Okay, I'm a techie - I'm a Jr. Network Admin at an insurance company. I really want to know what other people are using during composition. I have a Dell Latitude D600 laptop with Fedora 11.0 (Linux) on it and I use AbiWord for composition - it's way more powerful than Open Office or Microsoft Word. However, for general home-use I have a Mac, but I don't ever do any writing on this machine. Also, say what you want about a Mac - but I've had mine for almost 3 years now with absolutely Zero fuss. My second 360 just died - a Microsoft product... :/
I have a Macbook and I use Scrivener. Loves both! When I'm on the go with my iPod Touch, I use an app called simply Notebook. It has a very similar set up and feel to Scrivener sans all the extra bells and whistles. A stripped version so to speak. Very useful when the conversation turns to things I couldn't be payed to care about and an idea pops into my little head.
I use various Windows computers, at this moment a Toshiba laptop with Vista Ultimate. I use Microsoft Word for writing. It is the industry standard, and more than adequate in all respects.
I have an HP laptop with Windows Vista, and I use Microsoft Office 2007. I've only had this laptop for a short while, but before that I had a different HP laptop with Windows XP and MS Office 2003. Also worked great.
I compute on a homebuilt ghetto-rig or my old HP-Compaq NC6000 if I'm on the go. I write on stone tablets using a chisel and hammer.
I have a windows PC that my brother-in-law and husband built together and a Macbook. On the Mac I use Open Office, and on the PC I use MS Word for writing. When I'm organizing I use yWriter5, though. It's free, and it's fantastic for keeping plots, characters, and scenes straight. The only problem is that it really isn't Mac compatible. Great for Windows, though.
PC Specs - AMD Athlon 3000+ 1.5 gigs Ram NVidia 7600gs OC Windows XP sp3 MS Word for writing, when I'm not playing the top of the line games on max settings... from 2007.
lol. Anyways, for a couple of you MS Word users, I know that it's "adequate" - but I would recommend at least trying out AbiWord. It has the customary real-time Dictionary spell-check and also an extensive thesaurus, but it also has a potent grammar engine. It is for any system (Windows, Mac, Linux) Also, I use Fedora as my OS because it has a built-in encryption option. That way, if anyone steals my laptop, they don't get my awesome novel.
I don't get along with apple. I know microsoft has it's problems, but apple just infuriates me whenever I try to use it. If they spent less time trying to look "cool", and more trying to make the funking things usable...
Gotta tell ya', Matt, I was of the same mind until I started playing with the Macbook my brother gifted me. Since I got the Macbook, the only thing I use the PC for is to look up my schedule for work because E-360 did not previously recognize Safari or Firefox. Next week we are doing an upgrade to get in line with the fact that E-360 does now support Firefox and Safari... the PC's days are numbered.
I haven't had any problem with MSWord's spellchecker, I rarely use a thesaurus, but have a link to an online one and a hardcopy one if I need it. I don't need a better grammar engine, and know better than to fully trust ANY grammar engine. As for strong encryption options, Windows has that too (EFS), ever since Windows 2000, although I don't bother with encrypting my manuscripts.
i'm a mac girl all the way~. though i use MS word for my writings and schoolings and such. i am pc kryptonite. i can crash a pc just by looking at it. pc's put up their blue screens of death in surrender when i walk into the room. ... oh, how i wish that was an exaggeration...
The problem with EFS is that if you forget your Admin password, you lose everything. Of course, there is TrueCrypt which is a separate encryption program (much more robust and stable than EFS) and it's free. As far as I know, Mac does not support partition level encryption, though you can encrypt your "user volume" or whatever it's called. I have noticed a few failures of AbiWord - though certainly not with anything on the technical end. It is lightweight and efficient. However, it's dictionary is missing a few words like "Anthony's", though it has "Anthony" (and apparently Firefox suffers from the same problem, unless I'm missing something) And sadly, it's also missing my favorite word of all time: amaranthine - and so is Firefox. ~~~ About "PC Kryptonite" - you wouldn't happen to be a lawyer would you? In my professional experience, lawyers are the most likely professionals to be complete magnetic storms for computers.
i work on a dell inspiron E1505 laptop with intel 'core duo' and windows xp... it's my third or fourth dell and i bought a dell desktop for my youngest sister, a dell laptop for my youngest daughter... i also write on pastel, lined ampads, using fat ballpoints with medium point, blue ink...
It may just be because they actually don't have brains. They are nefarious robots from somewhere else.
Our OS at home is Ubuntu, and we have Open Office. At work (yeah I sometimes slack and write at work, such as now) we use MS Office 2007. I like OneNote over Word most days.
I share Banzai's discomfort of Apple products. Ever called iTunes customer service? They're only advice it reinstall the program, like that wasn't the first thing I tried -_- Also can't say Ubuntu has really endeared itself too me. Ever since my schools system switched to it we've had constant crashes. Probably not Ubuntu's fault but I blame it anyway. I just got a new computer this week, seeing how my old one was outdated from 2004. She's a hot new Windows Vista with a Nvidia GTX 275, Asus PT6, and these really cool glowing lights on the side (those seem to be free cause when I ordered this thing I didn't click that option XD). She's also my first try at a 64-bit OS, and I'm surprised I haven't had any disasters with it XD. Oh well. I'll probably snag me Windows 7 soon as it's out. Vista has never provided me MAJOR problems but it has a host of little annoyances I despise, and it's RAM hog. Good thing my new comp has 6 gigs XD. With it, I've determined that using my old Microsoft Office 97 is pathetic at this point. I'm unwilling to pay $200 for a more recent version (Price gouging! Price gouging!). So I finally decided to try OpenOffice since I hear such nice things about it. So far I'm pleased. It's slower than Office, slow enough that I can notice, but not that slow. I also like that it has a nice smooth Office 97 style toolbar instead of that abomination that has been the Microsoft Office toolbar post 2000.
I have a Toshiba laptop w/Vista Basic. I use Word 2007 for composition. I also use my Ipod Touch "notes" for composition when I'm away from my laptop. I have no problem using it. I'll sometimes work on my story late at night when I'm lying in bed unable to sleep. I then just email my notes to myself to insert into my document later.
Exactly. It seems to me, to be a running theme with apple. It looks awfully flash, but if you dig a little deeper, there's no substance. That and itunes is the devil. Agreed. Everything has been needlessly moved around, so anything you're trying to do takes twice as long. And when I first got vista, I had to turn off all the apple-esque flashy features, just so it would run at a decent speed.
