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The debate continues, Word versus WordPerfect
I have several comments about the October 1997 article by Dianne
Molvig, "1997
Technology Survey." First, the characterization by Leigh Webber of a
purported "strategic blunder" made by WordPerfect, which he refers to as
the "Great Betrayal," is misleading and misses a very important
counterpoint about Microsoft's Word product line. While indeed the macro
language in WordPerfect 5.1 to WordPerfect for Windows 6 changed
markedly, it had to. Macros in WordPerfect changed very little for many
years - from version 4.0 through version 5.1 - essentially from the
mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The language had to change to encompass
the radically different method, at a minimum, of recording mouse
movements versus recording keystrokes. The same transition happened in
Microsoft Word. Now WordPerfect has had mostly compatible macros since
version 6.0 for Windows through the present version 8, encompassing
versions 6.1 and 7 in between. In this day and age of version-to-version
incompatibilities and file format changes, that's pretty darned
consistent.
And what about the "Great[er] Betrayal" on Microsoft's part, dumping
its WordBasic macro language from Word 95, in favor of the completely
incompatible VBA macro language rolled out in this year's Word 97? And
worse, what about the widely reported and recognized file compatibility
fiasco Microsoft created in its blundering with Word 97? Users of the
immediately prior Word version couldn't easily save back and forth, not
to mention the screw ups with mislabeling file extensions for .DOC and
.RTF files. At the same time, the latest WordPerfect 8 product has a
default file save format called "WordPerfect 6/7/8," which indicates a
three-version file compatibility. If anyone is worthy of Mr. Webber's
term, the "Great Betrayal," it would seem to squarely fit the folks from
Redmond, Washington.
Mr. Webber also comments that the incompatibility moving from
WordPer-fect 5.1 macros to current WordPerfect for Windows macros
formats "means that lawyers' enormous investment in automation
procedures has been made worthless." That's not entirely true - I've
seen firms use elaborate macro-based document assembly systems, created
in WordPerfect 5.1, alongside their WordPerfect for Windows products.
But of course, the situation would be the same had the firm transitioned
from Microsoft Word for DOS to any version of Word for Windows - so the
sense that this is solely a WordPerfect failing is not fair. The reality
is that the WordPerfect macro language was with us for a long time. And
then it changed. And now we've had a mostly version-independent macro
language with WordPerfect for Windows since 6.0, and Corel says they are
committed to continuing this version independence as long as possible.
That's life. And Microsoft has made no such commitments.
Not to pick on Mr. Webber's comments, but he states that "the
difference in pain between going from WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS to
WordPerfect for Windows versus going from WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS to
Microsoft Word for Windows, is very little. It's painful either way."
Wrong. A WordPerfect DOS to WordPerfect Windows transition is much less
painful because of: 1) the ability to use WordPerfect DOS keystrokes in
the Windows version (not possible in Word); 2) the ability to retrieve
WordPerfect 5.1 documents consistently without any need for reformatting
(good amount of clean-up in Word); 3) the ability to leverage years of
WordPerfect training, especially if the WPDOS "keyboard" is selected
(start over in Word); and 4) the big one, life without the famous
WordPerfect "Reveal Codes" feature is a nightmare for long-time
WordPerfect users. If need be, I'd be happy to submit the raft of recent
corroborating comments from the busy Internet legal technology email
discussion groups on this topic that confirm the reliance and relative
importance to users of this feature - for which there is no Word
counterpart.
So my experience working with law firms of all sizes nationwide is
that there is far less pain in moving from WordPerfect for DOS to its
Windows counterparts.
Another interesting point is a rather new trend regarding WordPerfect
use in law firms. As I personally expected and predicted would happen as
long ago as November 1995 when WordPerfect was put on the block by
then-owner Novell and "panic transitions" to Word began in earnest, the
process is beginning to reverse itself. On Internet legal tech email
lists, firms across the country are talking about how they are returning
to WordPerfect. For instance, Ballard, Spahr et al., a 250-plus lawyer
firm in Philadelphia with which I am familiar, just selected WordPerfect
8 over Word 97 as its word processor. I don't think that would have
happened even six months ago.
Perhaps eventually, reliance upon word processors from one company or
another will become moot - and I hope this is true. If and when we can
ever find a common, compatible, consistent document format (maybe even
unformatted documents) such as an offshoot of SGML with a more human
interface, all the better. In the meantime, it seems that at least in
the legal market, there is a resurgence of interest in the WordPerfect
for Windows system.
That all aside, surveying all of us regarding our technology usage is
a worthy endeavor and the State Bar staff, and in particular computer
services director Art Saffran, deserve great credit. I hope to see the
surveys continue.
Ross L. Kodner
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
Lawyer