of Rockville Pike. <G> This could have been part of their secret copyright business, you know, similar to the way that National Geographic and Rand-McNally add non-existent roads, cities, etc., to determine whether others are copying their maps and such.
But all in all, it is a good easy to use program. Great for reminiscing at a party where you can ask people where they were born or have lived. Then show them a map of their small town in the Midwest. I found the small (400 people, including dogs) town that I grew up in named Dupont, Washington, near Fort Lewis and halfway between Tacoma and Olympia. And the streets were properly identified.
You have an option of copying any of the purchased cities to your laptop for viewing when you are on the road. A GPS (Global Positioning System) version is available for those with in-vehicle navigation installed. I recommend it for those that have a CD-ROM and are interested in other cities. It will also be great for those of you who send out those wonderful holiday newsletters; now you can include maps with the pictures of your (cats, dogs, kids) or whatever. . . . <G>
Automap Streets: $49.95 Basic, includes four major cities &
surrounding areas. They have over 200 wide area maps available
for $30 each with Quantity discounts for multiple cities.
Automap, Inc., (206) 455-3552.
Rich Schinnell is president of Capital PC User Group. Retired from the U.S. Navy in 1975 and Vitro Corporation in 1994. Now he does a bit of consulting and hangs around the CPCUG offices to help (hinder?) the office staff. He enjoys answering questions and will talk at the drop of a hat about the advantages of belonging to Capital PC. He can be reached on the Internet at schinnel@cpcug.org, at home in the evening at (301) 949-9292, and many times during the day at the CPCUG offices (301) 762-9372.
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