LOS ANGELES
New member
I purchased WordSmith 2 years ago. "The premiere, award winning word processor for Palm." Ooooh.
Makes the memo pad nicer. Usually synced ok with the desktop. Over time, however I've developed a love-hate relationship with the thing and sadly, let it go tonight. For those of you who have tried to uninstall WordSmith from your PC, and had that "infernal Wordsmith" button lingering in MS Word, I found out tonight how to get rid of that buggar - and it's nowhere in any Handmark or Blue Nomad documentation I could find until a Google search tonight.
Major reasons:
1. Version discrepancies between Handmark and Blue Nomad are ridiculous. Handmark is up to 2.2.17, Blue Nomad 2.2.23 (and apparently have merged with another company to bring "2.2.28" to the fore know - have no idea what that's about). If you're a Handmark customer, wait around. The Blue Nomad version won't reg with your serial, and Handmark aren't updating or BEING updated (it may not be Handmark's fault).
2. Complete lack of external editors/utilities within the very "locked up" Wordsmith. FORGET ABOUT TealEdit, ClipPro or Inbox being used in conjunction with Wordsmith - others too, I just don't have them, and SHOULD BE able to have them.
3. Almost weekly desktop messages after synch pertaining to files that were deleted or moved TWO MONTHS AGO or not altered at all.
4. The invasiveness of the new addition "Pocket Purchase," with its own conduit. I've got enough conduits thank you, and I certainly don't need to be buying stuff direct from the T3, even if it was web-enabled. I thought the stuff I just bought should work..
5. Very difficult to UNINSTALL all traces on the desktop. I've gone round and round with Handmark on this (Eric Haar is a FANTASTIC fellow in Handmark Customer Support who has helped me out on numerous occasions - but even HIS documentation didn't work. I'll have a little on this "trick" I discovered tonight toward the end).
Minor Reasons:
1. Now that TealDoc is an EDITOR as well as document reader, and the Desktop version of TDoc Maker works in reverse to make a Palm document transfer to Notepad, it's actually handier for me. No, you don't get a resulting MS Word document - but "Select All" and paste to Word will certainly do that trick. For that matter, anything in your memo pad with a right click can be sent to Word, too. THERE'S NOTHING MAGICAL ABOUT GETTING SOMETHING IN MS WORD. TealDoc works with the utilities mentioned above and lots more, allows me to keep things on the SD Card just like Wordsmith, and TDoc Maker is 100k, not 3MB "+" in size (more like 6.5MB, all said) for Wordsmith, The font editor, and all that.
2. Better WordComplete compatibility. While boxes of words pop up in Wordsmith, TAPPING to add one is a pain in the rear. It's like the whole screen "feel" gets soft in Wordsmith, and you feel priviliged they're even letting you write anything. It's such a closed, "we know best" app that if you're used to using other little tools, you'll learn very quick that you use what THEY LET YOU and that's it.
3. Wordsmith "takes over" any form of .doc document. If I transfer something to TealDoc, WordSmith also picks it up. And God forbid I edit it or delete it thinking it's a "dupe;" it's gone altogether in that case and TealDoc doesn't see it either. You've just erased it.
Ok. They're the chief reasons. It's a good app, and I'm grateful for the service it gave me. But things are different now and the new revamped TealDoc is more than a "reader." It's quick, easy, lets me edit documents or stuff brought in from MS Word (in plain text format), load them on the card and CONTINUE to edit them, and use any editors I like to make that task easier. The prettier font in the memo pad was nice, but it was either so small I could barely read it, or else looked like a freeway billboard. Nothing in the middle. Know what's in the middle? MEMO PAD AND TEALDOC!! Imagine that.
Here's the secret no one will tell you when you're getting rid of the "Wordsmith button that refuses to die" after using EITHER Windows Add/Remove OR the Wordsmith Uninstall:
Go to START > RUN.
Type in "%appdata%" and hit return.
Go to the Microsoft Folder, then "templates."
DELETE "Normal.dot." The method of going in to Word and hitting "customize" under tools and then "reset" didn't work. Deleting NORMAL.DOT nuked the little buggar to hell.
Presto. It's outta here. Why am I mentioning this? Because I don't want either experienced users out there (and I'd consider myself in that category) OR BRAND NEW USERS shelling out $$$ for applications ANY MORE THAT DON'T perform PERFECTLY, especially in light of OS6 Cobalt threatening to make them need a "Dropshort Upgrade." A DROPSHORT UPGRADE, by the way, is any time you have to pick up the largest jar of vaseline they sell at the market, because some cheesy developer has decided to charge you for an upgrade after SIX WEEKS, and didn't even have the courtesy to kiss you first (I AM NOT REFERRING to Wordsmith here -- I'm referring to IAMBIC and AGENDUS). These developers seem to think they can churn anything out, call it the "Cadillac," and we're all wiping ourselves and changing shorts in the mad rush to get down to "Ye Olde Software Rip-Off Asylum" to get the "premiere" and "best" and "boy you're really stupid if you don't have the new JX9,000,000WJKTY Version." Smell the coffee, you bastards. We're not buyin' what you shovelin'.
F'em.
On the other hand, God Bless PalmBlvd, PDA Street and freeware. After dropping between $500 and $600 on Palm software, that's all I'm gonna be loading for the forseeable future.
