Word 5.1

[Aoresteen]

Anyone still using Word 5.1?

If so, which OS and which Mac?

Just curious but does it run under OS9?

Thanks!

 

[Christopher]

I have been able to get anything that ran under OS 7 to work in 9.

 

[Cory5412]

Yeah, I've run Word 5.1 on OS 9 though, although I'd probably choose Word 98 if I could on an OS 9 system, purely because it's got a more compatible file format, and it'll probably run a little bit better. I haven't run Word 2001 but I hear good things about that on Mac OS 9.

 

[MacMan]

I use it under System 7.1 on my SE/30 and under 7.5 on some of my later Macs. I've never used it with OS 9 but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

 

[beachycove]

Word 5.1 was an excellent product, and Word 2001 is about as good (so long as you turn off all the irritating "helpers"). Word 2001 has, over the years, been rock solid under OS9 on my Wallstreet, and ran more stably for me there than even 5.1 did on a 68030 chip, where i used it for many years. As for Word 5.1 under OS9 - well, basically I would not really consider running 5.1 on a ppc to be a good idea, because the code is all and without exception 68k code.

I have recently begun to use NisusWriter 5 on 68k hardware, and find it a much more versatile and able tool than either of the MS products mentioned. Nisus looks very plain-Jane, but it is a true writer's tool. One of its best technical features is that it does not demand that the machine makes constant disk access, as Word in all shapes and varieties does, so that it is nicely suited to running on a powerbook (so long as that powerbook can accept a reasonably large ram complement - hence I run it on a Duo).

 

[Cory5412]

When I was on OS 9 with my Pismo about a year ago, doing a bunch of writing that way, I hopped back and forth between Word '98, WordPerfect 3.5e and AppleWorks 5's word processor module.

All are great at doing what they do, but I really liked Word the best, despite its higher demands, mainly because of it's file format. I had problems getting WordPerfect even to save an RTF, so it was unsuitable for writing things I wanted to be read out and used on other computers.

 

[shred]

Still running Word 5.1 / Excel 4.0 under 7.1 on my old Portable. It's a refreshing change from the current MS bloatware - anyone used Office 2007 yet? Ewww.

 

[Cory5412]

I've got Office 2007 on my mobile computer and I actually don't mind it. The biggest problems I've had with it are the file format (I need to use my PC to read Office documents now) and... well, the file format has been my only problem, and it was only really a problem before I got Office 2007.

 

[Scott Baret]

Avoid Word 6, it's big time bloatware. 5.1 is the optimum version for pre-PPC Macs, Word 98 may be best for early iMacs/iBooks. I too have heard good things about 2001 but haven't used it.

Word 2007/2008 is disgusting. The interface is worse than something a three year old could design. Nothing is in a logical place and the layout is annoying and distracting. Plus the new document format is a pain for those still using 97/98/2000/any other older version.

 

[register]

The first steps on my first Mac i did with Word 5.1, but I became addicted to RagTime, soon. Ten years ago I made two page layouts on a PB180 using RagTime. I have purchased RagTime 6 last year for my office work, but the old version 3.2 is still available, nowadays without a license fee at

http://www.ragtime-consult.ch/download.html

I found a version localised for Switzerland there. At least French and German localised versions exist, probably English and Dutch as well. Digging into the the ressources is fun with this application, as opposite to Word 5.1, which is a hell of non-Mac like programming. It might make a nice evening with ResEdit to produce other localised copies.