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Subject:Re: Does anyone still use WordPerfect? From:Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> To:thadley -at- ttacs -dot- ttu -dot- edu Date:Mon, 02 Oct 2000 11:40:29 -0700
thadley -at- ttacs -dot- ttu -dot- edu wrote:
>
> David,
>
> You are right: WP has *many* features that are better
> than MS Word, but it has, for the moment, at least,
> lost the war.
>
> Anyone know why? (Just curious.)
>
I suspect that it has more to do with marketing and corporate
affairs than the software. While Microsoft was rushing to put MS
Office on every machine possible, WordPerfect went from being its
own corporation to being owned by Novell to being owned by Corel.
Each time, a few months passed between the announcement that the
product was for sale and its actual purchase, and after each
purpose, I imagine, there would be a period of adjustment. That
did nothing for development, and even less for consumer
confidence. Probably, WordPerfect would have had trouble
competing against Microsoft's marketing in any case, but this
corporate history couldn't have helped, either.
On the software side, wordPerfect (I believe) is a code-based
word processor rather than a frame-based one, but, with modern
computing power, I don't think that that should matter much.
About the only drawback that WordPerfect has that I remember is
that its style definition isn't as well-organized as MS Word's.
Things might be looking up for WordPerfect, though. The recent
Microsoft monopoly case might mean that the marketing that put MS
Word ahead won't be happening in the future. In addition, with
the resignation of its Michael Cowpland, WordPerfect (like the
rest of Corel) may keep the same direction for longer than six
months at a time. And I noticed recently that some computers are
coming pre-loaded with Sun's StarOffice these days, so more
choice may be coming available. For all these reasons,
WordPerfect might regain some of its market share.
I don't use WordPerfect any more, even though it's available on
Linux now. However, I admit to a certain nostalgia. It was the
first word processor I learned, and it saw me through my thesis,
first book, and any number of scholarly publications before I
branched out.
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Contributing Editor, Maximum Linux
bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com | Tel: 604.421.7189
"There was nothing but fever and ghosts in the water,
How will I ever be simple again?"
-Richard Thompson, "Simple Again"
