“I Write For A Living And I Stopped Using Word.”
Encore Review: The choices for writing tools on the Mac are varied and many, and subject to our tastes, needs, requirements, experience as computer users.
Most used in the business world is Microsoft Word, more for compatibility than love; understandable, given the cost and complexity of Word.
I have a special need and use something else and it will be a cold day on my behind before someone takes it from my Mac.
Don’t get me wrong. Microsoft Word actually works.... (excerpted).
3 Reader Comments
Roger S. H. Schulman said:
Oh God, please don’t recommend Final Draft products. I’m a screenwriter and they’re consistently buggy and thin-featured and expensive. It’s like Microsoft Office in that people use it because people use it. Please, please try Movie Magic Screenwriter in its new version, 6. I was a beta tester and it’s so far above Final Draft or FD A/V, when it looks down, it can’t even see Final Draft. (I received no money for beta testing; I genuinely think Screenwriter is 10 times better, besides running more stably and offering better customer support for free.)
http://scriptwriting.blogspot.com
Mr Squid said:
In general I find that emacs handles almost all of my writing needs. In some cases I need Word, usually for compatibility, and sometimes for the ability to embed graphics. I have yet to encounter a situation where one of these two tools does not solve the problem. Then again, most of what I write does not need a lot of formatting.
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Jack Jebedee said:
That Word is not all things to all users seems to be a testament to its worth. Apparently it does so well those things that it was designed to do, Word customers regularly try to extend it in specialized directions that fall outside Word’s intended use.
Final Draft/Final Draft AV are the gold standards for film and video production in the same way that Microsoft Office dominates business desktops.
I’m a fan of free software unless I can find a compelling reason to buy proprietary. I’m a big fan of Open Office. Polish is uneven among applications, but I love the way Write works. It makes Word seem awkward.
For Film and AV, I like Celtx (finally reached version 1.0 a few weeks ago) and there I will remain until I find a good reason to leave it. (That good reason had better pay for its replacement.) So far, I’m amazed at how well Celtx works. No adware, no limitations, there aren’t any nags. I’ve finally resigned myself to understanding that it’s really… free!
... JJ