Author Topic: Hope on the Horizon for Word Processing on QT (Read 7057 times)

yzord · « **on:** May 18, 2004, 06:18:36 pm »

Hello all,
You might remember my rants about how bad Hancom Word is (which I wont go into again, much to your relief), so I\'m glad to pass on that Softmaker is about to beta Textmaker, their comprehensive Word Processor on the Zaurus.

This is the thread I started in their forum many moons ago:
http://www.softmaker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=81

If you wish to be on the beta program, you can PM Martin on that forum. This definitely makes my day!
Hopefully they sell it like they sell their PocketPC version (when you buy the PocketPC version, they also give you version to use on your Windows box!). Awesome!

Yz

padishah_emperor · « **Reply #1 on:** May 18, 2004, 06:36:09 pm »

I\'ve done it.

EVERYONE, PLEASE GIVE 5 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME AND DO AS THE MAN SAYS! ;-)
WE NEED THIS!! TIME FOR COMMUNITY ACTION!!

DrWowe · « **Reply #2 on:** May 18, 2004, 06:36:58 pm »

Me too

dh · « **Reply #3 on:** May 18, 2004, 06:42:07 pm »

I was thrilled when I heard that Softmaker are making Textmaker for the Z. I hope it\'s just a matter of time before Planmaker (their Spreadsheet) is available as well. I signed up for the Beta program before my 860 arrived.

I\'ve been using Textmaker on my Pocket PC since it was released and it is the only full featured word processor for handheld devices.

With Ko/Pi, StageOne and now Textmaker, things are looking great for nice apps for the Zaurus.

DrWowe · « **Reply #4 on:** May 18, 2004, 06:47:31 pm »

Quote

things are looking great for nice apps for the Zaurus.

A good mail program is still needed!

nathanwms · « **Reply #5 on:** May 19, 2004, 10:53:54 am »

I\'m in too. This is exactly what we need, more high quality software.

spaul · « **Reply #6 on:** May 19, 2004, 11:22:57 am »

I PMed them too. I gave up on TM 4 linux as it had trouble spellchecking some of my docs (too slow even with dictionary on English). Emailed them but somehow missed the support forum. Reading old posts, never saw a support forum where the company was so responsive. Too bad they appear too smart to buy the Kompany or partner with Sharp.

ulf1 · « **Reply #7 on:** May 19, 2004, 12:51:22 pm »

Do not forget that at the very end you have to pay for TM. Which is ok if you desperately need a textprocessing app on the Zaurus.
Another idea I have for you is to port KDE KWord to the zaurus and use zautrixs microkde.
That would be really a great help for the community.

Ulf

yzord · « **Reply #8 on:** May 20, 2004, 04:12:31 pm »

Ulf1, I think most of us know that Textmaker is not free. However, I\'m happy to pay for a program that works as advertised and is well supported - as opposed to a port that may not ever exist for the Z. I\'d love to use KWord if it ever gets ported, but short of doing it yourself (which for most, including me, is impossible), how many developers can afford to take the time to do it with this small of a community? Let alone make sure it works properly?

As well, I dont know how a good commercial app is not a great help for the community (as opposed to a free word processor). Everyone who has used Hancom Office for anything non-trivial knows its weaknesses (many), but how many people have attempted to port a full-functioning word processor to the Z in the 4 or so years this platform has been out? I know of only one, and it\'s for the PdaXrom (Abiword), and that was mainly because it was easier to port over the X/Arm.

Commercial != bad for the community.
Yz

nilch · « **Reply #9 on:** May 21, 2004, 02:54:51 pm »

this s a good day fot the zaurus. and I think people should be more supportive of paid apps if they really are good. I will put my money in for such a good text processor with spell check and all that.

thanks yzord for the news and the links earlier.

tumnus · « **Reply #10 on:** May 21, 2004, 07:21:21 pm »

The beta ipk is out now, but only for those in the Zaurus beta test group.

DrWowe · « **Reply #11 on:** May 21, 2004, 07:30:19 pm »

Wow, it\'s big!

dh · « **Reply #12 on:** May 21, 2004, 07:49:46 pm »

Quote

Wow, it\'s big!

Textmaker is pretty big on the PocketPC as well and I always had trouble getting it to start on my Axim X5. Only a few people seemed to have this problem, it seemed to be related to what other apps were installed fighting for the precious resources. Once started it was great.

My beta version is being downloaded now. I\'m really looking forward to seeing how it works out. The support team at Softmaker are always really responsive and I\'m sure the bugs will be quickly resolved.

DrWowe · « **Reply #13 on:** May 21, 2004, 07:50:56 pm »

The funny thing is it\'s all relative. It\'s about the largest program I\'ve ever downloaded for a handheld device. And yet, it\'s less than 1/100th the size of MS Office.

yzord · « **Reply #14 on:** May 22, 2004, 09:07:06 pm »

Having used a Z for ~1.5 years now, yes it seems big. When I used to use the PocketPC, 6mb is actually no big deal.

However, all that aside, when you boot that baby up, you\'ll see why it uses that much space (thesaurus, spellcheck, a HUGE amount of options and supported feature, etc).
You wont be disappointed.

(This is why I wanted Textmaker on the Z, and why I kept bugging them to do it in email and webforum! )
Yz

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Author Topic: Hope on the Horizon for Word Processing on QT (Read 7057 times)