Microsoft Word is arguably the most dominant business application on the Mac, so Contributing Editor Matt Neuburg examines Word 2001 in depth to see if Word’s first major update in years is worthwhile. We also review Apple’s forays into Unix operating systems, and note Apple posting a $170 million profit and MCF Software taking over ListSTAR from 4D. Releases this week include Nisus Writer 6.0, icWord 1.1, and new handhelds from Handspring.
Apple Posts $170 Million Profit -- Apple Computer last week announced a $170 million net profit for its fourth fiscal quarter of 2000. Apple's bottom line was significantly bolstered by continued sales of ARM Holdings plc., which contributed $62 million to the quarter's results
icWord 1.1 Adds Older Word Formats -- Panergy Ltd. has released icWord 1.1, an update to their $20 file viewer for Microsoft Word documents (see "icWord Reads and Prints Word Documents" in TidBITS-543)
New Handspring Visors Offer Color, Speed -- Handspring last week announced two new Palm-compatible models in its Visor handheld line. The $449 Visor Prism offers a 16-bit color display (65,536 colors, compared to Palm's Palm IIIc, which has 8-bit color) in a cobalt blue case, and the $299 Visor Platinum sports a new metallic silver case
Long-Awaited Nisus Writer 6.0 Ships -- After a long gestation period, the tiny Nisus Software has shipped Nisus Writer 6.0, the most notable update to the company's flagship word processor in several years
ListSTAR Moves from 4D to MCF Software -- 4D, Inc. has announced that MCF Software will be taking over sales and support for ListSTAR, the powerful and flexible mailing list server that 4D picked up in its acquisition of StarNine Technologies last March
Poll Preview: Front and Center -- Honest, we didn't plan on having multiple pieces about word processing in this week's issue! But despite today's emphasis on the Internet, word processing remains one of the most common tasks for which people use computers
Gotcha! Our intent with quizzes is mainly educational - highlighting something about the Macintosh, Apple, or the Mac OS - rather than trying to come up with a question that's likely to fool most of the quiz respondents
Microsoft Word is the cornerstone of Microsoft's Office suite, and the single Office application one is most likely to obtain separately. Spreadsheets are important, presentations are nice, but word processing remains the most common personal and business productivity task on computers, and Microsoft Word has established itself as the industry benchmark in word processing.
Those of us who remember Word 4 or Word 5.1 know that Word was once straightforward, intuitive, and compact