it is not unique to Works. They've done the same thing with Word, Excel,
etc.
add new features to the file formats.
One of the changes made was adding Unicode support. This allows two
bytes per character and so additional languages can be supported.
4.5a
=2E In
ed by
ing
some
nge
We humble end users can only guess, of course. I remember I loved Works=20
4.5a. I did everything with it: word processing, spreadsheet and=20
database. I loved the ease of mail merging. Then came the millenium=20
edition with Word instead of the Works word processor. I bought it at=20
once. A waste of money and a lot of misery. Mail merge did not work out=20
of the box; I had to adapt all my documents. The formatting of numbers,=20
amounts, dates and time does not carry over into the merged document.=20
Easyformat had disappeared. I bought the versions 6, 7 and 8 hoping that =
the bugs would have been corrected and the crippled mail merge restored=20
to its former glory. I once read somewhere that Bill Gates has said that =
bug correction and improvement of a program never is a reason to bring=20
out an upgrade. He was right. So buying an "upgrade" is a waste of=20
money. Each and every new "upgrade" was in fact a downgrade. We lost=20
features every time a new version came out. I lost patience and=20
downloaded openoffice.org. It has a learning curve after MSWorks, but it =
is worthwhile. I ended up with Openoffice.org, Firefox and Thunderbird.=20
Thunderbird for ease of use -- it is much better than Outlook express -- =
and Firefox for security. In june 2004 computers were infected with a=20
trojan via the combination of a bug in Windws servers and a bug in=20
Internet Explorer. I followed the advice of US CERT to ditch IE and=20
started using firefox. Later that year I lost =E2=82=AC 675 because my cr=
edit=20
card data were stolen. None of the antivirus programs and antispyware=20
programs could find anything on my computer. So I did a clean install of =
WinXP on a new and clean partition. Then I started experimenting with=20
GNU/Linux (Mandrakesoft). In 2006 I bought a new computer without any=20
Windows and installed Mandriva Linux. No more insecurity and bothering=20
about malware, no more defragmenting, rock stability, a configurable=20
desktop environment, and I could continue to use the most important=20
programs that I was already accustomed to. Looking back the frustrations =
with Works 5 and later, with the instability of Microsoft OS and=20
programs, with the inherent insecurity, were a blessing in disguise.=20
Without them I would never have experimented with Linux.
Why does MS make these changes in every version of its propgrams? To=20
force people to buy the newer versions every time. A new version=20
Publisher brings a new document format; it is still called "pub", but=20
the older versions Publisher cannot read the newer ones. It is the same=20
with the Works formats, and the office formats. So if someone buys the=20
newer versions all people who exchange documents with him, have the=20
least trouble when they all "upgrade" also. This is why. You can only=20
keep acess to your documents when you open and save them all in each and =
every new version that comes out. You cannot read 10 or 12 year old=20
documents in the most recent versions of MS programs without this=20
continuous "upgrading". The content of a document may be yours, but the=20
chest it is closed in belongs to Bill Gates, and he keeps the key. If=20
you want to keep acess to you own data, you must pay him regularly by=20
"upgrading". This is why governments take steps now to switch to Open=20
Document Formats. This switch is VERY expensive because all MS document=20
formats are proprietary, secret. Documents must be made again, templates =
must be made again, macros must be rewritten. The exit costs of=20
Microsoft are enormous. This is intentional. Once people start with=20
Microsoft programs, it is easier to postpone the switch. This is called=20
"lock-in".
This is the answer to your question.
My advice is: invest time in learning to use openoffice.org, Firefox,=20
Thunderbird and GIMP. When you are at ease with those, you can ditch=20
Windows and be FREE.
Greetings and good luck,
Erik Jan.
Post by Jerry MartinAs I recall, there were 2 edition of MS Works 2000. There was the plain MS
Works 2000 that came with only the Works word processor, and then there was
the MS Works 2000 Suite that came with MS Word bundled in. (The Works word
processor was on the CD and installed on the hard drive, but there was no
shortcut to start it. However, a user could have created their own shortcut.
I also seem to recall that the marketing of both plain Works and Works Suite
continued on after the Works 2000 version. I think that the Works Suite
edition is no longer offered in the current version (9.0), but I could be
mistaken.
