About This Particular Macintosh 6.04 - eDisk

Columns: What I Really ThinkAbout ThisOpinionThe PersonalComputing ParadigmBY MICHAEL TSAImtsai@atpm.comWhat I Really ThinkIt’s now April 2000. ATPM has entered its sixth year of publication, and I’ve entered my fifthyear of writing for this e-zine. I’ve written about the IIGS, the Newton, and plenty of Macs inbetween. I’ve weighed in on what Spindler, Amelio and Jobs should do, and criticizedMicrosoft more than a few times. But mostly I’ve talked about software products: what theydo, how they work, and how we interact with them. Software is at the heart of Macintosh life,for why bother with these non-standard machines if they are not more pleasant to own anduse? As I was preparing to write this column, though, I realized that I’ve been too reserved inmy criticisms and suggestions as far as software is concerned. It’s time I let loose and toldyou what I really think—writing at the speed of thought 1 if you will. What follows are somethoughts on products that I use often.Nisus WriterFrom a user’s perspective, at least, not much has been happening on the Nisus Writer front.People have requested a bevy of features, from integrated table and outline editors to zoomingand sections. Surely if Nisus added a few features that users of competing word processorstake for granted, they would take the consumer and business markets by storm; on theother hand, looking at the entrenchments of Microsoft Word and AppleWorks, maybe not.So how did these two competitors sew up their respective markets? Both AppleWorks andWord have their own languages. You can control Word with Visual Basic, and AppleWorks 6is apparently more AppleScriptable than previous versions. Visual Basic can also control therest of the Office suite, and AppleScript can control just about everything on your Mac,1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446675962/ATPM 6.04 ← 18 →Columns: What I Really Think