Re: Way OT: Adam Smith and Software Markets

["Marin David Condic" <mcondic.auntie.spam@acm.org>]

That's pretty much it. Word formatted documents are hip today, but that
doesn't give it permanent domonance. New documents get built all the time
and compatibility isn't always necessary, so a genuinely new product with
some new and desirable features could easily supplant Word - and probably
will. Granted, the change is *not* going to happen overnight so one can't
just wish it were so and expect it to happen, but it *can* happen over time.

So if one finds a word processor that has some big advantages over Word, the
best thing to do is just start using it. If you can produce documents with
it your only requirement is that you be able to give those documents to
someone else and that they have some means of actually viewing it - and
possibly changing it. (Barring requirements imposed by institutions) How do
you get there? Pick a route - like Word compatible files, PDF files, perhaps
even building a word processor that stores itself in the document so it will
execute wherever you send it. Creativity is important in trying to build
that better mousetrap. :-)

MDC
--
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Marin David Condic
I work for: http://www.belcan.com/
My project is: http://www.jsf.mil/

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    "Going cold turkey isn't as delicious as it sounds."
        -- H. Simpson
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Frank J. Lhota <NOSPAM.lhota.adarose@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:oG39a.24394$8f7.12579@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
>
> I'm sorry, I have just gotten too old to take this argument seriously. I
> recall the lament that as bad as WordStar is, it will never be replaced
> because of all those WordStar documents, and all those people trained in
> WordStar. Then WordPerfect came along, and suddenly that became the
de-facto
> standard. And yes, there was a time where conferences, businesses,
agencies
> and universities standardized on the WordPerfect format. Suddenly, the
> conventional wisdom was that WordPerfect was irreplacable. A few years
> later, WordPerfect was frequently replaced with MS Word. Now MS Word is
the
> "invincible"leader of the word processor world. "It will never be
replaced!"
> Yeah, right.
>