RE: Netscape the Big Win

["Robert A. Rosenberg" <hal9001@panix.com>]

At 10:39 7/20/95, Timothy C. May wrote:
>To state an obvious non-crypto use of such "modules," why do all major word
>processing and page layout apps have their own "dictionaries"? Why do I
>have to train the dictionaries of Word, Nisus, FrameMaker, MORE, etc.? That
>there have not been "dictionary modules," for many and sundry reasons, is
>telling. (Before anyone mentions it, one can on the Mac use things like
>"Thunder" instead of the local dictionaries...this is not the same as a
>module usable by all programs, but instead is a user choice to bypass the
>local dictionaries. We could quibble for hours about whether this is in
>fact a universal module or not.


Since the support that Thunder 7 provides (with Wordprocessing and
Wordprocessing-Like Programs that it supports) is indistinguishable from
that provided by each program's integrated SpellChecker (along with T7
providing a common set of "extra" User-Extendable Dictionaries as well as a
Glossary/Mis-Spelling/Words-to-Replace Dictionary [ie: Pre-Prime the list
of incorrectly spelled words for "Replace All" so the user's personal
misspellings are automatically corrected without any interaction on his/her
part]), I think the ball is initially in the court of those who claim it is
not a universal module (admittedly only for those WPs it supports) to
explain why is does not function as one would function if it existed.

IMHO - T7 is walking and quacking like a Duck so I think calling it a
"Duck" (as a first approximation) is not an unjustified action <g>.