Makes the memo pad nicer. Usually synced ok with the desktop. Over time, however I've developed a love-hate relationship with the thing and sadly, let it go tonight. For those of you who have tried to uninstall WordSmith from your PC, and had that "infernal Wordsmith" button lingering in MS Word, I found out tonight how to get rid of that buggar - and it's nowhere in any Handmark or Blue Nomad documentation I could find until a Google search tonight.
Major reasons:
1. Version discrepancies between Handmark and Blue Nomad are ridiculous. Handmark is up to 2.2.17, Blue Nomad 2.2.23 (and apparently have merged with another company to bring "2.2.28" to the fore know - have no idea what that's about). If you're a Handmark customer, wait around. The Blue Nomad version won't reg with your serial, and Handmark aren't updating or BEING updated (it may not be Handmark's fault).
2. Complete lack of external editors/utilities within the very "locked up" Wordsmith. FORGET ABOUT TealEdit, ClipPro or Inbox being used in conjunction with Wordsmith - others too, I just don't have them, and SHOULD BE able to have them.
3. Almost weekly desktop messages after synch pertaining to files that were deleted or moved TWO MONTHS AGO or not altered at all.
4. The invasiveness of the new addition "Pocket Purchase," with its own conduit. I've got enough conduits thank you, and I certainly don't need to be buying stuff direct from the T3, even if it was web-enabled. I thought the stuff I just bought should work..
5. Very difficult to UNINSTALL all traces on the desktop. I've gone round and round with Handmark on this (Eric Haar is a FANTASTIC fellow in Handmark Customer Support who has helped me out on numerous occasions - but even HIS documentation didn't work. I'll have a little on this "trick" I discovered tonight toward the end).
Minor Reasons:
1. Now that TealDoc is an EDITOR as well as document reader, and the Desktop version of TDoc Maker works in reverse to make a Palm document transfer to Notepad, it's actually handier for me. No, you don't get a resulting MS Word document - but "Select All" and paste to Word will certainly do that trick. For that matter, anything in your memo pad with a right click can be sent to Word, too. THERE'S NOTHING MAGICAL ABOUT GETTING SOMETHING IN MS WORD. TealDoc works with the utilities mentioned above and lots more, allows me to keep things on the SD Card just like Wordsmith, and TDoc Maker is 100k, not 3MB "+" in size (more like 6.5MB, all said) for Wordsmith, The font editor, and all that.
2. Better WordComplete compatibility. While boxes of words pop up in Wordsmith, TAPPING to add one is a pain in the rear. It's like the whole screen "feel" gets soft in Wordsmith, and you feel priviliged they're even letting you write anything. It's such a closed, "we know best" app that if you're used to using other little tools, you'll learn very quick that you use what THEY LET YOU and that's it.
3. Wordsmith "takes over" any form of .doc document. If I transfer something to TealDoc, WordSmith also picks it up. And God forbid I edit it or delete it thinking it's a "dupe;" it's gone altogether in that case and TealDoc doesn't see it either. You've just erased it.
Ok. They're the chief reasons. It's a good app, and I'm grateful for the service it gave me. But things are different now and the new revamped TealDoc is more than a "reader." It's quick, easy, lets me edit documents or stuff brought in from MS Word (in plain text format), load them on the card and CONTINUE to edit them, and use any editors I like to make that task easier. The prettier font in the memo pad was nice, but it was either so small I could barely read it, or else looked like a freeway billboard. Nothing in the middle. Know what's in the middle? MEMO PAD AND TEALDOC!! Imagine that.
Here's the secret no one will tell you when you're getting rid of the "Wordsmith button that refuses to die" after using EITHER Windows Add/Remove OR the Wordsmith Uninstall:
Go to START > RUN.
Type in "%appdata%" and hit return.
Go to the Microsoft Folder, then "templates."
DELETE "Normal.dot." The method of going in to Word and hitting "customize" under tools and then "reset" didn't work. Deleting NORMAL.DOT nuked the little buggar to hell.
Presto. It's outta here. Why am I mentioning this? Because I don't want either experienced users out there (and I'd consider myself in that category) OR BRAND NEW USERS shelling out $$$ for applications ANY MORE THAT DON'T perform PERFECTLY, especially in light of OS6 Cobalt threatening to make them need a "Dropshort Upgrade." A DROPSHORT UPGRADE, by the way, is any time you have to pick up the largest jar of vaseline they sell at the market, because some cheesy developer has decided to charge you for an upgrade after SIX WEEKS, and didn't even have the courtesy to kiss you first (I AM NOT REFERRING to Wordsmith here -- I'm referring to IAMBIC and AGENDUS). These developers seem to think they can churn anything out, call it the "Cadillac," and we're all wiping ourselves and changing shorts in the mad rush to get down to "Ye Olde Software Rip-Off Asylum" to get the "premiere" and "best" and "boy you're really stupid if you don't have the new JX9,000,000WJKTY Version." Smell the coffee, you bastards. We're not buyin' what you shovelin'.
F'em.
On the other hand, God Bless PalmBlvd, PDA Street and freeware. After dropping between $500 and $600 on Palm software, that's all I'm gonna be loading for the forseeable future.
