Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Email to Brian > Word-to-Manila

Author:Phil Wolff
Posted:4/25/2000; 10:55:52 AM
Topic:Email to Brian Behlendorf
Msg #:16670 (In response to 16624)
Prev/Next:16669 / 16671

The fact is, few people are actually able to see how bad Word and Excel really are, because few people know how much better it could be. Of course, a lot of people don´t need better software because they are managed by Dilbert´s boss and do stupid things all day anyways.

I've used more than 30 different word processing tools and worked for An Wang, the man who invented word processing as we know it. In one sense you are right: word processing never has reached its full potential as an authoring tool. On the other, it is now available around the world. It is a tool like pen and paper, nearly ubiquitous and increasingly homogenous. IMHO, Microsoft has done a darned good job at design and usability with Word, while making it open enough that power users (law firms, novelists, tech writers, engineers) can bend it to their particular needs.

Has Word exploded with amazing new capabilities in the last 5 years? No.

But wait.

Word is not only a standalone tool. Word is part of a suite of Office tools. In addition to its own textual authoring it lets you assemble content (dynamic or static, local or remote) from other document types.

And it is getting more Internet aware.

Don't you see the convergence between Word and FrontPage?

Don't you envision Microsoft enPiking Word so you can have a rich authoring tool that seamlessly integrates with web content management or workflow or email? FrontPage server extensions paving the way for a Microsoft Manila?

I am using Manila to author web pages because it is much smarter than Frontpage although it has much less features.

Bravo! Without any insider knowledge, I'd have to bet that Microsoft understands this and is going to make FrontPage and Word (and Excel, PowerPoint, and Project) into great clients for tools like blogger and manila and geocities.

Then my posts can be easily spell checked, proofed for non-US-unfriendly colloquialisms, reusable components easily dragged and dropped, content layout directly manipulated, keboard shortcuts enabled and customized, etc.

The full power of a popular client by the world's largest software company integrated with the immediacy and intuitiveness of UserLand, one of the world's smallest.

I can't wait!

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