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On Mon, 26 Jul 1999 Eric J. Ray <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM> wrote:
>Well, it sounds like there are issues with auto-numbering
>in Word 2000--
In the early days, I used WordStar. I had to manually adjust the
character-width tables to accurately match my daisy-wheel printer, but it
worked. Full justification nearly always resulted in a pleasing,
proportionally-spaced appearance, regardless of column width.
Later, I moved to WordPerfect for DOS, then to WordPerfect for Windows.
Both provided global typesetting options, such as word and character spacing
(in percentages), that allowed achieving a pleasing appearance page after
page.
Finally, I tried Word. I have used it occasionally, usually under threat of
involuntary unemployment, for the last six or seven years.
Each time I open this application, I am reminded that it cannot do what my
CP/M version of WordStar 3.3 did, nearly twenty years ago. I am also
greatly disappointed to discover that its popularity does not appear
constrained to the ranks of indiscriminate engineers, but appears to be
gradually infiltrating even seasoned writing teams.
I'm not trying to ignite a bonfire over this issue, but I have always
considered Word to be much less than a professional word processor. It may
have a place in the home, for the teenagers' homework, but not in the
professional environment in which most of us make our living.
