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1985-05-09
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ANALYSIS OF THE PC PRODUCTS REVIEW OF WORDSTAR & WORDPERFECT
by Read Gilgen, Madison IBM-PC User's Group
The April 1985 issue of PC Products contains a head-to-head comparison
of WordStar 2000 and WordPerfect 4.0. While one must recognize that all re-
views are somewhat subjective, this particular one seems to consider subject-
ivity and contradiction the hallmarks of good product review.
The conclusion begins by stating: "All things considered, it looks like
WordStar 2000 Plus has soundly thrashed WordPerfect 4.0." For those who often
have little time to read entire reviews of products, WordPerfect would be dis-
missed as an unworthy choice and several hundred dollars would be spent on a
product (WordStar 2000) that might prove to be extremely unsatisfactory.
I should indicate, perhaps, that I am a long-time user of WordPerfect,
having used the older versions of WordStar before that. I cannot honestly say
that I have thoroughly reviewed WordStar 2000. However, I do not claim that
WordPerfect is "perfect" at all, nor can I state categorically that WordStar
2000 will not do the job you have in mind. My reaction is based on a careful
reading of the review, coupled with what I know about WordPerfect.
An analysis of the review, point by point, will illustrate my concern.
Below is a checklist of features along with the winner, from the reviewer's own
point of view. I have added comments where I thought it appropriate, espec-
ially when blatant errors tip the balance one way or the other.
FEATURE WS2000 WP4 COMMENT
Installation X
Tutorial/Training X
Documentation X
Menus/Commands - - Depends on individual preference
File Management X Not really much difference
Format Editing X
Windows X WP does not have
Editing (insert) - -
Undo X WP does not have
Block definition X
Block operations X Easy and fast in WP
Search/Replace X WP can search/replace codes
Macros X A real plus
Math X
Dictionary X Author contradicts self on "ease"
Default format X You can change WP default ruler
Print formatting indicators X
Headers/Footers X
Hyphenation - -
Footnotes/Endnotes X Far superior in WP
Table of Contents - -
Index X
Outline feature X WS does not have
News columns X WS does not have
Sort X WP does have a separate sort pgm
Mail Merge X WS has sort; WP has macros
Communications X WP does not have
Keeping in mind that the above represents the author's comparative eval-
uation of each product, note that WordPerfect outscores WordStar fifteen to
eight in number of categories won, with four a draw. That does not appear,
"all things considered", to indicate that WordPerfect was "soundly thrashed"!
The conclusion further states that WordStar 2000 is more modern while
WordPerfect is old-fashioned. At the same time it admits that WordStar is slow
while failing to recognize that WordPerfect has many features not even avail-
able in WordStar (such as footnotes, outlining, columns, and macros). Not
mentioned is the difference in customer support: try calling each of the two
companies and discover for yourself which will even talk to you!
If Micro Pro and its WordStar 2000 are the paragon of modern word pro-
cessing, then I suspect that I will stick to my old-fashioned, but better (ac-
cording to the review) WordPerfect.
Finally, the editors of PC Products might consider the oddity of having
printed the only review (that I have seen) which claims that WordStar 2000 is a
better choice than WordPerfect. It is one thing to be a maverick, and quite
another to be an ostrich.
dStar 2000 is a
better choice than WordPerfect. It is on