[DM-MUG] Meeting Reminder - October 26th

[John Kisner]

On Oct 17, 2006, at 1:00 PM, Matthew W. wrote:

> Why:
> Beyond Word: John Kisner
> Hobnob with us and talk Mac shop, and eat cookies!

I've begun to outline the presentation.  Ironically, I'm doing this  
on Keynote instead of a word processor.

I'll cover a range of products that, depending on how you look at it,  
either build on TextEdit (the utility that comes on the Mac), or that  
trim the bloat from MS Word.  Here is the current lineup (in vague  
order of "feature strength"):

TextEdit
Mariner Write
Nisus Writer Express
Pages
Mellel
AbiWord
MS Word
NeoOffice
RagTime Solo

The goal won't be to crown the "best" application, but to highlight  
the strengths of each.  Topics will include:

1. An increasingly important distinction is whether the programs take  
full advantage of the OSX technology.  For instance, I believe the  
"aqua" technology is what makes fonts look better on the screen in  
some of the programs.  I want my screen to look as good as the  
printed page.

2. There are two common forms of document exchange right now: PDF and  
MS Word files.  For actual collaboration, the ability to exchange  
files in a common format is crucial (often MS Word), but to simply  
pass along a finished document you can now use pretty much any  
software, however obscure.

3. Some of these programs are memory hogs.  We've come a long way  
since WriteNow, which came on a 400KB floppy.  This is mostly an  
issue for those using machines with 256 megs of ram (or less), but is  
also important if you routinely have 3-6 apps open at a time.

4. Most of us have occasional need to make invitations or flyers.   
Sometimes a document is more readable if the text is split into 2 or  
more columns.  We'll also see how they function as simple page layout  
software.

5. Cost is an important issue, as is frequency of upgrades (free and  
for a fee).

6. Etc.

By the way, AppleWorks no longer ships on the new Macs, and hasn't  
been updated in years.  Like it or not, that trusty old standby is  
running on borrowed time.  Come to next week's meeting to see the  
future of word processing on a Mac.
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