Word Pro, formerly Lotus Ami Pro, touts innovative features, but they may not be enough to convert Microsoft and Novell users
Kenneth M. Sheldon
When Ami Pro first arrived on the scene, it was the leader among Windows word processors, thanks to such innovative features as WYSIWYG and style sheets. But it hasn't seen a major revision since July 1992, and its competitors -- notably Microsoft Word for Windows and Novell's WordPerfect for Windows -- have passed it in both power and popularity.
Still, die-hard believers have stuck with Ami Pro, hoping for a competitive upgrade. Finally, the faithful have been rewarded with so many new features that Lotus decided to give Ami Pro a new, if less original, name: Word Pro.
The Team Approach
The most significant new features in Word Pro stem fr
om Lotus's cross-application team-computing effort. Among these features are TeamReview and TeamConsolidate, which allows you to share documents with other people -- each of whom can make edits and revisions -- and then consolidate the changes into a final document.
The TeamReview Assistant feature enables you to specify who reviews a document, what kinds of changes are allowed, and through what medium the document is to be routed. Team members can make changes, highlight text, and add comments (including text, graphics, and even sound and video clips).
Using TeamConsolidate (
see the screen
), you can then merge all the changes and comments -- all keyed and color-coded for each team member -- into a single document. Word Pro's version control lets you maintain several versions of a document in a single file (see the sidebar for more details).
Lotus's team-computing philosophy is also evident in a feature called Notes/FX. This component allows Lotus Notes users to inte
grate Notes databases with Word Pro to create customized applications and documents.
Some Things Borrowed
Word Pro has adopted some slick features from other applications. For instance, divider tabs let you jump quickly to a specific section of your document. You can also link a divider tab to an external document or an OLE file.
Another borrowed feature, the InfoBox, originated in Lotus Improv and is now common across the Lotus SmartSuite applications. The InfoBox places all the editing and formatting tools for objects such as text and frames in a standardized, context-sensitive box.
The spelling checker, much improved, now supports interactive spell-checking as you edit. When you invoke Spell Check, it automatically highlights all the misspelled words in a document. You can quickly scan the document for true mistakes and edit them without deactivating the Spell Check dialog box.
Lotus has replaced the macro facility in Ami Pro with LotusScript, an object-orie
nted, cross-application scripting language that will eventually work across the entire suite of Lotus products. Unfortunately, you can't use it to run a macro from a keyboard combination. However, you can save scripts as external files or attach them to particular SmartMasters, the successors to Ami Pro's style sheets.
And, with Word Pro's script editor, you can link scripts to specific events, such as opening a document or clicking on a frame. Lotus says that Word Pro will run many Ami Pro macros. Given Microsoft's support of Visual Basic for Applications and WordPerfect's cross-application scripting, Lotus will certainly have a hard time differentiating its product line with LotusScript.
Playing Catch-Up
Some of Word Pro's features simply bring it up to speed with its competitors. SmartCorrect, for example, corrects typos on the fly and lets you add words that your fingers commonly mistype. Multilevel undo now lets you undo nearly any change that you've made to a documen
t, and the automatic timed-save feature now saves untitled documents.
As for performance, we found a late beta version of Word Pro poky running on a 66-MHz 486 (see the table
"Measured Words"
). Word Pro will not score any points for performance.
However, dedicated Ami Pro aficionados will like Word Pro. It adds plenty of new features and improvements while retaining a comforting familiarity. In addition, those who perform their computing tasks in groups -- especially users of Notes, 1-2-3, and other Lotus applications -- will undoubtedly welcome Word Pro's improved integration with those programs.
Word Pro's chances in the overall word processing race are less certain. While features like TeamReview and TeamConsolidate are more powerful and easier to use than anything found in pre-Windows 95 versions of Word and Word Perfect, a number of Word Pro's flashiest features are merely different -- not necessarily better -- ways of doing things. Word Pro is good enough to hold o
n to its believers, but it may not be innovative enough to woo a new generation of converts.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Lotus Word Pro $105
(estimated retail price)
Lotus Development Corp.
Atlanta, GA
(800) 343-5414
(404) 391-0011
http://www.lotus.com/
OPEN AND CONVERT 10-KB FILE SIZE AFTER
FILE (IN SECONDS) CONVERSION (IN KB)
===================================================================
Lotus Word Pro 8 19
Microsoft Word 1 18
Novell WordPerfect 1 11
screen_link (60 Kbytes)
Word Pro's TeamConsolidate feature lets you merge several versions of a document. In the merged document, each user's changes are keyed and color-coded.
Kenneth M. Sheldon is a freelance journalist and a former BYTE West Coast bureau chief. You can contact him on the Internet or BIX at
ksheldon@bix.com
.
Au Revoir, Mon Ami
