Date   : Tue, 17 Sep 1991 10:52:53 -0400
From   : Jay Sage <sage@ll.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Perfect Writer

   A little while back, Dmitry Grinauz asked about Perfect Writer.  Indeed,
the company that made it is no longer in business.  However, they gave
permission to my group at the Boston Computer Society (the ZITEL Group) to
distribute the software.  There are no longer any manuals, but I am told by
the leader of the group (who uses PW himself) that there is a DOC file with
enough information to use the program.  He also said that anyone familiar
with EMACS would feel at home immediately.

   At the meeting of the group last week I spoke to the disk librarian.  He
was, unfortunately, a bit vague about the procedures for getting a diskette. 
He seems to expect people to call him by phone -- not so easy for people
outside the Boston area (let alone out of the country).  I think the
following procedure will work to get a catalog disk listing our holdings
(and, I hope, giving full order instructions).  Send a blank, formatted,
well-labeled diskette in a reusable mailer together with a return address
label, return postage, and perhaps $1 for ZITEL to:

        Dave Veinot
        24 Menotomy Road
        Arlington, MA 02174

For those who can call, his phone number is 617-641-0889.  If stamps and
currency are a problem, let me know and we can work out something.  After
all, ZITEL maintains this library so that we can help people get software.

   Another possibility is the following.  Plu*Perfect Systems (Bridger
Mitchell) and Sage Microsystems East (my wife's company) have available an
improved version of the software called Plu*Perfect Writer (guess what the
original product of Plu*Perfect Systems was).  PPW was sold originally as an
upgrade to PW and assumed that the purchaser had a PW manual; PPW comes only
with a DOC file with information on the improved features.  I do not use PW
or PPW myself, so I cannot tell you now what those improvements are, but I
can assure you -- based on my knowledge of Bridger Mitchell's other work --
that it is very much worth having.  I think the price is $35.

-- Jay Sage, SAGE @ LL.MIT.EDU