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No. I've used Abiword a bit, but it has been a few years, and Abiword doesn't really come close to the Microsoft Word experience back in the day. People genera

No. I've used Abiword a bit, but it has been a few years, and Abiword doesn't really come close to the Microsoft Word experience back in the day. People generally have their favorite MS Word version that they like before it "went downhill", and mine is Word 5.1a for Macintosh. This is the last version of Microsoft Word that was specifically designed as a Macintosh application, rather than a cross-platform application with a Mac port. Microsoft's turned out some very high-quality Mac applications in the 1990s and 2000s. Another notable one is Internet Explorer 5, which is unrelated to the infamous Internet Explorer 5 for Windows (the one with poor standards compliance), other than the fact that the products are made by the same company, have the same name, and have the same version number.

forgotmypw17 6y ago
I have a G4 Mac in my test pool, ans IE5 for Mac OS X is one of the best browsers ever made. IE5 is also the most ported IE ever, it was ported to close to 10 different platforms.
- bombcar 6y ago
  I suspect porting had something to do with the quality; software that is actually _ported_ (as opposed to Java or Electron write-once-run-everywhere) often ends up better for the exercise.
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    That's a great point, I haven't thought about that much. It's like you're re-raking the code with every port, essentially doing a partial rewrite and refactor, with all the benefits that come with that. IE5 is one of the most solid browsers I know.
  - klodolph 6y ago
    Internet Explorer wasn't ported to Mac, though. Instead, a new piece of software with the same name was created. This is not some kind of nitpick or technicality; they were really quite different.
    - forgotmypw17 6y ago
      It's true, and it's acknowledged up-thread. All the other "IE5" releases are Trident ports, however, and I believe there are up to nine of them, depending on how you count: Windows 3.1, Windows NT 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Solaris, and HP-UX. In addiion, as you mention, an "IE5" of different lineage is also available for both Mac OS Classic and Mac OS X. Here is another thing which may seem crazy in today's world: IE 5.01 was officially supported by Microsoft on Windows 2000 until 2010, more than 10 years after IE5.0's release!

forgotmypw17 6y ago

I have a G4 Mac in my test pool, ans IE5 for Mac OS X is one of the best browsers ever made. IE5 is also the most ported IE ever, it was ported to close to 10 different platforms.

bombcar 6y ago
I suspect porting had something to do with the quality; software that is actually _ported_ (as opposed to Java or Electron write-once-run-everywhere) often ends up better for the exercise.
- forgotmypw17 6y ago
  That's a great point, I haven't thought about that much. It's like you're re-raking the code with every port, essentially doing a partial rewrite and refactor, with all the benefits that come with that. IE5 is one of the most solid browsers I know.
- klodolph 6y ago
  Internet Explorer wasn't ported to Mac, though. Instead, a new piece of software with the same name was created. This is not some kind of nitpick or technicality; they were really quite different.
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    It's true, and it's acknowledged up-thread. All the other "IE5" releases are Trident ports, however, and I believe there are up to nine of them, depending on how you count: Windows 3.1, Windows NT 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Solaris, and HP-UX. In addiion, as you mention, an "IE5" of different lineage is also available for both Mac OS Classic and Mac OS X. Here is another thing which may seem crazy in today's world: IE 5.01 was officially supported by Microsoft on Windows 2000 until 2010, more than 10 years after IE5.0's release!