Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-ses!hpcc01!hpwrce!howeird From: howeird@hpwrce.HP.COM (Howard Stateman) Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop Subject: Re: Ventura/Pagemaker Message-ID: <7650015@hpwrce.HP.COM> Date: 25 Sep 89 16:10:23 GMT References: <52@rsoft.bc.ca> Organization: Ye Olde Salt Mines Lines: 38 mr@cica.cica.indiana.edu (Michael REGOLI) writes: >We use Aldus PageMaker (PC version 3/Windows 286) to publish a >quarterly magazine. Each issue runs between forty-eight and >sixty-four pages, although the most recent issue was eighty pages. >We've been discovering that midway through an issue, the program >begins acting very flaky: crashing randomly [and more details on this].. I've been a tech support person, specializing in Pagemaker for about a year, and confirm what you are saying. My talks with Aldus gave me the impression that they know the limitations of their program well, and are working behind the scenes to fix it in a not-Real-Soon-Now forthcoming release. Since I do not work for Aldus, or have any access to their proprietary information, this is just a rumor. One other thing is they seem to want their DOS and Mac versions to be as parallel as possible, and this causes problems on DOS machines which try to do the work of a Mac with those slow, limited 16-bit processors. They could probably do a lot better if they released a 386 version of PM. IMHO, Pagemaker is wonderful for small publications, up to 16 pages, where speed of learning, speed of use and maximum creativity are needed. Ventura, with its awful user interface, is nevertheless a better program for large, dull publications such as booklets, books, 100-page business reports and situations where you need to create a lot of small items (memos, chain letters) with the same formatting. Since I mostly do short things, such as training materials, flyers and newsletters, Pagemaker is by far the best solution for me. But if I had to dump my collected letters into a book format, I'd use Ventura. And I'd suggest that, if you can afford it, you buy both. ...................................................................... . Howard Stateman | I knew French was a language by age 6. . . howeird@hpwrce.HP.COM | At 19 I discovered it was also a tongue. . . hplabs!hpwrce!howeird |............................................. . [Not an HP spokesman] | Anatomically Correct BBS (415) 364-3739 . ......................................................................