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Nisus 3.4 Hits the World

Nisus Software just announced availability of Nisus 3.4, an upgrade from the current 3.06-040 version of Nisus. Although 3.4 includes a number of significant normal features that I’ll discuss in a bit, Nisus Software is targeting users of multiple languages since Nisus 3.4 is the only high-end word processor that takes advantage of all the languages available in the WorldScript system, mixing up to 18 different languages in a single document (reading them all is your problem). That set includes right-to-left languages such as Arabic and Hebrew along with other non-Roman alphabets and languages from the Far East.

Academics have long needed multi-lingual word processing features; if you study another language you need to be able to switch back and forth between at least two. Such needs extend beyond academia though, since corporations have international subsidiaries or clients, and numerous governmental organizations work with counterparts in other nations.

Nisus has come up with two different editions of Nisus, based on the type of language. In both cases, you get the English dictionary and thesaurus and your choice of one foreign language dictionary (you can order more dictionaries if you wish for $30 each). Nisus 3.4L (Limited Flag) supports text entry in languages based on the Roman alphabet, including English, French, Finnish, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, along with Japanese (including inline input), which will work with KanjiTalk or System 7.1 or the kanji WorldScript module that Apple has announced for a 15-Apr-93 ship date. Nisus 3.4L requires System 6.0.7 or later and lists for $395. You can upgrade for $20 from any Nisus version.

The Complete Flag edition of Nisus (3.4C) allows you to enter and manipulate text in all the languages supported by the Limited Flag version plus Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Farsi (Persian), Hebrew, Hungarian, Korean, Polish, Russian and Thai, all of which require special language modules. Nisus will sell you modules for Arabic, the Eastern European languages (Czech, Hungarian, and Polish), Farsi, Hebrew, and Russian for $45 each, but you get one module of your choice free with the Complete Flag edition. Other modules should come from Apple later this year.

Nisus 3.4C lists for $495, but you can upgrade from 3.06 or earlier for $120 or from 3.24 or 3.26 (which I believe were only sold overseas) for $20. Nisus 3.4C requires System 7.0.1 or later, and is copy protected with Nisus Software’s PETlock ADB dongle. Edwina Riblet, Nisus Software’s Director of Marketing, said, "We don’t like it any more than anyone else, but our distributors in those areas won’t carry the product without the ADB copy protection because of rampant piracy." Edwina said that the requirement started with the Korean distributor and has been echoed by Israeli and Saudi distributors as well others in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. She also noted that this copy protection is not new – Nisus has always been copy protected in those markets and Nisus Software doesn’t know of any conflicts with any ADB devices when you put a PETlock in the middle of an ADB string. I’m not pleased about the ADB-dongle copy protection but I can’t really complain to Nisus Software about it if distributors won’t sell Nisus without copy protection. The root of the problem lies with users in those areas of the world. Those people must work to reduce piracy and convince the local distributors that copy protection is an unnecessary hassle, and only then will all copy protection disappear.

The people most affected by the ADB dongle are Duo users, who have no ADB port without a dock or floppy adapter. Edwina said Nisus Software is working on a solution, so if you use a Duo and want to buy Nisus 3.4C, call Nisus first and check on the progress of the Duo solution.

Even if you don’t need the new language features, the upgrade to Nisus 3.4L is worth the $20. First of all, $20 is a thoroughly reasonable cost, especially since Nisus hasn’t charged for the little upgrades like 3.06, which added XTND file translation (not a trivial addition). Second, according Nisus Software, Nisus 3.4 includes drag & drop editing, which has proven popular in Word 5.x, a Fuzzy Find that finds approximate, "sounds-like" words, an improved spelling checker, a user dictionary that you can edit like a normal document and add words to in batches, tracking, glossing (lets you add text above words for definitions or comments), a full-justified tab, the ability to open a PICT or EPSF document directly into Nisus via XTND, and a clock in the Information Bar. Hey, I’m updating.

Nisus Software — 800/922-2993 — 619/481-1477
619/481-6154 (fax)

Information from:
Nisus Software propaganda
Edwina Riblet, Nisus Software — [email protected]

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