The Giant Text Editor Review by Howard Carson with Bill Johnstone and a Cast of Thousands The problem was (after promising a comprehensive review of text editors to dozens of people), the actual task turned out to be monumental; not deciding on what features to review, but what specific editors to include on the list! In case anybody is unaware of it, there are literally two dozen legitimately decent text editors for TOS/GEM computers, which are available either as shareware, freeware or commercial products. There are another dozen text editors, but they're either rudimentary, broken, terribly incompatible, or just plain useless. The operating principle on which this review / overview is based therefore, is simply that a few text editors stand out so clearly from their siblings that they establish unambiguous and worthwhile benchmarks. It becomes possible in such a situation, to utilize the benchmarks to measure the viability of all the others. That's what we did and as you'll see, the results are delightfully informative! WHERE DO YOU BEGIN? We settled on several fundamental factors to establish our pool of benchmark software. After agonizing late into the night it was determined that the first fundamental factor should be ease of use. A text editor does not 'do' fonts. It does not 'do' fancy formatting (bold, subscript, superscript, underline, etc.). A text editor is a text editor, not a word processor or a document processor. It manages (primarily) ASCII only. It must be easy to load and launch. It must be easy to configure. It must have menus with clearly defined, easily accessed options, and those options must lead to an array of features and tools which ease the writing, editing or programming process. The second important factor is stability. A good text editor must load and run on a variety of TOS versions, Geneva, MinT/AES 4.xx and MagiC. While we dropped TOS 1.0 & 1.02 compatibility (they are more than ten years old, after all), TOS 1.04-4.04, MinT/AES 4.xx, Geneva and MagiC compatibility was deemed absolutely essential. Everything here seems to runs properly on all TOS hardware platforms too: 520STf, Mega ST. STe. TT, Falcon, T40/T60, and FaST Technologies equipped Megas. The third caveat on the list is documentation. We found that most of the text editors we browsed had abysmal documentation. There was far too much chat and far too much disorganized technical detail. The best text editors (including the inexpensive or free stuff) were accompanied by documentation which was properly organized and clearly written. A programmer who creates a fine piece of software should be lauded and praised. If the same programmer runs out of steam during the creation of documentation, it is distinctly possible that his superb software will languish for lack of use. If a potential user can't understand the software (even with the manual), there is no way he or she is going to be able to use it. The fourth criterion was difficult to decide, but we eventually settled on grading the visual style of the software. We decided that in this day and age of 3D windows and buttons, pop-up help balloons, drag-'n-drop, multiple clipboards and so on, any currently supported piece of software which didn't at least pay some lip service to modern styling should go straight into the trash can. We made a couple of exceptions because the programs seemed so darn good in all the other areas. The fifth and final criterion was speed. Although speed was hampered somewhat by some iterations of the more functionally detailed software, there was still a good case to be made for utilizing benchmarks which were both attractive and quick. We were concerned mostly about how fast files could be loaded, how quickly files could be backed up (saved), how smoothly and quickly scrolling could be accomplished, how quickly search and replace commands could be executed and how quickly the software responded to typing, keyboard and mouse commands. SO HOW DO YOU TEST A TEXT EDITOR? The best way to test text editors is to use them, all at the same time, with half a dozen enthusiastic, experienced volunteers. Everyone gets a chance to compare notes. The individual writing the review gets to talk to everyone at the same time (ask everyone the exact same questions), and observe the subtle differences in people's computer and keyboard use, which can often result in remarkably different responses. Of course, everybody involved in the test has got to try each and every text editor being tested. It's a fun and (occasionally) dangerous way to kill a long weekend (some testers disagree more vehemently than others when defending the efficacy of their favorite software.) There must also be half a dozen computers handy, along with monitors, hard drives, printers, AC power, power bars, mice, desks, chairs, lots