WordPerfect is picture perfect - Software Review - WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS - Evaluation

Home Office Computing, Nov, 1993 by Jack Nimersheim

Rating:

For DOS

AT A GLANCE: This impressive upgrade to an already outstanding program brings true WYSIWYG capabilities to non-Windows users. It also includes some surprising features, such as built-in spreadsheet functions, fax support, and e-mail capabilities.

EASE OF USE: Coaches--interactive, online tutorials and help screens--walk you through unfamiliar tasks using your own data, not canned examples.

DOCUMENTATION: Five manuals and a quick-reference card cover all the bases. The manuals are clearly written and well indexed.

SUPPORT: WordPerfect Corp. continues to offer the best customer service in the industry. The company provides toll-free support Monday through Friday, from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Mountain time). After-hours support--available every day but sunday--is not toll free, but it is still available.

VERSION REVIEWED: 6.0 LIST PRICE: $495 AVERAGE STREET PRICE: $350

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: 480K 286 PC or higher (520K 386 or better recommendation); hard-disk drive with 7MB of free disk space, DOS 3.1 or higher (DOS 6 with memory management recommended)

PUBLISHER: WordPerfect Corp., 1555 N. Technology Way, Orem, UT 84057; (801) 225-5000, (800) 451-5151

Let's face it, due to either financial restraints or an emotional attachment to DOS, not everyone has caught Windows fever. The trouble is, as 486-based PCs drive 386s into extinction and Windows evolves into a full-fledged operating system (Windows NT and the forthcoming Windows 4.0 will not require DOS), more and more software vendors are concentrating their development efforts almost exclusively on Windows-based programs. The end result is that staying state of the art with DOS applications is not an easy task--unless you happen to be a WordPerfect user.

WordPerfect 6.0 defines a new standard of excellence for DOS-based applications, offering a number of features and functions normally associated with Windows-based programs, such as sophisticated document viewing and drag-and-drop text-editing functions. The new version provides three different display options: Text, Graphics, or Page mode. Text mode resembles earlier versions of the venerable word processor, although it emulates familiar graphics-based items such as pull-down menus, command buttons, and scroll bars with text characters. The Graphics and Page modes offer many of the same advantages of a true GUI environment, such as true WYSI-WYG editing and scalable fonts, without the excessive hardware demands. A practical way to take advantage of these three modes is to enter your text in Text mode, switch to Graphics mode for initial formatting, and then select Page mode (which displays headers, footers, margins, and the like) to finetune the overall appearance of your document prior to printing. Both Graphics and Page modes perform adequately (if somewhat sluggishly) on a 286-based PC, but a 386 or higher processor is necessary to fully appreciate the program's new advanced capabilities.

Adding it all up. WordPerfect 6.0 offers much more than word processing, such as desktop publishing and file management capabilities. There's no real news in this as quite a few programs offer similar features. What may surprise you is WordPerfect's inclusion of number-crunching capabilities via an integrated spreadsheet. The Table feature includes 98 spreadsheet functions that let you incorporate complex calculations anywhere within a document. Two other features that tend to blur the lines between different applications are new built-in fax capabilities and e-mail links, both of which work with any Class 1, Class 2, or CAS-compatible fax/modem. Further contributing to the Windows-like feel of this impressive upgrade is the ability to open the work with up to nine documents concurrently, making it easy to break complex projects into more manageable components.

Walk with me. Given its robust nature, you may think that WordPerfect 6.0 would be difficult to master. In fact, the new version is actually quite easy to learn--thanks to the additional of Coaches. Coaches differ from traditional online tutorials by incorporating your own data into the lessons.

Alive and kicking. Despite its impending demise, DOS is still the operating system of choice for millions of PC users. The newest WordPerfect pushes DOS to its very limits, and the electronic views is breathtaking.