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  • #2199825

    Which WordPerfect was the perfect WordPerfect?

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    by jardinier ·

    I am having an exchange with a lady who insists that WordPerfect 6.1 published by Novell is superior to more recent versions published by Corel. She has not explained why she holds this view — perhaps it is just a matter of familiarity. But as we are having a friendly “argument” about this, I would appreciate opinions from any peers who have had experience with both the Novell version and the more recent (many) Corel versions.

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    • #3002431

      Gosh, they still make WordPerfect?

      by robo_dev ·

      In reply to Which WordPerfect was the perfect WordPerfect?

      I did not know that.

      I still have nightmares from the very first Windows version of the product, back in 1991 or so. To call it bad software was an insult to bad software. It put the ‘General’ in General Protection Fault. It would fail in exciting and unpredictable ways….

      Personally my favorite was the old DOS version, back in the Paleolithic era of computing.

      • #3003132

        The first Windows version was 5.2 (I think)

        by jardinier ·

        In reply to Gosh, they still make WordPerfect?

        I have all versions since 5.1 but I have only used version 6.1 which was published by Novell. I think Novell went broke or something but anyhow Corel have been publishing it since 1996 and they are up to Corel Office X 4.

        Hal (Col) has always recommended that his customers use WordPerfect rather than Microsoft Word.

        • #2841418

          5.2 was the LAST DOS Version

          by tommad ·

          In reply to The first Windows version was 5.2 (I think)

          …and it worked great..and STILL runs great.

          WordPerfect is still used as the “official” word-processing software in several Federal agencies.

        • #2841412

          5.2 Wasn’t the LAST DOS Version

          by redrox_m ·

          In reply to 5.2 was the LAST DOS Version

          It might have been the last *GOOD* DOS version, but I am staring at a WP 6.1 (DOS) splash screen right now.

          My personal favorites are 5.1 (DOS), and 6.1 (Win/Novell), before Corel bought it, tried to make it into a “Swiss Army Knife”…and failed miserably.

        • #2841385

          WordPerfect is Preferable

          by dr. leonard ·

          In reply to 5.2 Wasn’t the LAST DOS Version

          I use WP 8.0 every day and much prefer it to Word. Word can be unpredictable because the formatting codes are hidden somewhere. With WP I can reveal the inline codes and adjust them as needed. I like this “under the hood” accessibility.

        • #2841372

          6.1

          by brian ·

          In reply to 5.2 Wasn’t the LAST DOS Version

          6.1 is wonderful, it was/still is my favorite, i keep a T4500 loaded with dos 6.2 and windows 3.1 around just to use it :)…..i know i could VM it, however, it is nice to have a use still for my old black and white laptop (all 20mHz of it) lol

    • #2840230

      WP Versions

      by dr. leonard ·

      In reply to Which WordPerfect was the perfect WordPerfect?

      I used WordPerfect 5, the DOS version by the WordPerfect Corp., from my earliest days using a PC at home — it was a Sperry 8088, then I used an IBM AT and an Iverson. I did the layout for a book with the DOS version. I switched to Novell’s Windows version (I guess it was 6.1) and later got a used CD of Corel’s WP 8.0 which I still use daily on a Dell Optiplex and a Dell Latitude notebook. All these versions had their good points. The DOS was kind of clumsy to use with all the function keys and their template, but it worked. The Windows versions tend to be unstable and sometimes freeze or abruptly shut down; I don’t know the reason for that unless it’s a conflict with some other program. But I still prefer WP to Word, and wouldn’t say that any one version was better than another.

      • #2840223
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        From my experience

        by hal 9000 ·

        In reply to WP Versions

        I personally preferred the Dos Versions of WP and I loved the Template that was on every Keyboard. But then I still prefer keyboard Shortcuts to using a Mouse and multiple Menus to get something done.

        But after having WP 5.1 for DOS and then being fostered WP6 for Windows I wanted to revert back to the DOS Version that Novel quite happily sent me though there was a slight bit of resistance on their part in wanting their existing customers to adopt the Windows Versions of their Software.

        Currently I’m using WP12 which is now a bit outdated as their current version is X4 but I don’t see the need to change to the newer version at this point in time as there just are not enough [i]Improvements[/i] to make it worth my while.

        But as for the best I still prefer the old 5.1 as it just worked and unlike the new versions didn’t overload your with options for so many different Fonts that you could chose from. If anything Corel made it more difficult to use by adding too many choices where it can take longer to chose a Font than it can to do a document.

        But as for the best version I don’t think that there is much difference other than the newer features like the [b]Make It Fit[/b] which I do use a lot. But I have to say that when Novel was handling WP they certainly offered better Education Materials which all stopped once Corel took over. 😉

        Col

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