of paper, and lots of things (letters, transcriptions, etc.) which have to be typed. It all worked quite well, although we had to settle for a couple of testers who participated with us on-line, rather than in-person. Check this out. This graph shows how well each of the benchmark editors did, in the opinion of our testers, based on the criteria listed above. Your particular mileage may vary of course, but this graph is a good basis upon which to begin your own experiments . . . WHICH TEXT EDITORS MADE THE CUT? Edith Professional v1.221P, Q.E.D. v3.97e, Everest v3.5e, and Edit Plus v3.13, were chosen as the four preeminent text editors. We used them as our benchmarks, and then began culling the other twenty editors; it didn't take very long to come up with three runners-up: 7UP v2.31e, STeno v2.11, and Alice v1.42. Please make careful note of the fact that 7UP v2.31e was relegated to the runners-up group only because of its bizarre paragraph formatting routines; in every other way, 7UP is a match for both Edith Pro and Q.E.D. SO . . . WHO IS WHOM? Edith Professional and Q.E.D. are the heavy hitters of the bunch (along with 7UP). They feature an enormous range of easily accessible tools. They feature reasonable to excellent speed, superb good looks, and in the case of Edith Professional serve up the most nascently intuitive interface on any platform. Amazing stuff. Annius Groenink, the Edith programmer, is a Mathematician in the Netherlands and is currently busy porting Edith to Unix and Windows. Q.E.D. is the brainchild of Tom Quellenberg, who passed along development to Christian Felsch in Germany (who is continuing to develop this superb editor). Edith was available as Shareware, but has recently been released as Freeware by the author. It is available via free download from all the usual ftp sites, and is now popping up on BBS file areas too. Edit Plus erupted out of the mind of Craig Harvey about six years ago. It was originally called EdHak. After a brief teething period, Craig offered EdHak as shareware, and later turned the program into a viable commercial product. It is probably the most widely used, commercial text editor in North America. It is also the odd duck of the bunch because of it's radically non-standard interface. It presents a normal GEM window, but with only one menu item which drops down to reveal two small pages of selections, arranged in two columns. Edit Plus will edit just about any file you care to through at it: binaries, text, disk sectors, you name it. Edit Plus is available from all Atari dealers and directly from Craig Harvey. Everest is definitely the best general text utility of the bunch. It's fast, and suitable for a wide variety of tasks. Everest also verges on some of the serious power displayed by the heavy hitters. Everest is extremely well supported by its German author Oliver Schmidt. The program is top-notch shareware and can be registered through Oliver or via Joe Connor's excellent shareware registration scheme. STeno is a commercial product from Gribnif Software and was originally coded by Eric Rosenquist (of STalker fame). STeno development continues under the skilled hands of Jeffrey Krzysztow. It is a good, basic text editor, designed originally to run as an adjunct to STalker. STeno can be purchased from any Atari dealer or directly from Gribnif. 7UP is the curious one of the bunch. It is the brainchild of Michael Thanitz, a immensely talented German programmer. Although 7UP has every bit as much power as Edith and Q.E.D., its huge drawback resides in the fact that text paragraph and file reformatting is poorly implemented; it is a powerful editor which is really most useful in the hands of programmers. Michael provides responsive on-line support for all registered users (and you can register directly through him). Alice is the plain one of the bunch (though everybody commented on its small but efficiently thoughtful selection of functions). It's somewhat long in the tooth too, though there are Alice v2.0 and v2.01, both of which are entirely in German. Some charitable soul (who owns a copy of Edit Plus!?), might want to take a couple of hours and translate the newer version(s). The only deficiency Alice demonstrates is its lack of word wrapping (more about this later). Alice is a Public Domain German product by Ralf Kaufmann of Essen, Germany. TEENY-TINY TEXT AND MAJOR BIG-TIME FILES Let's review some Straw Poll results. In an effort to determine the uses to which typical users were putting these editors, we did some basic phone calling. In order to come up with a list that was locally accessible, we culled 200 names from the latest Toronto Atari Federation membership lists (it's still a big club!), and irritated them all with a brief quiz. Most everyone cooperated, and provided