LinuxPlanet: Word to the Wise… Some Conclusions and Some Surprising Final Recommendations

[ Thanks to Kevin
Reichard for this link. ]

“Best of Class: High End
Though troubled by the feeling of bulk and outright clunkiness, we
give the nod to StarWriter, which boasted the best ratio of
features to stability to cost. StarWriter will be right at home on
any corporate desktop, and does an all-around good job mimicking
most of the features people have come to expect (right or wrong)
from the desktop publisher/word processor hybrids that make up the
best of commercial word processors.”

“Best of Class: Midrange
If Applix Words didn’t have quite enough “stuff” to put it past
StarOffice in the high-end feature wars, it certainly came out
shining in the midrange tests. We can easily imagine the average
corporate word processor user making a smooth and easy transition
to Words. It’s well-behaved, well-documented, and easy on older
hardware.”

“Best of Class: Household and Student
If the task at hand is nothing more than letters or simple papers,
there’s no reason to spend money or put up with bulk. AbiWord, even
in its state of prerelease development, proved reliable and usable.
Some pitfalls in the form of “Under Construction” signs here and
there may not make it a good choice for inexperienced or easily
startled users; but a Linux-savvy user who just needs light
formatting capabilities at this point is a perfect fit.”

“Best Overall
We don’t know if there’s an “average” user out there, and it’s hard
to make a call about a best overall word processor. Going into
this series, we decided it wouldn’t make sense, having
carefully delineated between different complexities of task, to
crown a clear winner. On the other hand, if any program among those
covered should get the nod, it’s likely Applix Words.”

Complete
Story