The heck was the help key, then?
Unless MS has greatly improved Works in the last couple of years, it does not come with Word. The text editor in Works is a little tinker-toy bit of code that is totally incompatible with wnything else in the world.
You’re both right - Works Suite 2001 comes with Word instead of the other word processor. But every version of Works before that came with the other word processor. I have no idea whether this is a permanent change (mho: I hope so) or just a one-time special.
No, no, no, it’s Core-El. Like it’s Kryptonian. Corel. Core-El.
–Tim
I just bought Windows ME for home and it doesn’t come with Word. It has Microsoft Works, but that doesn’t include Word.
I work for an agency of the US gvmt and used WP for years. This year we switched over to Word. I guess that’s the way the world turns. Just like VCRs. Beta and VHS, and Beta was the betta way. But everyone uses VHS now. I preferred WP. Not only for the Reveal Codes, but there are other features I find easier. Yes it is more user-friendly for us computer morons.
Another person who misses WP–the reason I (a Ph.D student) used WP at the beginning of my thesis is that footnotes were just so much easier to use than in Microsoft Word…Word has a known bug with footnotes that Bill Gate$’$ minions refuse to fix or acknowledge. (To those of you who haven’t seen it–it only really comes into play if you’ve got about 200 footnotes in one document, which two of my chapters have.) Unfortunately, my new laptop came loaded with Word, and I didn’t have the money to buy WP in the UK. So I now grudgingly use Word. Sigh.
In the 1E6 Microsoft Office installs I’ve done, using ‘custom’ to save space, I’ve seen “Help for Wordperfect Users”. Is this useful for any of you Word Perfect Huggers, er, aficionados, or is it simply another World Domination ploy by Bill Gates?
“Help for WordPerfect users” – HA!! :rolleyes:
The problem with Word is that it helpfully assumes its users are a bunch of nimrods. “You used the numeral one – you must want a numbered list! I’ll just turn on my numbering function!” “You used the capital-letter “I” – you must be doing an outline! I’ll just turn on my outline function!” God help you if you’re NOT doing a list or an outline, or if you are but just want to (gasp!) format it differently than Word thinks it ought to be formatted.
In WordPerfect, if you’re overly helpful machine does this, you can just hit “reveal codes,” move your cursor to where the computer has inserted unwanted formatting, and delete all that garbage out. YOU CAN’T DO THAT WITH WORD. In Word, you likely will have to delete everything you’ve written since the computer attempted to assist you because without “reveal codes” you will not be able to figure out how to delete the formatting and keep the text.
Word’s “Help for WordPerfect” only addresses how to add to Word the common shortcuts found in WordPerfect (like CTRL B for Bold, CTRL I for italics, etc.). It doesn’t fix the problem of the computer thinking it knows better than you do how your document ought to appear.
I hate Word.
Cheers for Jodi! You said it much better than I did.
Or, conversely, the first time it happens you can follow the directions from the pop-up help screen and turn off that function once and for all. Tools | AutoCorrect | Autoformat as You Type and remove the check marks next to Automatic bulleted lists and Automatic numbered list.
True… unlike WordPerfect you’ll have to highlight the text that’s been automatically formatted and (assuming you’re on a Wintel box) right click, select Bullets and Number from the list and remove the formatting with one click.
Just trying to be helpful.
I haven’t used WordPerfect in years (and it was v5.1, that gives you an idea how long it’s been) but I feel it’s far better than Word. Word pisses me off all the time with all it’s automatic features and formatting weirdness. WordPerfect showed you what it was doing, through the Reveal Codes function, not only did it help with editing it helped you understand how the program worked.
I had nightmares last night. I had “Reveal Codes” in Word, but had to make the changes in Visual Basic stuff like the SDMB. [ugly font] akfgalkgalkga [/ugly font]
Boy, talk about guilt!
The issue of whether the word processor in Works is actually Word has been addressed, so I won’t go into that. My point was that the arrangement is not “tying” which is illegal. There seemed to be an implication that Microsoft was doing something illegal, but they’re not.
