Posted Mon Jun 27, 2016 5:52 am
Well, Workbench itself is an Amiga DOS program, just like Windows until Windows ME was an MS-DOS program. To me it's either an Amiga DOS program or it's a "non-DOS program", which means when it loads you never see the AmigaDOS screen, it uses its own custom bootloader. While many (European especially) games did this I've never come across a single software application that was not AmigaDOS. As long as you see the AmigaDOS screen pop up during loading, even if workbench is never loaded, you can, theoretically, install the game in some way onto your hard drive and load it from Workbench, which, for me, has always tied the two together.
Although I know what you're getting at, you're just saying you put the disk in, Workbench loads with icons, you start up the program, you can multi-task if you want, it's utilizing the Amiga's graphical operating system. Which is always cool in my book.
You'll have to define "mouse driven GUI with menu system" a little more clearly for me, though. Often times, that was the ONLY way a DOS original was adapted to the Amiga. They rarely made something keyboard only and usually had menus... But does it have "page view"? I can't pinpoint a single DOS word processor that ever had the modern looking page view, where you look at a white "page" which is how the paper is actually shaped.
From anything I've ever seen of Word Perfect on any system of that era, it was all text based. Doing a quick look up of the various versions, it was not until Word Perfect for Windows, which was version 5.2, where they made the switch to graphics. In fact, it seems version 5.1 received HEAVY criticism because it was "called" Word Perfect for Windows, but it was a DOS application, installed from DOS, you could run it via the MS-DOS prompt, that's what made it "windows" to them. HA!
And, apparently, in a version I should download, Word Perfect 6.0 for DOS in 1993 was the first and only DOS version to use a graphics system with the what you see is what you get look that, honestly, ended up destroying these former top of the pack DOS word processors. Microsoft Word for Windows came out in 1990, and it has not changed much to this day. And, didn't really offer anything the Amiga or the Mac had not already shown everyone...
^ I mean that's just my reasons for never understanding people that thought the Amiga had nothing to offer with Word Processors... The Amiga original stuff was all graphics based, with the still used and way ahead of its time page real page view. The DOS powerhouses, which a lot of people wanted on their Amiga's back then, I see the features, I get it, it's still text based, and, I don't care how many columns it has, looks bad to me.
And, in a move that would shadow them and lead to their ultimate failure, Word Perfect came out on the Amiga looking just like DOS... It may have "technically" been a graphics mode but it still looks like a text mode. They didn't care about the Amiga and what it was capable of. Nor did they care about Windows, and they paid the price. I mean I guess they're still around, can't say I knew that until today, but their first "Windows" version was panned, it took them another 3 years to do what they should have done with the Amiga, but sadly, for them, Microsoft Word was already doing for Windows... And we all know who won.
Oh man! Bad designs in my opinion. Word Perfect was John Madden Football! Year after year they released version after version with little changes and boy did they charge a nice fee for them! I've always wondered if the Amiga community being so happy about their own version of Word Perfect "should have" been that happy... Maybe they should have done what the Windows people did not long after, shame them into making something good!
hahha! But that's just my opinion, and, looks like a lot of people liked Word Perfect, even for the Amiga! I'm wondering if this Amiga version 5.0 truly used a graphical system or if it was just going after the DOS version, which they were known for. And to be fair to them, it's not like businesses were suddenly buying up Amiga's because of the graphical based word processors... Hell, Mac wasn't even having much success with it. I suppose it was not wrong of them to continue what everyone loved, but they are guilty of terrible foresight. So it's always been strange to me hearing thoughts on those old DOS word processors, which, if you have one, you've got them all! Microsoft Word 5.5 for DOS is still downloadable for free from Microsoft's website, and, good luck showing me anything lotus or WP had over that version, they all looked the same! I guess Word 5.5 for DOS was "graphical", not text based, but you could have fooled me and I've used it for years!
Would love to see some screenshots though, if you got any. Would be cool to compare... and yes, per the original post from Intric8, this might be a good ticket for him with the Amiga version having that awesome compatibility with the DOS version, and, I assume, Word Perfect for Windows, maybe to this day since it's still around, also might have support for those old versions... I'm pretty sure Microsoft Word had support for it for a little while, and can probably be downloaded somehow.
-But... Then you'll be the Amiga... Writing in DOS.... AHHHHHHHH!!!! Hahahah! But I'm really looking forward to the continuation of this thread by Intric8 - I have the feeling that will be awhile, because he's a man that wants that physical copy! Which I can respect, but I hope you don't become like LGR, and suddenly be dead set against pirating in 2016, long after the damage has been done. I really think it would be a great idea to just download a bunch of ADFs of all the word processors you can find, give them a quick test, see what they give you, maybe write up something super quick. Then go on to the next one and so on. If you manage to find you're looking for, then you start looking for the real deal. Otherwise... man, you've got your work cut out for you and your wallet is not going to be happy.