On September 07, 2013, at 02:20, Bob Stern wrote:

> 
>> [Randy Singer] may be well intentioned, but he is unfair in his argumentation. He keeps saying: "Only Word, for the Mac, has all of the advanced features that an attorney needs, such as document comparison, tables of authorities, collaboration, etc." He has been told that this is not true ...
> 
> [...] On the MILO list he has built a reputation as the premier expert on computer hardware and software, so many members of the MILO list unfortunately accept his advice as indisputable.

This is *exactly* the reason why I started this thread. If he were not so influential, I wouldn't care.


>> Assuming you are all on the MacLaw list, how come that Randy keeps saying that creating TOA is impossible to do in NWP?
> 
> there are 2 lists for attorneys using Macs.  Randy participates extensively in the list called MILO (Macs in Law Offices) hosted by Google Groups, but he does not participate in MacLaw because of an old feud.

Thanks for clarifying.


> 
> (The "user group" that Randy runs is a 3rd entity.  It is not a participatory discussion list; it is merely an email newsletter that Randy sends a few times per year to his 9000 "members".  He calls it a "user group" because it retains the official Mac user group status that Apple awarded it when it was a participatory discussion list, but Randy converted it to a newsletter when the MacLaw discussion list was founded 14 years ago.)

That's a funny story. :-)     By the way, have you seen Randy in action? Here he is drafting a Table of Authorities ..., consisting of three authorities only: Randy Singer, Randy Singer, and Randy Singer.

http://www.macattorney.com/rbs.jpg

:-)


> 
> My impression is that there is a major demographic difference between the MacLaw and MILO lists.  

Talking about demographic difference..., when I got my first Mac in 1992, then Nisus Writer was a respectable name, and people talked about it as: "Nisus. The amazing word processor" (which I think was the company's slogan). Now Nisus isn't even mentioned in many recent Mac books (I just flipped through the German MacBIBEL 2011 and a few other new books I have).


> MacLaw is much older, its members mostly were using Macs before the iOS era, and its members are imbued with the original Mac culture in which most people used apps developed by third parties rather than Apple and Microsoft.  MILO's members mostly switched from Windows to Mac during the iOS era, and they tend to preserve the old Windows mentality of considering Microsoft (previously) and Apple (now) more trustworthy than 3rd parties like Nisus.  Accordingly, Apple Pages tends to be the only word processor considered by the MILO people if they consider an alternative to Word.


Randy leaves no doubt that he believes Pages is the No. 2 word processor for the Mac. Actually "believe" is the wrong word here, … Randy "knows".


> 
> people who have never experienced the unique features of Nisus (especially Power Find or even its superior Draft View) don't seem to appreciate what they are missing.


Do you think it would be possible to create a detailed list of actions that can be easily achieved in Nisus, but NOT in MS Word? I’m thinking of some sort of help for newbies who are looking for a good word processor. I don't know if this is possible, because in Word you can also create macros; but that requires knowledge of Visual Basic which I don't have.

I receive Word documents every now and then that need to be edited. They are from students who use Word for Windows, so occasionally I'm forced to use Word, mainly because I need to tell them how to clean up certain mistakes in Word, such as leaving multiple spaces between words, not using styles, etc. I was surprised to learn that styles are well implemented in Word, perhaps even better than in NWP, but I haven't found out yet, how or if Search & Replace in Word can be saved. Does anyone know how to do that?


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