From: gnohmon8715@my-deja.com Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 17:51:41 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you type. Lines: 23 Message-ID: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 169.71.1.246 X-Article-Creation-Date: Wed Jan 12 17:51:41 2000 GMT X-Http-User-Agent: Lynx/2.7.1 libwww-FM/2.14 X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x31.deja.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 169.71.1.246 X-MyDeja-Info: XMYDJUIDgnohmon8715 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newscore.univie.ac.at!newsfeed1.uni2.dk!newsfeed.tli.de!newsfeed.enteract.com!netnews.com!newspeer.monmouth.com!nntp2.deja.com!nnrp1.deja.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47834 Although the control-key mappings were okay by me, they never impressed me quite as much as some folks here, who seem to be deeply in love with them. Instead, I've always admired the way that (at help level 2), you could type a prefix key (^K, for example), and then, if you knew what you wanted you could type it with no delay but if you waited a while a menu would appear! This was wonderful. It gave you the best of both worlds. I have never seen any other program that did anything half so user-friendly as that. Now, I know that somebody is going to reply that if you point the mouse at a mickeysloth toolbar and hold it there for awhile, a bit of text will appear to explain the incomprehensible little picture; and somebody else will point out that the Mac had this eighty years before the Mycroftians stole it -- but since showing the incomprehensible little pictures in the first place is such a user-hostile act, I say it doesn't count, so there. I still tell all the editors I use to accept ^C and ^R as page-forward and page-back keys, because these are so easy to reach. Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy. ###### From: Jim Stewart Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 11:30:05 -0800 Organization: http://www.jkmicro.com Lines: 18 Message-ID: X-Orig-Message-ID: <387CD63D.49F1065B@jkmicro.com> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> Reply-To: jstewart@jkmicro.com Abuse-Reports-To: abuse at airmail.net to report improper postings NNTP-Proxy-Relay: 204.181.96.50 NNTP-Posting-Time: Wed Jan 12 13:26:00 2000 NNTP-Posting-Host: ![4cn1k-VlJ=jA > Although the control-key mappings were okay by me, they never impressed me > quite as much as some folks here, who seem to be deeply in love with them. > > Instead, I've always admired the way that (at help level 2), you could type a > prefix key (^K, for example), and then, if you knew what you wanted you could > type it with no delay but if you waited a while a menu would appear! > > This was wonderful. It gave you the best of both worlds. I have never seen > any other program that did anything half so user-friendly as that. Agreed. I never stopped to think how nice that feature is and I still use WS almost every day as my program editor. The other thing that truly set WS apart was that in an age of crufty text editors, WS *never* corrupted or erased your file. This was saying alot in the early 80's. ###### Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!not-for-mail From: Neil Franklin Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 12 Jan 2000 23:13:49 +0100 Organization: My own Private Self Lines: 38 Message-ID: <6ug0w3lyzm.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: chonsp.franklin.ch X-Trace: chonsp.franklin.ch 947715229 660 10.0.3.2 (12 Jan 2000 22:13:49 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@chonsp.franklin.ch NNTP-Posting-Date: 12 Jan 2000 22:13:49 GMT X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47873 gnohmon8715@my-deja.com writes: > Instead, I've always admired the way that (at help level 2), you could type a > prefix key (^K, for example), and then, if you knew what you wanted you could > type it with no delay but if you waited a while a menu would appear! > > This was wonderful. It gave you the best of both worlds. I have never seen > any other program that did anything half so user-friendly as that. Emacs also does that partially (only tell you where you are) with multi-key commands. Save is Ctrl-X Ctrl-S. If you only type Ctrl-X and then wait a while the mini-buffer (dialog line at botom of screen) shows: C-x- I allways regarded this as a nice gesture. > out that the Mac had this eighty years before the Mycroftians stole it Netscape for the Mac can do it even one better: I was going to type the hostname for our web site into the Location bar (to test the Macs Internet connection that I had just repaired (outdated DNS), I am normally on Unix so I do not know Macs well). After typing the first 2 letters of the hostname I was interrupted. When I returned the 2 letters had been expanded with the full hostname (aparently the only web host in Netscapes cache starting with those 2 letters). Very cool is that the added stuff was auto-selected, so that if I typed a third key it would have been replaced by the right stuff I wanted. This even beats the tab-expansion in Emacs or modern Unix shells. Really cool. -- Neil Franklin, neil@franklin.ch.remove http://neil.franklin.ch/ ###### Sender: Bea and Marvin Jones From: Jonesy Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> Organization: RMI.net User-Agent: tin/pre-1.4-19990413 ("Endemoniada") (UNIX) (SunOS/5.7 (i86pc)) Lines: 24 Message-ID: Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 20:57:14 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 166.93.8.17 X-Complaints-To: news@rmi.net X-Trace: den-news1.rmi.net 947710634 166.93.8.17 (Wed, 12 Jan 2000 13:57:14 MST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 13:57:14 MST Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newscore.univie.ac.at!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.cwix.com!natasha.rmii.com!den-news1.rmi.net!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47907 gnohmon8715@my-deja.com wrote: <-- snip --> > I still tell all the editors I use to accept ^C and ^R as page-forward and > page-back keys, because these are so easy to reach. I *select* editors based on how easily I can 'enhance' them to use the WordStar keys. I run WS 6.0 under OS/2. WS, together with the flexibility of OS/2, allows me to fax directly from WS. Pretty kewl. I've patched WS to believe it's running with a monitor that supports 43 lines -- and OS/2 fires it up nicely in a DOS box 43 lines deep. And, I see my olde version of WS is "Y2K" (yeech!) compliant (esc-@). Jonesy -- Marvin L. Jones jonz-AT>rmi.net W3DHJ Gunnison, Colorado So -- that was Y2K, huh? Big Deal! 354 days to go until the 3rd Millennium of the C.E. ###### From: gnohmon8715@my-deja.com Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 21:24:18 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. Lines: 26 Message-ID: <85irdh$l3n$1@nnrp1.deja.com> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 169.71.1.245 X-Article-Creation-Date: Wed Jan 12 21:24:18 2000 GMT X-Http-User-Agent: Lynx/2.7.1 libwww-FM/2.14 X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x25.deja.