My reviewer has come back for more. It turns out that all he really wants from a word processor is to read and write .rtf files by default. It must also have a change case feature including sentence case, title case, or toggle case. It must also have a grammar checker. Oh, and it must not only be able to write .pdfs, it must be able to read them too.

Well, that should be easy then.

So why is this guy setting himself up as a reviewer? Has he the faintest idea of what the typical user wants from an office productivity suite?

It strikes me there are four gradients of stuff on the web these days. At the lowest primeval level is the Blogswamp, the slime and mud where anyone can write any old drivel in the hope of seeking fame and immortality. The next level is the dreaded self-publisher with a GUI html editor – FrontPageLand. Rising further in the hierarchy we come to HacksVille, where there is some attempt at the disciplines of paper publishing but very variable quality. Some of these are really hideous, some of them are really pretty good. And unfortunately still at the top of the tree is PaperWorld, where off-line media set the standard for on-line too.

So, hope you’ve enjoyed joining me in the slime. That’s it for now – I’m being dragged off to watch the latest Andrew Davies onslaught on English Literature with his adaptation (word covering a multitude of sins) of Bleak House for BBC TV.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 27th, 2005 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.