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Intel and More Inside (O'ReillyNet)

Intel and More Inside (O'ReillyNet)

Posted Jan 13, 2006 0:06 UTC (Fri) by dr_lha (guest, #86)
In reply to: Intel and More Inside (O'ReillyNet) by JoeBuck
Parent article: Intel and More Inside (O'ReillyNet)

No particular reason why you'd need to install Linux on these new Intel Macs to run Wine on them.


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Intel and More Inside (O'ReillyNet)

Posted Jan 13, 2006 0:33 UTC (Fri) by bk (guest, #25617) [Link]

...if you don't care about flexibility or freedom.

Intel and More Inside (O'ReillyNet)

Posted Jan 13, 2006 0:55 UTC (Fri) by elanthis (subscriber, #6227) [Link]

... to run your proprietary applications you refuse to let go of.

Intel and More Inside (O'ReillyNet)

Posted Jan 13, 2006 1:41 UTC (Fri) by smitty_one_each (subscriber, #28989) [Link]

...since you are forced by mandate from the US Government to run certain 'Doze-only (cr)applications from time to time.

Intel and More Inside (O'ReillyNet)

Posted Jan 13, 2006 9:06 UTC (Fri) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link]

What about my freedom to choose the app that best solves my problem?

Like, for a word processor that is actually USABLE I choose WordPerfect (though, in trying to become Word-like, it has become far *less* usable. OOo writer is equally unusable because it is Word-like, though I have yet to try v2).

Cheers,
Wol

Intel and More Inside (O'ReillyNet)

Posted Jan 13, 2006 10:52 UTC (Fri) by vblum (guest, #1151) [Link]

Agreed. Unfortunately, Keynote is far superior to OOo at the last stage I tried (1.1.x). Superior to MS ppt als, I might add. Sadly, viewers of a presentation tend to care about the presentation ... not the inherent beauty in the underlying presenter software. Here's hoping (praying?) that OOo presenter will be stronger one day, and that Apple may switch to ODF formats one day.

Details Please?

Posted Jan 13, 2006 18:31 UTC (Fri) by GreyWizard (subscriber, #1026) [Link]

While existing free software does a reasonable job with any word processing task I can image, I'm prepared to believe that WordPerfect is the only reasonable choice for power users in this domain. But naked assertion is not enough. Can you be specific about what's missing? Otherwise it's tempting to conclude that by "usable" you mean "conforms to arbitrary expectations I've accumulated over years of using WordPerfect."

Details Please?

Posted Jan 14, 2006 0:14 UTC (Sat) by bk (guest, #25617) [Link]

If OO.o is so awful, I find it hard to believe that (X)Emacs can't be massaged to solve whatever usability problems you're having.

Wrong Number?

Posted Jan 14, 2006 0:32 UTC (Sat) by GreyWizard (subscriber, #1026) [Link]

I believe you intended to attach this to some other post. Perhaps the sibling by vblum?

Wrong Number?

Posted Jan 14, 2006 1:45 UTC (Sat) by bk (guest, #25617) [Link]

Yes, my apologies, this should have been in reply to vblum.

Details Please?

Posted Jan 16, 2006 9:06 UTC (Mon) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link]

Otherwise it's tempting to conclude that by "usable" you mean "conforms to arbitrary expectations I've accumulated over years of using WordPerfect."

Somebody else put it very well for me. WordPerfect is "stream based" (like TeX). You type in your text, telling it what sort of formatting you want "as you go". Word and that ilk are frame/object based - you type in your text, and then you go back and format bits of it. For example, I've been told that if you delete a paragraph mark in Word, it deletes ALL the formatting in that paragraph! To my mind, very weird!

But to address your comment in particular that I've quoted, no it does not conform to the arbitrary expectations I've accumulated over years of using WordPerfect. What it DID do when I first started using it was "conform to the arbitrary expectations I'd accumulated over years of using word processors"! My favourite word processor was PrimeWord (aka WordMarc Composer). I also had access to Wordcraft. I knew both of them in depth (ie I provided in-house technical support for them to a motley crew of secretaries). And then WordPerfect came on the scene and just blew me away with how good it was!

In short, I *started* using WordPerfect because it was good enough to grab my attention and win against a previously entrenched favourite. If that isn't a glowing reference, I don't know what is!

Cheers,
Wol

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