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 169.71.1.245 X-MyDeja-Info: XMYDJUIDgnohmon8715 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news-fra1.dfn.de!fu-berlin.de!newspeer.monmouth.com!nntp2.deja.com!nnrp1.deja.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47882 In article , jstewart@jkmicro.com wrote: > [WS *never* corrupted or erased your file.] Bzzzt you lose. But at least there was the .bak file, as long as you didn't try to save again. WS never corrupted or erased your file without putting up a highly visible error message. It's been so long, can I remember what were the most common causes? No. I only know that there were a dozen times when I was called away from my unix terminal, hurried down to the typing pool, and faced with the problem of finding the right file. (.bak? .$$$? Shall we try the disk editor?) Probably a full floppy was the most common thing. No hard drives in early 80s, too expensive. I think we never lost a file, in the end... Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy. ###### From: Eric Fischer Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 13 Jan 2000 00:11:21 GMT Organization: EnterAct Corp Turbo-Elite News Server Lines: 14 Message-ID: <85j579$hbe$1@eve.enteract.com> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <6ug0w3lyzm.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.229.143.41 X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test72 (19 April 1999) Originator: enf@enteract.com (Eric Fischer) Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!newsfeed.tli.de!newsfeed.enteract.com!news.enteract.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47888 Neil Franklin wrote: > After typing the first 2 letters of the hostname I was interrupted. > When I returned the 2 letters had been expanded with the full hostname > ... > This even beats the tab-expansion in Emacs or modern Unix shells. > Really cool. The original completion feature, in the University of California, Berkeley's mid-1960s time sharing system, also worked automatically. Many people, though, greatly prefer manually triggering completion rather than having it happen spontaneously. eric ###### From: Dan Strychalski Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 13 Jan 2000 03:11:10 GMT Organization: Keyboard Commando Corps Lines: 25 Message-ID: <85jfoe$mac$1@news.seed.net.tw> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 192.72.104.4 Originator: dski@ Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newscore.univie.ac.at!europa.netcrusader.net!128.32.206.55!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!ctu-gate!news.nctu.edu.tw!feeder.seed.net.tw!news.seed.net.tw!!dski Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47897 From gnohmon8715@my-deja.com came the words -- > Although the control-key mappings were okay by me, they never impressed me > quite as much as some folks here, who seem to be deeply in love with them. There's something to be said for keystrokes WORKING -- especially keystrokes based firmly on one of the most basic standards of computing and sitting directly under your fingertips as you type. Love or no love, when those keystrokes turn up DEAD in program after program, something is very, very wrong. > Instead, I've always admired the way that (at help level 2), you could type > a prefix key (^K, for example), and then, if you knew what you wanted you > could type it with no delay but if you waited a while a menu would appear! > > This was wonderful. It gave you the best of both worlds. I have never seen > any other program that did anything half so user-friendly as that. Indeed, and that too is worth thinking about. Dynamic as-you-work on-screen help -- what could be more logical? Why should it disappear? Why did we go backward in so many ways? Dan Strychalski ###### From: Ariel Scolnicov Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 13 Jan 2000 09:49:02 +0200 Organization: Compugen, Ltd. Lines: 13 Message-ID: References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: bioserv.compugen.co.il Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: news.netvision.net.il 947749736 8886 194.90.227.153 (13 Jan 2000 07:48:56 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@netvision.net.il NNTP-Posting-Date: 13 Jan 2000 07:48:56 GMT User-Agent: Gnus/5.0802 (Gnus v5.8.2) XEmacs/20.4 (Emerald) Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!hermes.visi.com!news-out.visi.com!uunet!ffx.uu.net!news-feed.netvision.net.il!194.90.1.15.MISMATCH!news!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47909 gnohmon8715@my-deja.com writes: > [...] > Now, I know that somebody is going to reply that if you point the mouse at a > mickeysloth toolbar and hold it there for awhile, a bit of text will appear > to explain the incomprehensible little picture; > [...] Please use the correct technical term for those "incomprehensible little pictures" you have all over your screen -- hieroglyphs. -- Ariel Scolnicov ###### From: Dan Strychalski Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 13 Jan 2000 11:27:49 GMT Organization: In progress Lines: 29 Message-ID: <85kcrl$r91$1@news.seed.net.tw> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 192.72.104.4 Originator: dski@ Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!news-FFM2.ecrc.net!europa.netcrusader.net!205.252.116.205!howland.erols.net!spring.edu.tw!nsysu-news!ctu-gate!news.nctu.edu.tw!feeder.seed.net.tw!news.seed.net.tw!!dski Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47891 Ariel Scolnicov ha scritto -- > Please use the correct technical term for those "incomprehensible > little pictures" you have all over your screen -- hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs appear to be a more advanced form of writing than today's pictographic script, but the term seems fitting nevertheless. Another one I've heard seems also to have religious connotations, but after finding out what it really denotes I've decided it can only be spelled eye-cons -- the "con" being derived, of course, from "con man," "con game," etc. That