Re: Unable to flush all Mac Abiword config files

On Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:12:19 -0500, "James Greenidge"
<jimwg@mac.com> said:
> I need a small but agile Mac WP that can eat Word files and other
> formats (except Mariner Write -- please!) and it seems AbiWord fits
> the bill in every way, but I really want to know the candid story
> whether my eager input's going to matter. Please info me.

As a Mac user, here's my candid experience:
1. The 2.4 series has rendering issues that appear both onscreen and in
   print. Spacing between letters seems random, and sometimes
   overlapping to the point that it is unusable. While 2.4 brought
   advantages such as the grammar checker, I tend not to use it.
2. The most recent 2.2.x release (2.2.11?) works quite well. However, it
   is older and does not benefit from many other bug fixes, speed
   improvements, import/export improvements (such as for OpenOffice.org
   files), etc. It is very usable though.
3. I've heard that there are issues on Intel Macs, such as the toolbar
   displaying improperly. I'm on an older iBook, so I can't verify this.
   I think it was due to a problem with Rosetta properly emulating
   stuff. Or something like that.
4. When I used the 2.2.x release available from Fink (running under
   X11), it worked quite well, though didn't fit in perfectly with the
   rest of the desktop. And similar to the 2.2.x version available for
   OS X, it lacked various improvements.

Summary: AbiWord 2.2.x for OS X works decently well on PowerPC Macs.
It's not spectacular, is starting to show its age, and is really not
getting any major improvements at this point in time (as Hub noted). It
is not up to the level of quality and usability of the GTK (Linux) and
Windows versions. It works, especially if the ability to open documents
cross-platform is important.

I haven't given up on AbiWord for the Mac. I continue to do what I can
in Bugzilla when I have a chance. Someday it may be actively worked on
again. I remain hopeful.

That said, I tend to use TextEdit for most of my needs these days.
It's simple, fast, works, and my needs are simpler (now that I'm done
my studies).

Andy

-- 
Andy Korvemaker
http://andyland.ca
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