Word Processors Test

"Dictate 1.0"

Issue: 8/2008

On test: MacSpeech Dictate 1.0

When computers first broke onto the scene and systems began to grow in power and complexity, nothing seemed impossible. Yet some things that seemed to be such logical progressions still elude us. Chief among these is speech recognition, with a program yet to truly impress. Could Dictate be the first? → More

"StoryMill 3"

Issue: 4/2008

On test: Mariner Software StoryMill 3

There's a story in each and every one of us. The only problem is how to crowbar it out. A decent-sized book is 100,000 words and a project of this size is daunting. So much so that few ever attempt it. Of those who do, the vast majority should never have bothered. Every book is different but they're all structured in a broadly similar way, with clearly defined character development, scenes that build on what has gone before and a satisfying conclusion that will leave the reader desperate for more. The trouble is that the vast majority of people setting out to write their first story either don't know the rules or start off well, them stray into the realms of the unpublishable. With the aid of StoryMill though, it's pretty much impossible to write in an unstructured, disorganised way. → More

"Alternative document editors"

Issue: 4/2008

On test: Fookes Software NoteTab Pro, IDM Computer Solutions UltraEdit, Blumentals Software HTMLPad 2007 Pro, Zoho Notebook

Document editing means different things to different people. Some just want to be able to edit text, while others want to create and share documents on the web. Whatever your preference, you don't have to destitute yourself in the name of lining Bill Gates' pockets or install the bloater that is OpenOffice. We've been looking at the best alternatives available. → More

"Microsoft Word 2008"

Published on: 2/2008

On test: Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac

It has been 24 years since Microsoft first released Word, and four years since the program’s last major upgrade. How much more can Microsoft do to tweak its venerable word processor? Surprisingly, Word gets several major enhancements in Office 2008, the first version of Microsoft’s productivity suite to run natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs. → More