said, I'm afraid many of us (myself included) have let late-twentieth-century commercial GUIs prejudice us against an idea that actually has some merit. There is no law that says all-graphical systems have to be as debilitating, as hostile to the development and exercise of valuable mental and physical skills, as many of us find those now offered. Thinking back to the early and mid eighties, I remember hearing a bit about GUIs, thinking they were a great idea, and then recoiling in horror when I saw what Apple and Miscrofot had done with that idea. Anyone else? Dan Strychalski dski at em ess seventeen dot hinet dot net This post was crafted and sent using only the finest platform-independent keystrokes. ###### From: "Benjamin Gawert" Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 12:32:19 +0100 Organization: 1&1 Telekommunikation GmbH Lines: 28 Message-ID: <85krdq$20m$1@news.online.de> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p3e9d14c8.dip0.t-ipconnect.de X-Trace: news.online.de 947777786 2070 62.157.20.200 (13 Jan 2000 15:36:26 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@online.de NNTP-Posting-Date: 13 Jan 2000 15:36:26 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.tli.de!news-fra.pop.de!schlund.de!news.online.de!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47884 schrieb in im Newsbeitrag: 85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com... > Now, I know that somebody is going to reply that if you point the mouse at a > mickeysloth toolbar and hold it there for awhile, a bit of text will appear > to explain the incomprehensible little picture; and somebody else will point > out that the Mac had this eighty years before the Mycroftians stole it -- but > since showing the incomprehensible little pictures in the first place is such > a user-hostile act, I say it doesn't count, so there. I think that WordStar was the best word processing software ever made. I used it on a Sanyo MBC-1250 CP/M System for a lot of years... Maybe a graphical desktop is easier for most people to handle, but I never understood why a Text Program required to take one hand from the keyboard to the mouse just for doing some text modifications. In Wordstar everything was only one keystroke away... BTW: Does anyone know where to get an old WordStar Version for DOS? Benjamin ###### From: "Benjamin Gawert" Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 12:32:19 +0100 Organization: 1&1 Telekommunikation GmbH Lines: 28 Message-ID: <85krdq$20m$1@news.online.de> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p3e9d14c8.dip0.t-ipconnect.de X-Trace: news.online.de 947777786 2070 62.157.20.200 (13 Jan 2000 15:36:26 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@online.de NNTP-Posting-Date: 13 Jan 2000 15:36:26 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.tli.de!news-fra.pop.de!schlund.de!news.online.de!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47884 schrieb in im Newsbeitrag: 85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com... > Now, I know that somebody is going to reply that if you point the mouse at a > mickeysloth toolbar and hold it there for awhile, a bit of text will appear > to explain the incomprehensible little picture; and somebody else will point > out that the Mac had this eighty years before the Mycroftians stole it -- but > since showing the incomprehensible little pictures in the first place is such > a user-hostile act, I say it doesn't count, so there. I think that WordStar was the best word processing software ever made. I used it on a Sanyo MBC-1250 CP/M System for a lot of years... Maybe a graphical desktop is easier for most people to handle, but I never understood why a Text Program required to take one hand from the keyboard to the mouse just for doing some text modifications. In Wordstar everything was only one keystroke away... BTW: Does anyone know where to get an old WordStar Version for DOS? Benjamin ###### Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <85jfoe$mac$1@news.seed.net.tw> Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY From: aje9383@osfmail.isc.rit.edu (Andrew Erickson) NNTP-Posting-Host: grace.isc.rit.edu X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: grace.isc.rit.edu Message-ID: <387ddd0d@news.isc.rit.edu> Date: 13 Jan 2000 09:11:25 -0500 X-Trace: 13 Jan 2000 09:11:25 -0500, grace.isc.rit.edu Lines: 39 XPident: Unknown X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.21.4.100 XPident: Unknown Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!enews.sgi.com!paloalto-snf1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!newsfeed.stanford.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.kodak.com!news-nysernet-16.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!news.isc.rit.edu!aje9383 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47879 In article <85jfoe$mac$1@news.seed.net.tw>, Dan Strychalski wrote: > From gnohmon8715@my-deja.com came the words -- >> Instead, I've always admired the way that (at help level 2), you could type >> a prefix key (^K, for example), and then, if you knew what you wanted you >> could type it with no delay but if you waited a while a menu would appear! >> >> This was wonderful. It gave you the best of both worlds. I have never seen >> any other program that did anything half so user-friendly as that. > >Indeed, and that too is worth thinking about. Dynamic as-you-work >on-screen help -- what could be more logical? Why should it disappear? > >Why did we go backward in so many ways? And let's not forget file size limited by disk space (not RAM), and the ability to print in the background, and...a host of other nicities that did not re-appear for several generations of Word Processors to come. And even usable, to boot, with a slow (virtual) terminal; as I remember it, my TRS-80 model 4p (their sewing-machine sized portable) felt about as fast at screen redraws as a 4800 or maybe 9600 baud terminal. ObThreadDrift: Not only did the model 4p have the same dimensions as a sewing machine, it weighed at least as much, too. This was, of course, a result of being entirely overbuilt; I think somewhere around thirteen or sixteen screws held the floppy drive support on to the main chassis. I determined, when I saw it, that there was very little chance of rough handling during porting causing great dammage. Unfortuneately, it is rather lousy as a laptop, as one must be within a cord's length of an electrical outlet. One's legs get a bit sore after a bit, as well.... -- Andrew Erickson ###### From: dpeschel@u.washington.edu (Derek Peschel) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 13 Jan 2000 14:22:52 GMT Organization: University of Washington, Seattle Lines: 17 Message-ID: <85kn3s$m4c$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: saul7.