us with a basis on which to proceed with the aforementioned wild weekend. Zowie. Check this out: The first two usage indicators (`Use' and `Don't Use') show the percentage of those surveyed who use the benchmark editors. The last three usage indicators (`Programming', `Writing', and `On-Line') show how much each editor is used for each task. If the numbers don't always add up to 100%, it's simply because people don't always use text editors for all their text editing tasks; almost everyone owns word processors and/or document processors as well. It's obvious from our poll and graph that Edith Professional, Q.E.D., Everest and 7UP are used primarily for writing, text editing and programming. It is equally obvious that Edit Plus and STeno are the most widely used text editors on-line, by a rather large margin. Most of these editors (except Alice and STeno) are also capable of displaying text in points sizes other than the normal 10 point, bold, TOS system font. As a matter of fact, some of these editors (excluding Alice, Edit Plus and STeno) are also sensitive to the presence of SpeedoGDOS (or NVDI) and can be configured to use the font of your choice for display. Everest, Edith Pro, and Q.E.D. will also use GDOS for printing. For those among us who make a living at writing (or who just do an awful lot of it) there is no doubt whatsoever that Edith Professional has the most comprehensive array of writer friendly features. In addition, Edith is capable of handling text files which are truly enormous: try 9MB research documents on for size! The runner up in the smooth handling of large files sweepstakes was Q.E.D., with Everest a close third. Although Edit Plus uses an automatic swap feature for files which are larger than its configurable buffer size, and although 7UP claims to be able to handle monster-sized files, neither of them could match Edith and Q.E.D.'s stability when poking around in or creating really large files. Edith doesn't do anything very quickly (compared to Edit Plus or Everest for example, which are real speed-burners), but Edith doesn't slow down at all when managing big files either. Alice manages medium size files well (albeit much more slowly than the others) and is even associated with the management of large files too; it's used to browse and search through the 3MB catalog text file on the Suzy B's Software Treasury CDs. Alice's biggest problem is the fact that it doesn't wrap (format) words or lines. This is a very serious drawback in a modern text editor. However, Alice has a rosy combination of other user friendly features. Alice's heritage is that of a typing program however, and therefore requires that you hit `Return' at the end of every line; a soft bell is thoughtfully provided (just like a real typewriter) which `dings' with each keystroke if you continue typing past whatever column you've set as your right margin. FEATURE WARS!! Edith, Q.E.D. and 7UP boast a comprehensive list of features which are absolutely stunning. These three programs are spectacularly facile in their ability to call forth writing and editing functions for programming and text manipulation; genuine aids to quick, effective, and detailed programming, writing and text transcription. Edith Professional: In the middle of a document (or anywhere else) you can use the mouse or keyboard shortcuts to: Start a new file, open an existing file, open a file from a stored list, close a single window/file, save, save as, save a marked block, import a binary, set up project and programming sessions, print via GEMDOS or GDOS (in single or multiple columns with a variety of cut, copy, paste, delete, overlay (Edith allows you to cut, copy, paste and merge columns!), select a single letter, select a single word, select a single line, mark blocks, mark quadrants (isolated sections), select entire documents, shift text to the left, shift text to the right, turn word wrap and indent on and off, capitalize, reduce to lower case, increase to upper case, compress tabs, expand tabs, kill trailing blanks, erase, sort, reverse order, format, cut lines, delete lines, search, search for multiple targets, replace, push positions (intelligent bookmarking), pop positions, replace, go to specific lines, flash matching brackets, operate in replace or insert mode, iconify, cycle windows, cycle dialogs, tile vertically or horizontally, increase or decrease font size, use speedo(GDOS) fonts for display, choose different fonts for different dialogs, utilize a note/memo pad/window, record and use macros, use kurzels (auto expanding abbreviations), call a selectable ASCII table, call one of three internal clipboards, restore deleted text which is out of the reach of the `undo' feature, and call a variety of filters (modular utilities), which provide information about file