#Dave erickson xywrite simulator#
The standard in this category has long been set by SubLogic, with its Flight Simulator II, Jet, Stealth Mission and Microsoft Flight Simulator. They turn your monitor's screen into a fully equipped airplane instrument panel, with a view of the outside, and you have to work the controls pretty much the same way you do in a real plane to get from point A to point B. It costs $21.60 in paperback, $27.95 in hard cover.įlight simulators are among the most popular and addictive forms of computer games, if games they are. The book is published by Tab Books, Post Office Box 40, Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. ''XyWrite Made Easier,'' in its new revision, is a first-class guide to speeding your way to mastering a first-class word-processing program. Conversely, a little more time invested in the beginning stages with a new program can save hours when you are up to speed. Bach changed his copy of XyWrite to use the same commands as AppleWriter III, a program with which he was already comfortable.Īs many others who write on a computer have discovered, a program that is easy to learn can often become irritating after you've mastered it and still have to go through the menus or remove your hand from the keyboard to activate a mouse. Kopit, for example, contributes his programs for customizing XyWrite for the special formats that scripts require Mr. These users include Joel Heller, the television producer Arthur Kopit, the playwright and screenwriter, and Richard Bach, the novelist. There may be a bit too much personalizing for some tastes as a character named Beth helps her grandfather, Windom, get started with a computer and XyWrite, but other readers may find that approach a good way to get through what can be an intimidating subject.Īnyway, more than half the book is devoted to chapters explaining how real, not fictional, users have adapted the program to their needs. Rothman's work was partly subsidized by XyQuest, he is not always reverent toward his subject. The two later struck out on their own to form XyQuest.Īlthough Mr. Two employees of the ATEX Corporation, David Erickson and John Hild, produced XyWrite on the side, including much of the feel of the bigger system. The program first appeared in 1982 as an offshoot of ATEX, the operating system used at many newspapers and magazines.
The book covers the latest incarnation of the program, XyWrite III Plus, although much of it will be useful to owners of earlier versions. The new version is 375 pages long, 31 pages longer than the old one, but the changes and corrections are far more extensive than those numbers would suggest. The path to learning this powerful program should be smoothed considerably by David Rothman's entertaining ''XyWrite Made Easier,'' a revised and expanded edition of his 1987 book.
Users love it for its speed, its willingness to be customized and its horde of commands for accomplishing just about anything that can be done at a keyboard. ALTHOUGH it is not one of the big best sellers, the XyWrite word-processing program (pronounced ZY-write) has a loyal, even fanatical, following.
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