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp1.u.washington.edu 947773372 22668 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: dpeschel Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!isdnet!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!dpeschel Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47917 In article <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, wrote: >Now, I know that somebody is going to reply that if you point the mouse at a >mickeysloth toolbar and hold it there for awhile, a bit of text will appear >to explain the incomprehensible little picture; and somebody else will point I forgot to put in a plug for _Mr. Bunny's Guide to ActiveX_ which is a strange but amusing little book that skewers ActiveX, OLE, Visual BASIC, and Windows in general. One table explains VB's toolbar buttons; the explanations make perfect sense if you only look at the pictures on the buttons. Like this: play button shark-infested waters pause button toaster (top view) stop button mouse pad -- Derek ###### Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!not-for-mail From: Neil Franklin Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 13 Jan 2000 23:17:13 +0100 Organization: My own Private Self Lines: 54 Message-ID: <6uemblaa6u.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <85kc rl$r91$1@news.seed.net.tw> NNTP-Posting-Host: chonsp.franklin.ch X-Trace: chonsp.franklin.ch 947801833 696 10.0.3.2 (13 Jan 2000 22:17:13 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@chonsp.franklin.ch NNTP-Posting-Date: 13 Jan 2000 22:17:13 GMT X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47931 Dan Strychalski writes: > > Thinking back to the early and mid eighties, I remember hearing > a bit about GUIs, thinking they were a great idea, and then > recoiling in horror when I saw what Apple and Miscrofot had done > with that idea. > > Anyone else? I suppose for me that depends on how one defines GUI. What is in that term for you? Using the old WIMP acronym: Windows: a totally great idea. Splitting in screen into multiple windows is in the same leage as splitting disks into files, communications lines into packet networks, processors into tasks. Windows have put an end to the old "print out and then scribble until new print is needed" style of working. The paperless office arrived here for me. Icons: my ancestors left hieroglyphs behind long ago. I stopped reading comics long ago. I don't want silly pictures. 'Nuff said. Mouse: for some things the intuitive way (I got one for my PC in 1989 a few months after seeing a Mac for the first time), for other things a total nonsense. Give me both as choice. Pulldown-Menues: I like online help - if it is at request and else out of the way. I absolutely hate waisting my expensively paid (21") screen space on having menues permanently visible. I prefer popup menues (3rd mouse button). Additionally: Widgets, Scrollbars: see Pulldown-Menues, also see Icons: total shit. Dialogs: I prefer a Emacs like minibuffer, as it does not get in the way of my data (as say the Nutscape Find box). Desktops: that is what my monitor and keyboard stand on. Screen backgrounds should be unbroken background colour. I want to see my data (text green on black, yellow for highlight), not be distracted by flashy nonsense (window frames are darkish with white text, = neutral colours). Also see Icons. Of course to get to my ideal I need an customisable environment. That is called X in my case. -- Neil Franklin, neil@franklin.ch.remove http://neil.franklin.ch/ ###### From: Scott Wheeler Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2000 12:34:58 +0000 Message-ID: References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: bmtech.demon.co.uk X-NNTP-Posting-Host: bmtech.demon.co.uk:158.152.102.124 X-Trace: news.demon.co.uk 947853151 nnrp-02:17544 NO-IDENT bmtech.demon.co.uk:158.152.102.124 X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.6/32.525 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 14 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!colt.net!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.icl.net!dispose.news.demon.net!demon!news.demon.co.uk!demon!bmtech.demon.co.uk!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48007 On Wed, 12 Jan 2000 11:30:05 -0800, Jim Stewart wrote: > The other thing that >truly set WS apart was that in an age of crufty text editors, WS *never* >corrupted or erased your file. Not sure about that. I remember a utility that was designed to recover the text from memory of a CP/M machine if WS had fallen over, but I don't remember why it was necessary. Scott -- (please de-mung address if replying by email) ###### From: mwandel@nortel.ca (Markus Wandel) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 14 Jan 2000 18:27:27 GMT Organization: Nortel Lines: 10 Message-ID: <85npqf$1kl$1@bcarh8ab.ca.nortel.com> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <85in88$18s2$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: wcars0mc.ca.nortel.com Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!howland.erols.net!torn!qcarh002.nortelnetworks.com!bcarh189.ca.nortel.com!zcarh46f.bnr.ca!bcarh8ac.ca.nortel.com!bcarh8ab.ca.nortel.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48004 In article <85in88$18s2$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu>, Derek Peschel wrote: >ruler, and that would make the history more complicated. Then MacWrite >might have a legitimate claim to being first. But I'm sure that the _tips_ >were created on Windows. Do the "tooltips" truly predate the "balloon help" feature of MacOS? Markus ###### From: dpeschel@u.washington.edu (Derek Peschel) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 14 Jan 2000 19:15:40 GMT Organization: University of Washington, Seattle Lines: 24 Message-ID: <85nsks$11s8$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <85in88$18s2$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu> <85npqf$1kl$1@bcarh8ab.ca.nortel.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: saul9.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp1.u.washington.edu 947877340 34696 (None) 140.142.17.40 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: dpeschel Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!isdnet!