I dunno...

Everything related to our flagship word processor.
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greenmorpher
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Post by greenmorpher »

Suffice to say you have your POV, dshan, and I have mine. I find your statements on writers, software bloat and business simplistic and inaccurate. Before talking about "code bloat", I suggest you fish around on a DTP hard disk and compare app sizes. You might also consider the question of why the newest intel Mac with its Unix OS takes longer to boot up and launch NW than did a 68040 with an almost vanishing small proportion of the power, with OS 7 and NW Classic.

Let me add, though, that I agree with you on possible NWPro bloat -- I certainly don't want to see something like image/vector elements added to NWPro beyond the present because I agree with you that that is not WPing. I do want to see a couple of minor features added to augment the outliner capabilities of the program however, because outlining IS a valuable WP or perhaps better, writing tool for those working in many various categories or writing. The additions I suggest are slight changes in the use of capabilities which already exist in NWPro. Bloat? I think not.

I would hope Nisus would not be tempted into production of add-on graphics or DTP capabilities -- which are thick on the ground now using the OS X tools -- but rather, stick to their knitting and develop and market the best and most flexible word/text processors going around (NWEx and NWPro both have a place), with the sweetest interface for all kinds of writers.

As for graphics and DTP -- the world is awash with small apps of that nature building on the OS X tools. My preference would be that Nisus follows its present path and use Linkback to tie in strongly with other small enterprises which are in those fields -- possibly even working towards cooperative marketing.

Incidentally, speaking of connecting to other programs -- in addition to processes like Linkback, there is a need for NW's output to interface as seamlessly as possible with other programs, such as DTP programs. The discussion about RTF and InDesign is relevant here.

There is one WP element you haven't mentioned -- mail merge. Maybe that's an feature Nisus should be seeking to incorporate into NWPro, perhaps drawing on Address Book. Nobumi and Kino, over on the Dartmouth list, have bounced off each other to produce a script for email mail merge out of NWE/Pro, which I thought quite an achievement. But the fact that it can be scripted suggests it is not a hugely complex task when considered in the light of total programming.

Perhaps you would consider that bloat too. I wouldn't -- it is a business necessity. Incidentally, AppleWorks 5 was the king of the mountain as a merge machine. They rewrote that process for AW 6 and spoilt it.

Cheers, Geoff

Geoffrey Heard, Business Writer & Publisher

"Type & Layout: Are you communicating or just making pretty shapes" -- Revealed! The secrets of how you can use type and layout to turbocharge your messages in print. See the book at http://www.worsleypress.com
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