size (bytes, number of lines and words, average line and word length, line style), history of usage, provide unix-style spellchecking, quote text blocks for you (for answering e-mail!), and even bring up a useful calculator. Whew! Edith Professional performs admirably under TOS, MinT / MultiTOS (and AES 4.xx), and MagiC. Edith suffers a noticeable slowdown when running under Geneva. Edith's word wrapping and justification routines are superb, although cutting and pasting generally means you have to move the cursor to the beginning of a line and hit F4 to reformat. Edith also reformats columns (because of its ability to do overlays). It is an impressive, heavy duty performer. Edith's search and replace functions are extremely well-mannered: you can search and mark, mark the first instance, mark single words or whole lines, and replace one or more instances. Edith is the only text editor of the group to implement Drag & Drop between its clipboards and/or between open windows. Edith also supports background window operation, and has built in auto window topping routines (although you don't have to use them; simply placing the cursor over an open window will activate it for typing and editing without topping it!). Words can be capitalized or changed to upper or lower case without having to first mark any text. The search and mark feature allows you to locate specific instances of letter sequences or words, and then utilize the capitalize or lower case functions to alter entire documents. Edith also sports its very own file selector which runs in a window (pre-dating Freedom by a couple of years!), and all its dialogs are non-modal. Edith runs as a program or an accessory and despite its detail, complexity and power, affords anyone surprisingly easy and intuitive use. It really is a brilliant design. Q.E.D.: In the middle of a document (or anywhere else) you can use the mouse or keyboard shortcuts to: Start a new file, open an existing file, merge a file, begin (or open) a programing project, close a window/file, save, save as, revert to the previous file, cycle windows, print via GEMDOS (using some supplied, well written drivers rather than generic Epson routines) or GDOS using, obtain individual file info (time and date stamp, size in bytes, number of lines), undo previous actions, cut, copy, paste, select blocks, select entire texts, transpose (this fabulous feature allows you to place the cursor between two letters which are reversed and hit CTRL-T to un-reverse 'em!), shift text to the left, shift text to the right, capitalize, increase to upper case, decrease to lower case, search, search and replace, go to specific lines, set bookmarks, compress tabs, expand tabs, convert tabs (from true tabs to editor tabs), record and use macros, call a selectable ASCII table, operate in insert or overwrite mode, tidy up (resize) multiple windows, autosave files, reload the last file (or any specified project) you were working on when you last shut down the program, call a shell (such as a programming shell), call a compiler, `make' file, link project sections, make and execute code via a shell, and store a variety of commands in function keys. Whew again! Q.E.D. runs as a program only. It is almost as perfect a programmer's editor as Edith Pro. It is a quick performer, sports delightful, 3D, grey on grey dialogs (a la no|Desk), quick, smooth scrolling, perfect stability under TOS, and multitasks extremely well under Geneva, MinT/AES 4.xx and MagiC. Q.E.D.'s continuous paragraph formatting ensures easy to read/write documents, no matter how much cutting and pasting you do. There is a partially implemented reformat command to help out, whenever the program doesn't reformat properly. Q.E.D.'s search and replace functions are almost as elaborate as Edith's. Q.E.D. requires letters and/or words to be highlighted before they can be capitalized or changed to upper or lower case, a process which renders such functions somewhat useless; it is faster in most instances to simply delete a word or letter and re-type it. However, the search and mark feature allows you to locate specific instances of letter sequences or words, and then utilize the capitalize or lower case functions to alter entire documents. The CTRL-T (Transpose) command works without having to highlight anything however, and remains the most singularly useful feature of any text editor on the market. Q.E.D. is almost as well designed as Everest, in terms of easy, intuitive use. Q.E.D. requires some care when placing the cursor with the mouse; it is not quite as forgiving at sensing your mouse click at the beginning of a word (the keyboard controls are the preferred choice of most typists anyway.) Programmers rarely use the mouse, in any event. The 'Format Paragraph' command is also a bit less than