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!dpeschel Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48011 In article <85npqf$1kl$1@bcarh8ab.ca.nortel.com>, Markus Wandel wrote: >In article <85in88$18s2$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu>, >Derek Peschel wrote: >>ruler, and that would make the history more complicated. Then MacWrite >>might have a legitimate claim to being first. But I'm sure that the _tips_ >>were created on Windows. > >Do the "tooltips" truly predate the "balloon help" feature of MacOS? Good question! I hadn't considered balloon help. Balloon help might just be an inspiration for tooltips (or vice versa). Tooltips originally only worked with toolbar icons, right? (They've been spreading to other icons, window titles in the taskbar, etc.) Balloon help works with the entire screen and gives a full description of the item rather than just its name. I wouldn't be surprised if a MS application (Word?) used tooltips first and they spread into the OS at large. -- Derek ###### From: gnohmon8715@my-deja.com Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2000 20:28:21 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. Lines: 18 Message-ID: <85o0si$ebd$1@nnrp1.deja.com> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <85in88$18s2$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu> <85npqf$1kl$1@bcarh8ab.ca.nortel.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 169.71.1.249 X-Article-Creation-Date: Fri Jan 14 20:28:21 2000 GMT X-Http-User-Agent: Lynx/2.7.1 libwww-FM/2.14 X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x21.deja.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 169.71.1.249 X-MyDeja-Info: XMYDJUIDgnohmon8715 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newscore.univie.ac.at!194.25.134.126.MISMATCH!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!fu-berlin.de!newspeer.monmouth.com!nntp2.deja.com!nnrp1.deja.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:47950 In article <85npqf$1kl$1@bcarh8ab.ca.nortel.com>, mwandel@nortel.ca (Markus Wandel) wrote: > In article <85in88$18s2$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu>, > Derek Peschel wrote: > > >ruler, and that would make the history more complicated. Then MacWrite > >might have a legitimate claim to being first. But I'm sure that the _tips_ > >were created on Windows. > > Do the "tooltips" truly predate the "balloon help" feature of MacOS? I'm a prophet, see? Send money to my email addy and I'll give you a prophesy. Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy. ###### Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!not-for-mail From: Neil Franklin Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 15 Jan 2000 00:04:40 +0100 Organization: My own Private Self Lines: 25 Message-ID: <6uya9stfuf.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: chonsp.franklin.ch X-Trace: chonsp.franklin.ch 947891080 463 10.0.3.2 (14 Jan 2000 23:04:40 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@chonsp.franklin.ch NNTP-Posting-Date: 14 Jan 2000 23:04:40 GMT X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48026 Scott Wheeler writes: > On Wed, 12 Jan 2000 11:30:05 -0800, Jim Stewart > wrote: > > > The other thing that > >truly set WS apart was that in an age of crufty text editors, WS *never* > >corrupted or erased your file. > > Not sure about that. I remember a utility that was designed to recover > the text from memory of a CP/M machine if WS had fallen over, but I > don't remember why it was necessary. Erm. You are confusing two things: a: WS not destroying _files_ as in: Word just wrecked the lusers xyz.doc, so that it can not be opened or printed any more. b: WS crashing and losing the text edits in progress, which in no Windows program are recoverable from RAM (but my be getable from log replay, insofar as that does not crash you again or produce a: ). -- Neil Franklin, neil@franklin.ch.remove http://neil.franklin.ch/ ###### From: hawk@hawkins.cba.uni.edu Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 14 Jan 2000 16:09:36 -0600 Organization: House of Hawkins Lines: 35 Message-ID: <85o6r0$nq9$1@hawkins.cba.uni.edu> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: hawkins.cba.uni.edu Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.physics.uiowa.edu!news.uni.edu!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48060 gnohmon8715@my-deja.com writes: > Instead, I've always admired the way that (at help level 2), you could type a > prefix key (^K, for example), and then, if you knew what you wanted you could > type it with no delay but if you waited a while a menu would appear! > This was wonderful. It gave you the best of both worlds. I have never seen > any other program that did anything half so user-friendly as that. I liked the combination :) The interface was consistant enough that I foundmyself using key combinations and commands that I never heard before simply because they were logical--and then realized what I'd done. Some versions of Word were like this. It seems to me that 4 did this very well, 5.1 to a lesser extent, and it's been so long since I've used 1 or 3 . . . And then there's word 6+, which leads to: LyX. Which handles equations far better than Word (which used to have typesetting commands). On multi-key functions, after a moment it displays possible completions in the bottom. And when you use a menu selection with the rodent, it shows the key-shortcuts (if any) at the bottom in the message line. Lyx is very good at letting you leaveyour hands on the keyboard. The couple of times it wouldn't (index entires) I fixed it. I don't think there's anything anymore that forces me to mouse around; certainly not anything I use regularly--or I'd have sent in a patch :) -- Prof. Richard E. Hawkins, Esq. hawk@hawkins.cba.uni.edu (319) 266-7114 http://eyry.econ.iastate.edu/hawk These opinions will not be those of UNI until it pays my retainer. ###### Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar From: dugtaylor@flashmail.com (Douglas Taylor) Message-ID: <1e4ey5w.atbpfiy7mlvcN@ppp2552.on.bellglobal.com> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <85in88$18s2$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu> <85npqf$1kl$1@bcarh8ab.ca.nortel.com> Organization: Department of Redundancy Department X-Face: &Yq:48^un2BRIr~6<_:iXVI\cqLY"Klhd072%PfzXP#y~t:JUM"\+CEq;0+\v |o$2\[bew94bLZk(+'x{e31}frl?=pJ5nSy8[2Sua)PWGATvi86ggu:psyu+20TZv9Ic @.uJnmp>0l-p9AWElB=yz)g#lPPP)O;)(''#1!hNy3iCis!