Last week I got a new toy. OK, for most of you it wouldn’t even be a toy–it would be something vaguely in the depths of your past, if you used it at all. But me, I like it, and I got a new version of it.
What is it, you ask? Corel WordPerfect Office X3. I’ve been a WordPerfect user since the days of the 5.1 DOS version, and used the 6.0a DOS version, the 6.0 Windows version, and most recently I’ve been using WordPerfect 8, which dates from around 1996. So why did I upgrade? I’m moving soon to a new computer at work, and I figured after 10 years and 8 versions, it was worth doing.
So what do I think of X3? So far, so good. I haven’t tried all the advertised new stuff, but I don’t need all of that. It does support pasting from Word 2003, which is important, and there is a new keystroke command, Ctrl-Alt-V, to paste without any formatting (even more useful than the old Ctrl-Shift-V). It also seems to be stable: I used it all day today with nary-a-crash. I couldn’t say that about WP8.
Yes, I know Word is the defacto standard at the ranch. But I don’t like it. I’ll use it, and know quite a few tricks for it, but it always leaves me annoyed. When I have my druthers, though, it’s WP. But then again, I like a mix of applications, for I still prefer Lotus 1-2-3 for spreadsheets (I’m still using version 9.5). I haven’t found a favorite presentation program yet: PowerPoint has its quirks, Lotus Freelance is good but niche, and Corel Presentations is frustrating. You’re probably saying… but he likes old software. Damn straight! I still read my mail in emacs (M-x vm).
I believe in using the best tool that makes you the most productive in the job. I still remember the religious editor battles (Rand Window Editor vs vi; vi vs. emacs; emacs vs. teco). Pick the best one for you, I say.
