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From: iltis@ucsbcsl.UUCP ( )
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Microsoft Word Quick Review (long)
Message-ID: <231@ucsbcsl.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 2-Feb-85 18:35:13 EST
Article-I.D.: ucsbcsl.231
Posted: Sat Feb  2 18:35:13 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 9-Feb-85 06:02:41 EST
Organization: U.C. Santa Barbara
Lines: 92

I just bought Microsoft Word and this is an initial review based on
a few hours work with it.

First, Copy Protection:

According to the manual, word is copy protected, so that each time you
start up a disk with a copy of word, you must reinsert the "master" disk
for verification.  A BACKUP of the master disk (from Microsoft) is
$10.00!!!!!! (Word retails for $195, so I think that this is something of
a slap in the face)

Response to Copy Protection:

Yes, it does seem possible to circumvent the copy protection, i.e. make
your own backup copy of the word master disk, so you don't have to go through
the rigamarole with verification.  Swapping disks drives me bonkers, so nothing
was going to stop me from backing up MY OWN master disk which I had PURCHASED.
I will not describe the backup mechanism here, for fear of Microsoft (which
happens to be on the net), but regular readers should be able to figure out
how to do it from previous postings.  I challenge anyone to claim that my
action of backing up MY OWN disk for my own use on a single machine
 is in any way illegal!!!

Of course, the possibility of a "worm" (as in Mac Pascal) always exists, so
that my attempt to copy the master disk may eventually come to naught.

Converting Macwrite Documents

I converted a VM Macwrite document without any problems, although the
process was somewhat lengthy (a few minutes for a 14 page document). I have
not tried converting a 2.2 Format document yet.

Printing
I tried printing in high resolution mode using the new Imagewriter 15
driver.  No problems, and speed is as fast as VM Macwrite.  

Criticism:  Unlike VM Macwrites, Word does not offer a "pause" feature.
You can only cancel printing with command "."

Disk Space Requirements:  Word is a very large program (about 124K). The
master disk shipped by Microsoft only has 29K free. After deleting all
unneeded printer drivers, the sample memo, and the help file, I had about
48K free on my resulting Word disk.  Thus it is not possible to keep
a copy of Macpaint and Word for example, on the same disk.  This is very
bad for those of us  who put lots of illustrations (again, the technical
writing problem) in our documents.  A hard disk may be a solution, but then
you will have to reinsert the word master disk when you first boot word
from the hard disk.


Changing fonts

Access to different fonts through the "Character" menu is somewhat clumsy.
Keyboard shortcuts are offered, although they are hard to remember.  Typing
command-shift-E - number changes the current font to one associated with number.  However
I am not sure how the numbering scheme works, since I replaced the Word
system file with my own containing Princeton and Omnibus fonts for Technical
w.p.  Documentation does not explain how to replace Microsoft supplied
fonts with your own!!! Absolutely no reference is made to Resource Mover or
Resource Editor.

Overall Impression: I would like to stress that this review is based on
a very cursory inspection of the program.  I am not impressed.  I think
that those of us against copy protection should let Microsoft
know of our dissatisfaction (Their registration card has a space for
comments).  MS-Word shares many of the same drawbacks as Macwrite with respect
to speed.  Even on my 512K dual-drive machine swapping is frequent during
operation (even when opening the character menu).  Conversion speed from
Macwrite documents is also slow.

Most of my writing is of a technical nature, so I often have to switch fonts.
Microsoft has evidently not thought about this much.  Maybe the situation
will improve when I figure out their font numbering scheme. (I think its
just the order that the fonts appear in the Character menu, but this isn't
documented)

MS-Word has one superb feature that I have noted so far:  It allows you to
simultaneously backup any file you save.  Thus the possibility of losing
files due to program bugs is greatly diminished as long as you save your
work frequently.  Macwrite has no easy way to make a backup (except using
save as)

To Microsoft: I would be happy to discuss my comments about Word and what
my word-processing requirements with respect to technical writing
are.  

To the net: I apologize for a review based on a few hours work, but since
so many people are apparently about to jump up and buy this program, I think
that this logging of initial impressions may be useful. 
-- 
Ronald A. Iltis
UCSB Dept. ECE