=%zHFT1iy X-Newsreader: MacSOUP 2.3.3 Lines: 18 Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000 01:00:57 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 206.172.251.56 X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 947898057 206.172.251.56 (Fri, 14 Jan 2000 20:00:57 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2000 20:00:57 EDT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!news1.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48034 Markus Wandel wrote: > In article <85in88$18s2$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu>, > Derek Peschel wrote: > > >ruler, and that would make the history more complicated. Then MacWrite > >might have a legitimate claim to being first. But I'm sure that the _tips_ > >were created on Windows. > > Do the "tooltips" truly predate the "balloon help" feature of MacOS? > > Markus Balloon Help was first featured in System 7, which released sometime in 1990. Or was it early '91? -- Remove "spamstopper" from my e-mail if you want to reply privately. ###### From: Dan Strychalski Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 15 Jan 2000 05:43:04 GMT Organization: Cameo Communications, Inc. Lines: 16 Message-ID: <85p1d8$mor$1@news.seed.net.tw> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 192.72.104.4 Originator: dski@ Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!News.Math.NCTU.edu.tw!ctu-peer!ctu-gate!news.nctu.edu.tw!feeder.seed.net.tw!news.seed.net.tw!!dski Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48049 Quoting Jim Stewart and responding, Scott Wheeler posted -- >> The other thing that truly set WS apart was that in an age of crufty >> text editors, WS *never* corrupted or erased your file. > > Not sure about that. I remember a utility that was designed to recover > the text from memory of a CP/M machine if WS had fallen over, but I > don't remember why it was necessary. 'Cuz regardless of whether or not WordStar fell over, people sometimes fell over and left themselves with nothing to show for their efforts but charges residing in dynamic RAM.... I had no recovery utility, but DDT could do the trick. I remember doing it once for myself and once for a cow-orker. Dan Strychalski ###### From: phil@ricochet.net Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000 09:42:20 GMT Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Lines: 22 Message-ID: <38803f3a.18248269@news.ricochet.net> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.11/32.235 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!bignews.mediaways.net!diablo.theplanet.net!remarQ-uK!rQdQ!supernews.com!remarQ.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48061 On Fri, 14 Jan 2000 12:34:58 +0000, Scott Wheeler wrote: >On Wed, 12 Jan 2000 11:30:05 -0800, Jim Stewart >wrote: > >> The other thing that >>truly set WS apart was that in an age of crufty text editors, WS *never* >>corrupted or erased your file. > >Not sure about that. I remember a utility that was designed to recover >the text from memory of a CP/M machine if WS had fallen over, but I >don't remember why it was necessary. QED eh? phil. -- The world is divided into two sorts of people: Those that believe the world is divided into two sorts of people and those that don't. ###### From: hawk@hawkins.cba.uni.edu Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 15 Jan 2000 14:37:41 -0600 Organization: House of Hawkins Lines: 19 Message-ID: <85qlql$3pb$1@hawkins.cba.uni.edu> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <85in88$18s2$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu> <85npqf$1kl$1@bcarh8ab.ca.nortel.com> <1e4ey5w.atbpfiy7mlvcN@ppp2552.on.bellglobal.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: hawkins.cba.uni.edu Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.physics.uiowa.edu!news.uni.edu!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48115 In article <1e4ey5w.atbpfiy7mlvcN@ppp2552.on.bellglobal.com>, Douglas Taylor wrote: >Balloon Help was first featured in System 7, which released sometime in >1990. Or was it early '91? I think my alpha release came in 1989, but I have no idea which box it's in in my garage . . . btw, the alpha release was more stable than any windows version I've ever had to deal with . . . -- Prof. Richard E. Hawkins, Esq. hawk@hawkins.cba.uni.edu (319) 266-7114 http://eyry.econ.iastate.edu/hawk These opinions will not be those of UNI until it pays my retainer. ###### Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <85in88$18s2$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu> <85npqf$1kl$1@bcarh8ab.ca.nortel.com> Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY From: aje9383@osfmail.isc.rit.edu (Andrew Erickson) NNTP-Posting-Host: grace.isc.rit.edu X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: grace.isc.rit.edu Message-ID: <3880fc41@news.isc.rit.edu> Date: 15 Jan 2000 18:01:21 -0500 X-Trace: 15 Jan 2000 18:01:21 -0500, grace.isc.rit.edu Lines: 33 XPident: aje9383 X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.21.4.100 XPident: Unknown Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.nyu.edu!news-nysernet-16.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!news.isc.rit.edu!aje9383 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48095 In article <85npqf$1kl$1@bcarh8ab.ca.nortel.com>, Markus Wandel wrote: >In article <85in88$18s2$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu>, >Derek Peschel wrote: > >>ruler, and that would make the history more complicated. Then MacWrite >>might have a legitimate claim to being first. But I'm sure that the _tips_ >>were created on Windows. > >Do the "tooltips" truly predate the "balloon help" feature of MacOS? I think so--balloon help came out with System 7, which was not all that long ago (1990? or so?). Besides, balloon help, as implemented by Apple, does not really deserve the title of "help." As reimplemented by the author of Helium, it does perhaps serve some purpose--but having an all-or-nothing approach was a very stupid design decision. People figure out inactive windows, title bars, and the like much more quickly than, say, what the Commit Farlony menu item under the Retrospect menu does. (Helium, for the uninitiated, caused balloons to pop up only while some key combination was pressed, typically the "help" key. Apple did it by a menu selection--either turned it on or off--and balloons followed the cursor everywhere forever. It was particularly painful with old things which did not support help, as only the default ones could display--the close box, the title bar, the desktop, inactive windows, etc.) Every once in awhile, Microsoft *does* get something right. -- Andrew Erickson ###### From: "Charlie Gibbs" Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 16 Jan 00 22:19:17 -0800 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 11 Message-ID: <310.50T888T13393917@sky.bus.com> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <85in88$18s2$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu> <85npqf$1kl$1@bcarh8ab.ca.nortel.com> <3880fc41@news.isc.rit.