My Grandfather worked as a lawyer out of his house in his later years, and he was a big fan of WordPerfect. My first experience with AT computers (i.e. post Commodore 64) came from his equipment, so I used word a lot when I was in high school. It was a great DOS program (i.e. wp 5.1) but my impression was that the jump to Windows and a WYSIWYG environment kind of deadened the program - they didn’t do a good job of converting the app into something that would attract new users. Of course, then I went to college and started using Word and I haven’t used or seen WP in YEARS. My guess as to the original post though, is that lawyers tend to be old farts (like my Grandpa) who got used to WP back in the DOS days and who were reluctant to change for the sake of changing.
<hijack> I just bought a new computer recently (PIII 1ghz) and was thinking about my Grandfather. He was pretty advanced in his computer literacy for someone his age (72 when he died in '95)… He died right about the time that email and WWW started coming along, and in fact he was contemplating buying service from an ISP just a couple of days before he had his heart attack. There’s no telling what he would be doing today. He was amazed at the speed of the 386 when it came out and I distinctly remember him being in awe at the prospects of a “586” or even a “686” chip (before Intel realized you couldn’t trademark a number, thus inventing the “Pentium” moniker). I was there when he bought his first “color” monitor. Man, he was proud. 
He was definitely the DOS king! </hijack>
Yeah, I’ve been using WordPerfect since DOS version 5.1. I’ve also been forced to learn Word 2000, since that’s what they use on the university computers and at my dad’s new office. I can tolerate Word, (barely). If forced to type a paper on it, I can do it, but don’t expect me to be happy about it. And don’t expect it to look nice.
It’s not the fact that MS Word likes to think it can outwit me in the formatting the documents. It’s when it does inexplicable, unexplainable, just plain weird things to your document. Formatting that would not die. Margins that shift for no discernable reason.
There was a thread somewhere on this board–I caught it a week back–about someone trying to center one page in a document. However it kept centering and uncentering all subsequent pages. I was laughing at his predicament. Of course the MS Gods saw to it I would have to suffer the same torture on my paper. As it happened, I had a cover page as the third page in the document. Word absolutely refused to automatically center the text on that page only. I ended up guestimating where the center of the page would be and using the RETURN key to get the text where it should be.
Actually, I found an explination of why Word acts in such a strange fashion. (Thanks to the folks at “Woody’s Office Watch”)As most of you hear may already know, WordPerfect formats its documents through the codes (most of them on/off) it places in the document. Microsoft Word sets each property through paragraphs (with the exception of specific character-dependent ‘codes’ like boldface and italics). These properties are stored in the paragraph breaks at the end of each paragraph. This is why each screwup affects at a minimum one paragraph, and in many cases will ruin the remander of the document. It also explains why it’s so difficult to change the margins of one line in a paragraph. It hasn’t help me stop MS Word from making formatting mutinies, but at least I know why it must revolt.
What? You guys aren’t using WordStar?
A Brontosaurus ate my copy.
Replying to the OP: Yes, my dad is a lawyer and he’s been using WP since the 5.1 days (my earliest memories… the days before Windows…). I like WP a lot better just because I’m used to it, but I also agree about the auto-formatting thing. One thing that bothers me about Word is that not only does it underline “spelling errors” in red, but it underlines “grammar errors” in green (God forbid you try to put two spaces between the state and ZIP code in an address, which is what you’re supposed to do…). And don’t even get me started on Works…my own personal hell… I almost cried the other day because I couldn’t find out how to double-space (In WP it’s so easy! right under Spacing!), also you can’t transfer documents between Works, Word, and WP, they get all garbled! 
Replying to the OP: Yes, my dad is a lawyer and he’s been using WP since the 5.1 days (my earliest memories… the days before Windows…). I like WP a lot better just because I’m used to it, but I also agree about the auto-formatting thing. One thing that bothers me about Word is that not only does it underline “spelling errors” in red, but it underlines “grammar errors” in green (God forbid you try to put two spaces between the state and ZIP code in an address, which is what you’re supposed to do…). And don’t even get me started on Works…my own personal hell… I almost cried the other day because I couldn’t find out how to double-space (In WP it’s so easy! right under Spacing!), also you can’t transfer documents between Works, Word, and WP, they get all garbled! Unfortunately the school computers have Word and I’m forced to use it… in one of my classes we used the auto-format for a resume…
When the gvt switched over to Word from WP, I had to transfer a lot of documents over to Word. It can be done. You have to go in WP and delete a lot of codes. Save it as a Word document. Once you save it in Word, you will see that it will still need alterations, but they can be made as long as you delete the code in WP that prevents you from doing so.