Cheers,
Jerry
We humble end users can only guess, of course. I remember I loved Works
4.5a. I did everything with it: word processing, spreadsheet and
database. I loved the ease of mail merging. Then came the millenium
edition with Word instead of the Works word processor.
Post by Erik JanDear Jerry,
you remember correctly. I continued to use the Works' wordprocessor for
a few tasks that were easier in it than in MSWord. I worked around the
irritating Works start up program by making a folder on my desktop with
shortcuts to my templates and a few important files (database).
I still make templates, a spreadsheet or a database for a brother of
mine who still uses a version of Works, and use the method mentioned above.
I do not know about version 9. The latest version for me was 8 which I
once updated to 8.5. this "update" removed wordart and a drawing
program. So at the next clean re-installation of Windows I went back to
version 8. Since then I moved on to Linux as I told before. I still
visit this newsgroup in order to know what is going on in the Works
front to be able to advise my brother.
Greetings,
Erik Jan.
Post by Jerry MartinI did purchase the plain edition of Works 2000 (without MS Word) a decade
ago. But I found that it was missing many of the templates that existed in
Works 4.5a - especially those templates that were useful for small
businesses. It seemed that Microsoft decided that they were not making enough
money from small businesses that used the business templates in Works 4.5
and decided that by omitting them beginning in Works 2000, small business
would be forced to buy Microsoft Office.
I thought that this decision showed that Microsoft had little regard for
their small business customers.
Cheers,
Jerry
Post by Erik JanYou are correct again. The problem with all versions after version 4 is
that the integration between database/spreadsheet and wordprocessor is
broken. Numbers, amounts, dates, times and the results of calculations
or other formulas do not carrry over in the correct format when merged
into wordprocessor documents. So the new versions are useless for small
business users.
You are wrong about the customers. MS does not have small business
customers, only big business customers: the OEMs.
The point of furnishing MS Works is not the end user's interest but the
end user's tying to MS products no matter how problematic they are.
Greetings,
Erik Jan.
Post by Jerry MartinI seem to recall reading somewhere that MS Works in version 4.5a and earlier
was essentially one program containing all of its various functions such as
word processor, spreadsheet, database, etc. This allowed these earlier
versions of Works to integrate well with each other. However, this changed
with Works 2000 (v5.0) and later, where all of these functions were now
separate program that were called by the Works Task Manger (main screen).
This use of separate program is what I think caused the integration problems
in these newer version of Works.
Cheers,
Jerry
Post by Erik JanThat is correct also. Works version 4.5a was great, although the feature
of making macros was taken out of it. So the crippling of the program
had then begun already. I loved this version and used it intensively.
The steadily ongoing crippling of Works made me see the arrogance of MS,
and made me look elsewhere, Openoffice, Firefox, Thunderbird and after
this GNU/Linux.
Greetings,
Erik Jan.
Post by Jerry Martin"Erik Jan"
But you still come back and contribute :)
Post by Erik JanYes, I do. As I said, I loved Works, and still do some work (mail merge,
spreadsheet, database and brochures) in it for my brother. I have given
up all Microsoft news groups except this one. People here have been very
friendly and helpful to me. I remember Kevin James, of course, and a
certain Rodney (from Thailand?) who stretched the program to its limits.
I learned a lot from them. Sometimes I give back some help still,
especially concerning mail merge. Human beings are strange creatures........
Greetings,
Erik Jan.
Post by Jerry Martin"Erik Jan"
That is I :)
Rodney from Aussie now
Yes Kevin and Omar were fantastic, they were good days.
Post by Erik JanNice.
Omar was the name I could not remember.
It is nice to know that there are friends even that far as on the other
side of the globe. (I am in Holland.) I hope all is well on your side of it.
Greetings from Holland.
Erik Jan.
Post by rodGreetings from Australia too, Eric Jan :)
Post by JeffJust loaded it on my new Windows 7 Ultimate (32bit). Works just fine. Just
make sure you run it in Xp compatibility mode.
Jeff
Post by James KevinBelated St David's day greetings from Wales too !
--
Kevin
Post by rodOur Guru ahs become a "lurker" I see :)
The organist at our church is Welsh
and her voice booms out at each meeting.
Lovely stuff.
"James Kevin"
Post by Erik JanHello Kevin,
thank you for your greetings. I am happy to see your message again. I
missed you in this newsgroup every time I read the the mail to see what
is going on here. I hope you are well and in good health.
Greetings
Erik Jan
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