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-414.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: THOR 2.5a (Amiga;TCP/IP) Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!pln-w!spln!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!news2 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48175 In article <3880fc41@news.isc.rit.edu> aje9383@osfmail.isc.rit.edu (Andrew Erickson) writes: >Every once in awhile, Microsoft *does* get something right. But they usually manage to correct that in the next release. -- cgibbs@sky.bus.com (Charlie Gibbs) Remove the first period after the "at" sign to reply. ###### Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers From: jeffb@world.std.com (Jeffrey T Berntsen) Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Message-ID: Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 03:28:48 GMT References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> Organization: The World @ Software Tool & Die Lines: 29 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!newsfeed.online.be!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!uunet!zur.uu.net!ffx.uu.net!world!jeffb Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48357 Scott Wheeler writes: >On Wed, 12 Jan 2000 11:30:05 -0800, Jim Stewart >wrote: >> The other thing that >>truly set WS apart was that in an age of crufty text editors, WS *never* >>corrupted or erased your file. >Not sure about that. I remember a utility that was designed to recover >the text from memory of a CP/M machine if WS had fallen over, but I >don't remember why it was necessary. Because WS was incapable of doing the sort of timed backups most current word processors do as a matter of course. If you had been working in WS for a long time but hadn't made periodic saves to disk then WS fell over or you exited but forgot to save your document, the _only_ way to get what you were working on was to fish it out of memory. WS would never corrupt or erase the original copy of the file though. In theory, it was also possible to piece together most of the document from WS's "spill" files, temporary files kept on disk during editing to hold the portions of the document not held in memory. I never found a utility that could do it though. I still have a copy of WS on my PC (the "book" version of WS 7.0, a text-only version without the GUI, very reminiscent of WS 3.3) and prefer it over more complex text-only editors for the PC like Brief or Multi-Edit. Jeff Berntsen jeffb@world.std.com ###### From: hawk@hawkins.cba.uni.edu Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 21 Jan 2000 17:00:43 -0600 Organization: House of Hawkins Lines: 21 Message-ID: <86aoer$744$1@hawkins.cba.uni.edu> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: hawkins.cba.uni.edu Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!enews.sgi.com!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.physics.uiowa.edu!news.uni.edu!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48503 In article , Jeffrey T Berntsen wrote: >Because WS was incapable of doing the sort of timed backups most current word >processors do as a matter of course. does word finally do that? If you had been working in WS for a long >time but hadn't made periodic saves to disk then WS fell over or you exited >but forgot to save your document, or managed to kick the plug out of the wall as you stretched . . . not that I ever did that :) -- Prof. Richard E. Hawkins, Esq. hawk@hawkins.cba.uni.edu (319) 266-7114 http://eyry.econ.iastate.edu/hawk These opinions will not be those of UNI until it pays my retainer. ###### From: dbryant@netcom.com (David K. Bryant) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 23 Jan 2000 20:32:38 GMT Organization: MindSpring Enterprises Lines: 12 Message-ID: <86foh6$8cs$1@nntp3.atl.mindspring.net> References: <85ie7BDBE3069BAD9F2@lp.airnews.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: c7.b7.09.6e X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.3 (NOV) Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.mindspring.net!newsfeed.mindspring.net!firehose.mindspring.com!dbryant Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48688 Jim Stewart writes: >The other thing that >truly set WS apart was that in an age of crufty text editors, WS *never* >corrupted or erased your file. This was saying alot in the early 80's. And it could handle a file of virtually unlimited size. I have used it to search & replace the dates on a report file of 32Mb. ###### From: Louis RAPHAEL Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers References: <85ie7BDBE3069BAD9F2@lp.airnews.net> <86foh6$8cs$1@nntp3.atl.mindspring.net> Organization: Societe pour la promotion du petoncle vert User-Agent: tin/pre-1.4-980818 ("Laura") (UNIX) (SunOS/5.6 (sun4m)) Lines: 22 Message-ID: Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 05:43:14 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 132.206.51.205 X-Complaints-To: abuse@mcgill.ca X-Trace: carnaval.risq.qc.ca 948692594 132.206.51.205 (Mon, 24 Jan 2000 00:43:14 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 00:43:14 EST Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!isdnet!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!carnaval.risq.qc.ca.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48668 David K. Bryant wrote: : Jim Stewart writes: :>The other thing that :>truly set WS apart was that in an age of crufty text editors, WS *never* :>corrupted or erased your file. This was saying alot in the early 80's. It's saying a lot more now... : And it could handle a file of virtually unlimited size. : I have used it to search & replace the dates on a report : file of 32Mb. 32 MB? I'd guess that not too many editors even nowadays would do that. I suppose that EMACS would, and probably ViM. I'm not sure that there's too many others I'd care to try it with... Louis -- "Colleges don't make fools, they only develop them" - George Horace Lorimer ###### From: Ariel Scolnicov Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: 24 Jan 2000 18:12:25 +0200 Organization: Compugen, Ltd. Lines: 26 Message-ID: References: <85ie7BDBE3069BAD9F2@lp.airnews.net> <86foh6$8cs$1@nntp3.atl.mindspring.