optimal; it doesn't always sense short lines. This line wrap problem exists because the author says he just doesn't use QED as a text editor all that much. Everest: In the middle of a document (or anywhere else) you can use the mouse or keyboard shortcuts to: Start a new file, open an existing file, merge a file, abandon (clear a file you're working on), save, save as, close a window/file, cycle windows, save changes only, print via GEMDOS or GDOS, cut, copy, paste, delete, reformat, shift text to the left, shift text to the right, quote text for e-mail, select a single word, search, replace, go to a specific line, flash matching brackets, set bookmarks (Everest calls them labels), tile windows vertically or horizontally, operate in insert or overwrite mode, display info on individual files, use kurzels (auto expanding abbreviations), call a programming shell, and utilize compile and make commands. Everest runs as a program only and is very fast, even with the maximum number of windows open containing large files. Its file list feature makes it easy to keep track of what you've got loaded. While it doesn't have all the writer oriented typing features of the heavy hitters, it can reformat large paragraphs and documents in far less time than it takes to tell about it. Everest's most salient virtue is the fact that it is extremely usable. What that means is Everest has a straightforward interface with a lot of power at hand just beneath the surface, which is intuitively accessible. The program is a fine multitasking application, and seems to run flawlessly under all the the current multitasking environments. Oliver Schmidt has also implemented something in Everest's code that prevents any cursor, delete key or backspace key overrun, irrespective of XControl Panel keyboard settings or how long you hold down a particular key! The coding is probably illegal as hell, but everybody loves it. Everest is arguably the most popular shareware text editor on the market and is as easy to use in its simple manner as Edith is in its more complex manner. Everest has a small, intermittent bug, which causes the cursor to shift one space occasionaly, during Delete key or Backspace key operations; you'll periodically find yourself deleting lead or trailing letters accidentally. this problem seems to manifest itself on the Falcon. Edit Plus: In the middle of a document (or anywhere else) you can use the mouse or keyboard shortcuts to: Open a new or existing file, save, save as, print blocks or entire files, upload blocks of data (text) to the serial or MIDI ports (handy for those who use a VT-52 terminal or console window such as those provided by no|Desk, Thing and MagiC), send blocks of text into other applications (this works beautifully in conjunction with STalker (which gets along perfectly with this so-called `Kwiksend' feature), quote text for answering e-mail and then Kwiksend while on-line, record and use macros, search and replace, reformat, operate in insert or overwrite mode, insert the date at the cursor position, operate in text or hack mode (hack mode allows you to edit and properly save binary or hex code, one of Edit Plus' inimitable features), mark and unmark blocks, mark an entire file, go to specific blocks and lines, use the clipboard or RAM buffer for editing blocks, increase text to upper case, decrease text to lower case, capitalize, and clear the text window of its contents. Edit Plus runs as a program or an accessory. Although it will not open more than one file window at a time, you can launch multiple iterations of the program and open texts simultaneously; it's awkward but it works. Craig Harvey provides masterful support for all of his registered users, spending a lot of time on-line answering e-mail. Edit Plus' most striking features are centered on its ability to edit almost any kind of file: it's used regularly by hundreds (if not thousands) of users to translate RSC files, PRG files (from German to English), hack disk sectors, as well as writing and editing normal text. It seems to work flawlessly under all the available multitasking environments and all the available TOS versions. Once you get used to the funny menu system, Edit Plus will likely become your editor of choice for a broad range of small editing tasks. Edit Plus is not aimed at any particular group of users (or tasks); rather, it is designed to be able to edit anything, quickly and effectively. Craig's unconventional design succeeds admirably. Like Edith Professional and Everest, once you use Edit Plus and get to know it, it is unlikely you'll ever give it up. 7UP: In the middle of a document (or anywhere else) you can use the mouse or keyboard shortcuts to: Start a new file, open an existing file, pick a file from a stored list, insert a file, obtain extensive