From: b87y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
Subject: Re: Do we need to upgrade to AmiPro3.0???
Date: 28 Jul 92 20:03:32 EDT
Summary: AMI 2.0 gripes
Keywords: equation editor 
Distribution: comp
Organization: Cornell University


In article <1992Jul27.234739.16524@doug.cae.wisc.edu>,
singh@n3000a.ece.wisc.edu (bhaskar) writes: 
> Hi Folks
> 
> 	As most of you registered users of AmiPro, I finally got the AmiPro 3.0 
> upgrade offer letter in the mail today. Well they're charging 79 bucks for the 
> upgrade, but my question here is if it is worth it?
> 	Let's see now, first it has fast format. It says I'll save some key-
> strokes by copying one format, and applying it to other parts of the test. Nice 
> but I don't think that is worth $79. Drag'nDrop looks like a nice feature for 
> moving text, but it isn't an innovation, just a Drag'nDrop from MsWord.
> SmartClick can give me a few more dialog boxes, but I already have them at a 
> mere 2 keystrokes, so I may not even take rust off my right mouse button. 
> I am a single user on a DOS machine so I don't think I need the SmartMerger for
> the mail. SmartIcon creator, well I already create SmartIcons and associate 
> them to keystrokes etc. Document and style sheet viewer? Well I have my 
> StyleSheets documented in a file and at a click of a mouse, so I guess I can 
> skip that. Automated label and envelop printing? Great, now I can get that 4/9in
> envelop printed right at the first time, without all those trials and misprinted 
> envelops. A grammar corrector? How about my free copy of Right Writer, can't I
> live with that.
> 	How about a TrueType fonnts Disk? How about some foreign language 
> dictionaries along with the basic package, since many of us might want to
> write in Spanish or French etc. How about those innovations like SmartIcons for
> 2.0 release? Humm wondering why this isn't just AmiPro2.005?
> 	Well every thing from the upgrade letter seems so cosmetic that I am 
> having second thought about spending 79 bucks, any way I dilled their 800 number 
> and asked for the free  demo copy. They promptly informed that I'll get that by 
> mid August, may be after that I'll change my mind. What do you guys think? Shell 
> we jump in the sea just because everyone has got to lay their hands on that
> X^3 upgrade? All opinions and critique welcome, including those from Lotus insiders...
> 
> 
> 
> Bhaskar Singh

Humm?, What I'd like to know is:

1) Does it run any better than AMI 2.0.  I tried AMI, and it was very clunky.
First of all, AMI LOVES my hard-drive.  Simple mouse clicks send AMI into
a flurry of hard-drive action.  Word for Windows, on the other hand, runs
much smoother.  Also, AMI 2.0 is slow to update the screen.  For example,
suppose you decide to backspace 5 times. I tried this, then looked at the 
screen...but the screen hadn't been updated, so I hit backspace again, then
the screen updated and I had to retype a character that I did not want to
delete.

2) Did they fix the equation editor?
AMI 2.0 advertisements claim that it can import/export TeX files.  However,
it turns out that AMI 2.0 has only a limited TeX vocabulary.  You can forget
about importing the equations that you output from other programs like
Mathematica...AMI does not know enough TeX to do this...and will probably
CRASH if you try it.
{Aside:  TeX is THE STANDARD for writing scientific papers.  It is sort-of
like a programming language.  It is widely used by scientist and engineers
because it simplifies typesetting equations.  Like I said, it's a 
prgramming language...lots of us scientists/engineers would like to avoid
learning another programming language.  If AMI improved there equation
editor, they could cell thousands upon thousands of copies to the 
technical community.}