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: bioserv.compugen.co.il Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: news.netvision.net.il 948730328 28489 194.90.227.153 (24 Jan 2000 16:12:08 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@netvision.net.il NNTP-Posting-Date: 24 Jan 2000 16:12:08 GMT User-Agent: Gnus/5.0802 (Gnus v5.8.2) XEmacs/20.4 (Emerald) Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!enews.sgi.com!paloalto-snf1.gtei.net!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!newsfeed.direct.ca!newsfeed.concentric.net!news-feeder.wcg.net!WCG!uunet!ffx.uu.net!news-feed.netvision.net.il!194.90.1.15.MISMATCH!news!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48658 Louis RAPHAEL writes: > David K. Bryant wrote: > : Jim Stewart writes: > > :>The other thing that > :>truly set WS apart was that in an age of crufty text editors, WS *never* > :>corrupted or erased your file. This was saying alot in the early 80's. > > It's saying a lot more now... > > : And it could handle a file of virtually unlimited size. > : I have used it to search & replace the dates on a report > : file of 32Mb. > > 32 MB? I'd guess that not too many editors even nowadays would do > that. I suppose that EMACS would, and probably ViM. I'm not sure that > there's too many others I'd care to try it with... Xemacs can. ViM can _definitely_ do it. I've used ViM successfully on files in the 100s of megabytes, and it tends to work (assuming sufficient disk space). Handling larger text files is a problem, though (usually solved by perl and/or sed). -- Ariel Scolnicov ###### From: simotit@evitech.fi (Simo Tuominen) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 06:10:16 GMT Organization: Not likely. Lines: 11 Message-ID: <3892ce6f.49291312@news.edu.sollentuna.se> References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <86aoer$744$1@hawkins.cba.uni.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: aqua00.edu2.evitech.fi X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.11/32.235 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newsfeed-zh.ip-plus.net!news.ip-plus.net!News.Amsterdam.UnisourceCS!skynet.be!news.algonet.se!algonet!news-peer-europe.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.bahnhof.se!news.defero.net!news.bbnetworks.net!learnet.freenet.hut.fi!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:49238 On 21 Jan 2000 17:00:43 -0600, hawk@hawkins.cba.uni.edu wrote: >In article , >Jeffrey T Berntsen wrote: > >>Because WS was incapable of doing the sort of timed backups most current word >>processors do as a matter of course. > >does word finally do that? Has done since *at least* Word95. ###### From: David M. Razler Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Reply-To: david.razler@worldnet.att.net Message-ID: References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <86aoer$744$1@hawkins.cba.uni.edu> <3892ce6f.49291312@news.edu.sollentuna.se> X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.7/32.534 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 26 Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2000 01:03:18 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 12.79.64.36 X-Complaints-To: abuse@worldnet.att.net X-Trace: bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net 949366998 12.79.64.36 (Tue, 01 Feb 2000 01:03:18 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2000 01:03:18 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newsfeed-zh.ip-plus.net!news.ip-plus.net!News.Amsterdam.UnisourceCS!skynet.be!newsfeed.cwix.com!cyclone-east.rr.com!news.rr.com!news-east.rr.com!portc05.blue.aol.com!wn4feed!worldnet.att.net!wnmaster1!bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:49281 simotit@evitech.fi (Simo Tuominen) wrote: | On 21 Jan 2000 17:00:43 -0600, hawk@hawkins.cba.uni.edu wrote: | | >In article , | >Jeffrey T Berntsen wrote: | > | >>Because WS was incapable of doing the sort of timed backups most current word | >>processors do as a matter of course. | > | >does word finally do that? | | Has done since *at least* Word95. even earlier, try the first Word for Windows. Anyway, as someone who used WS through the Last DOS Version, I can tell you the best things about WS were: speed, all the features needed for preparing plain text, letters and material for publication (as opposed to documents and publications) and lack of copy protection - indeed a willingness to say if you use it at work, take it home. dmr David M. Razler david.razler@worldnet.att.net ###### From: "Danny Hayes" Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers References: <85iev6$au9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <86aoer$744$1@hawkins.cba.uni.edu> <3892ce6f.49291312@news.edu.sollentuna.se> Subject: Re: The Best thing about Wordstar Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 02:36:10 +1100 Lines: 52 Organization: SMORT INC. X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 NNTP-Posting-Host: 203.101.112.13 Message-ID: <38984f72@pink.one.net.au> X-Trace: 3 Feb 2000 02:38:26 +1000, 203.101.112.13 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!enews.sgi.com!nntp.primenet.com!nntp.gctr.net!hermes.visi.com!news-out.visi.com!uunet!ffx.uu.net!lax.uu.net!pink.one.net.au!203.101.112.13 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:48916 GOD... HAVENT USED WS SINCE C.P.M 3.3 ON A Z80 BASED BONDWELL 14.... BRINGS BACK FOND MEMORIES. -- ICQ DANTAN UIN 12024426 "NO SPAM, JUNK MAIL OR MLM CRAP.. REMOVE THE 1 AFTER DANTAN FOR REPLY MAIL EMAIL: dantan1@telstra.com ICQ ACTIVE List TASMANIA TALKING #52723669 AOL instant pager name: - smortaus http://www.icq.com/12024426 pager http://sites.netscape.net/smortaus/homepage http://web.one.net.au/~dantan/ **************************************************************************** ******* David M. Razler wrote in message news:aqbc9so09v5mqn2d80le921na299ssdii5@4ax.com... > simotit@evitech.fi (Simo Tuominen) wrote: > > | On 21 Jan 2000 17:00:43 -0600, hawk@hawkins.cba.uni.edu wrote: > | > | >In article , > | >Jeffrey T Berntsen wrote: > | > > | >>Because WS was incapable of doing the sort of timed backups most current word > | >>processors do as a matter of course. > | > > | >does word finally do that? > | > | Has done since *at least* Word95. > > even earlier, try the first Word for Windows. > > Anyway, as someone who used WS through the Last DOS Version, I can tell you > the best things about WS were: speed, all the features needed for preparing > plain text, letters and material for publication (as opposed to documents and > publications) and lack of copy protection - indeed a willingness to say if you > use it at work, take it home. > > dmr > > David M. Razler > david.razler@worldnet.att.net