information on individual files (creation date and time, number of lines, number of pages, longest line, and the number of active files), close individual windows, save, save as, abort, call a TOS shell, set up different page layouts, print via GEMDOS using a combination of variables, undo last operation, cut, copy, paste, select blocks or entire files, shift text to the left or right, sort lines, toggle case, increase marked blocks to upper case, decrease marked blocks to lower case, capitalize marked letters or words, search and replace, search inside other files, mark blocks, go to lines or pages, call a rather extensive mathematical and statistical calculator, customize the calculator's notation base, operate in insert, overwrite, block or column mode, record and use macros, use kurzels (auto expanding abbreviations), close all windows, tile windows vertically, horizontally or staggered, call a selectable ASCII table, compare texts for differences, check matching brackets, and preview text for printing (a series of page thumbnails are displayed showing your spacing and how the text will look on the page!). 7UP is a masterful, smashing looking piece of work. It sports a delightful, customizable icon bar and information line in every window which provides continuous file, layout and positional data as you type. It will format paragraphs properly, but not before they're first fully justified, re-marked, and then reformatted; a needlessly lengthy, four step process which all the other editors do in one or two steps. It's also a process which prevents 7UP from fully embracing its benchmark aspirations. 7UP is so attractive and useful in other ways that people have registered it without fully acclimating themselves to its odd formatting method. 7UP's formatting method is quite powerful when used by programmers, but quite unsuitable for writers or editors. STeno: In the middle of a document (or anywhere else) you can use the mouse or keyboard shortcuts to: Start a new file, open an existing file, insert (merge) a file, save, save a marked block, save as, print a file or a marked block, undo the last operation, cut, copy, paste, delete, mark and unmark blocks of text, print via GEMDOS, select entire files, reformat paragraphs or entire files, search, search and replace, go to specific line numbers, expand tabs when saving or cutting and copying, call the accessory version of STeno as a type-ahead buffer for STalker, send quoted or unquoted blocks of text to STalker, call STalker, and tile its window with STalker's. While STeno's function and feature list is a bit short, the program's usefulness in conjunction with STalker is undeniable. It is a perfect companion to STalker (and just as fundamentally stable, which is a good thing!), as well as being a reliable, basic text editor for occasional use with small to medium size files. STeno is unadorned and functional, and has one concession to luxury: it displays cursor position information in the title bar of the window. Like Edit Plus, STeno will only display one file at a time. If you use STalker and/or have limited ASCII editing needs, STeno is definitely the software of choice. Alice: In the middle of a document (or anywhere else) you can use the mouse or keyboard shortcuts to: Start a new file, open an existing file, close the top window, close all windows, save (which closes the current file window), save as (which closes the current file window also), back up (save and resume), back up as, print via GEMDOS, mark and unmark blocks, cut, copy, insert (paste), delete, clear the cut/copy buffer, select from a list of loaded (active) files, search, search and replace, go to line, go to page, call up basic file info (number of pages, lines, longest line, number of letters), and delete entire files. Alice is a nice enough, fast enough, functional enough text editor, which only falls down when you consider it lacks the ability to auto-wrap. That omission alone is enough to demote it to runner up status. It is very stable under all operating systems however, and provides efficient text editing, reliable multiple windowing, and that nifty time & date display in the upper right corner. Alice made the selection cut primarily because it's stable, functional, compatible and free. MANUALS (RTFM?) Edith Professional's A4 size, printed manual, replete with screen shots, table of contents and index, is far and away the best manual in the group. Edith also features context sensitive, on-line help which does not require the presence of ST-Guide, TurboC Help, 1st Guide, or any other accessory Help utility. The on-line help is nearly as extensive as the printed manual. Annius has done a wonderful job of providing easily accessed, clear and lucid guidance. Edit Plus and STeno are supplied with booklet sized, complete, well- ordered manuals, which are required reading for anyone wishing to get the most from either editor. Both editors also have pop-ups (accessed via the Help key), containing a list of all the standard keyboard and mouse commands. Edit Plus' pop-up actually contains the program's entire keyboard command structure. Q.E.D. can access on-line help, but only via ST-Guide. 7UP can access on-line help, but only via 1stGuide. The Hypertext files supplied with Q.E.D. and 7UP are comprehensive and useful, though 7UP's suffers from translation inconsistencies. There is no English manual of any kind available for Q.E.D. There are no DOC files supplied in the event that Help accessories cannot be utilized. Everest is supplied with an extensive, well-ordered DOC file, which is a must-read for anyone wishing to get the most out of this excellent editor. It is one of the better written DOC files for any program, having suffered few (if any) problems during its translation. Everest will also make use of the TurboC Help accessory if it's present. Alice (bless her simple heart), doesn't have any regular manual or DOC file. Alice has a few small, simple on-line help screens which can be called via mouse or keyboard, and which deal with mouse, keyboard, block and window commands and functions. Though seemingly barren and useless, the help screens are thorough and appropriate enough for Alice's unpretentious aspirations. CONCLUSION - THE BIG DECISION!? So what do you buy or register? Good question! The answer is that there is no answer which applies to all individual needs!! All of these babies have their intrinsic virtues which make them ideal for a lot of different people, working under a lot of different circumstances. The fact remains that one of these excellent programs can't answer all your needs; you must have at least two of them (or two of your `equivalent' favorites among the dozen and a half also-rans). The FIRST PLACE combination is Edith Professional, and Edit Plus. The SECOND PLACE combination is Q.E.D., Edit Plus and/or STeno. The THIRD PLACE combination is Everest, Edit Plus and/or STeno. The FOURTH PLACE combination is 7UP, Edit Plus and/or STeno. The FIFTH PLACE combination is Alice, Edit Plus and STeno. TECH LISTS, GOOFBALLS, DEDICATED SOULS, AND THE RIGHT THINGS TO DO!! Here's the short list of editors we culled to come up with our benchmark programs: Edith Professional, Edith (shareware version), Q.E.D., Everest, Edit Plus, EdHak, 7UP, Oddball (no kidding), EMACS (shudder), vi (shudder), Flash (it's a telecommunications program, but the built-in text editor is pretty darn good), Freeze Dried Terminal (ditto), ST Writer, Tempus II (a real gem, but discontinued in its original form; the new release of the Tempus Word series has remade the program into a German-only word processor), Edwin, Elvis, Easy Text, Pen Pal, Pro Edit, MGWriter, STevie, and SpiritEd (which almost made the cut; it's worthy of consideration). This software test session was conducted by Current Notes magazine. The testing group consisted of: Steven Burris, Howard Carson, Donna Hemsley, Bill Johnstone, Dave Lee, Lianne Reitter, and Jack Reikel. By the way (for those who give a darn about such things), at the end of the week which followed the massive test session, virtually all the testers had put Edith Professional, Edit Plus and Everest into regular use on their systems. Two testers substituted Q.E.D. for Edith Professional, and STeno for Edit Plus. Also for those who give a darn about such things (and you should!), all of the programs tested were registered versions, fully enabled, and supported by their respective authors. WHERE TO FIND THESE GREAT EDITORS? Alice - download it from just about anywhere. It's Freeware. Edith Professional - download it from just about anywhere. It's Freeware. EditPlus - download the demo from just about anywhere. Order from any dealer. Order direct from the author (US$39.95): Clear Thinking 14 Payeur Road Ann Arbor, MI 48108 USA (313) 971-8671 Everest - download it from just about anywhere. Contact the author at: Oliver Schmidt Haselredder 23 23701 Eutin Germany (order this Shareware item from Joe Connor) QED - download it from just about anywhere. Contact the author at: Christian Felsch Bevenser Weg 18 D-21079 Hamburg felsch@tu-harburg.d400.de 7UP - download it from just about anywhere. Contact the author at: Michael Thanitz Osningstrasse 69 33605 Bielefeld Germany (order this Shareware from the author for DM50) STeno - download the demo from just about anywhere. Order from any dealer or directly from Gribnif (US$39.95): Gribnif Software P.O. Box 779 Northampton, MA 01061 USA PH (413) 532-2424 FAX (413) 532-2540 That it (that's enough)! ˝Copyright 1996, 1997, Current Notes magazine. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.