Which people were surely complaining about at the time.
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Two observations–
(1) Even back when I was in college in the late 80s, the math/ chemistry/ physics building had a single office with a couple of secretaries serving the entire building in place of a previous system where each department had a separate secretarial office–I suspect that these days academic secretaries are even few and farther between. It was clear that lots of things that had in earlier years been drafted by faculty–often in longhand–and then handed to secretaries for typing and reproduction were now being done on computers by the faculty themselves. On one hand, this was a shift of labor from less expensive staff to more expensive faculty. On the other, this left faculty with a library of reproducible documents (e.g. syllabi, assignments, and exams) that could easily be updated and modified from year to year rather than starting de novo.
(2) I remember many years ago reading an article about–if I recall correctly–the production of architectural proposals. It noted that while computerization meant that a simple proposal that took many hours to assemble in the past could now be replicated very quickly, the standards and expectations had also been elevated. That simple proposal would now be rejected out-of-hand, and the more complex, detailed, and attractive proposal that was now expected did not represent any real time savings. Basically, the implication was that a given proposal would mean a given amount of effort was expected, and the quality of the proposal was expected to reflect the same amount of time and effort as before even though the tools were better.
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Another recollection: Not long after the university set up its first public-use LaserWriter in the computer center, I wrote a paper for one of my classes, but I formatted it using my roommate’s Mac to look like a journal article and printed it on the LaserWriter. My TA refused to accept it, since obviously no student would be capable of generating such a work without some sort of cheating or access to unreasonable resources. 
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I helped pay for grad school in the 1990s by creating camera-ready copy for Humanities faculty submitting to journals and publishers, following the style guide given to faculty authors. A first I used MS Word, then Page Maker, and finally Quark Express. It wasn’t until the late 1990s early 2000 that they accepted digital submissions for editing, porting to Quark or sometimes, Frame Maker.
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Like Dave, I have no problem with Literature & Latte’s website running Stop the Madness and an ad blocker (latest versions of Tahoe and Safari).
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I second Dave’s remark. I’m an academic historian, and it has been nearly 2 decades since I adopted Scrivener as my main drafting and revision tool. I keep notes in DevonThink, manage references with Bookends, and write in Scrivener. When I’m ready to submit my work, I compile the Scrivener project to a Word file, scan it to turn my temporary citations into properly formatted ones, then send it off.
My subsequent revisions are generally in Word, because that’s what my editors and publishers expect.
I’ve experimented a bit with free, open-source alternatives (e.g., Zettlr for note-taking and drafting, Zotero for reference management, LibreOffice for word processing), but I really don’t have the time to master them.
If anyone is interested, I did a presentation to my department’s graduate students about my academic research and writing workflow; you’re welcome to take a look at the accompanying handout (PDF) if you like.
Brian
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Me too! (waves in history!) I use Devonthink, Bookends, and Word, the latter largely to skip the exporting process for publishers.
I do use Scrivener for some note-taking purposes.
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Thanks for sharing your experience. I have been finding Word increasingly frustrating, but what really bugs me is the separation of the Review process from the general writing process (under Home). That makes me switch from the normal HOME mode to REVIEW to do some kind of editing. When it was introduced a few years ago, I didn’t notice the change until I tried to do some types of editing and it wouldn’t make the changes at all. This makes me very interested in trying Scrivener but leaves one question: what is Scrivener’s native file format?
It’s strange becau
Just try it, see if you like it. But give it some time…
Its format is proprietary but it exports to a huge range of formats, it plays well with others.
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Ah, my eldest is a historian too DEVONthink and Bookends are his key tools.
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Scrivener’s file format is actually a bundle that contains file structure, metadata, and your text. The text is stored as RTF files in subfolders and can be retrieved by opening the package and navigating to the individual folders containing the RTF. The text is tagged with Scrivener’s internal structural references, but those could easily be stripped out.
Also, looks like you may have hit post before completing your thought:
Brian
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Oops. I had tried to delete an earlier idea and missed it. Thanks for the explanation about Scrivener’s file format. I have had past problems losing access to files when old software no longer worked.
I’ve had those problems too—perhaps you remember FullWrite Professional? I try to ensure now that I use applications whose data are accessible even if the app no longer runs, and that allow export to open file formats. I’m increasingly using Markdown in apps that support the format.
I have had past problems losing access to files when old software no longer worked.
Still counting here. It’s now less than a week left before the registry expiry date for nisus.com. The domain will expire on 2026-07-07 at 04:00 UTC if nothing is done to prevent it. As I also wrote on the Nisus forum: The world of writing has been a better place with Nisus. Seeing it vanish is tragic.
Well this is a sad sort of vigil to be holding.
Regardless, if you’re a Nisus Writer user, it would probably be a good idea to download and back up a copy of the installer package somewhere, just in case you ever need to reinstall it. This may well be the last chance for you to get a known-good download.
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FYI, I was reading the latest newsletter from Mellel yesterday when I noticed that they are offering Nisus users a two-year “crossgrade” license to Mellel for $51.75. Scroll down their store page for the offer.
I have been using Mellel for about a year. It has been a rough go to learn it given how different it is from Nisus but it has some really nice features, including a much better way to insert graphics in a document. I wish there was a way to have a color background that does not print but allows me to have less white while typing because of visual issues. But I am finding it a nice alternative. It sure beats Word lol.
You may want to check "Setting the On-Screen Background Colour” on p. 328 of the Mellel manual.
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Interesting news from whois: Today, on the day before the expiry date, the nisus.com registry was updated, and is now valid until 2031-07-07.
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Excellent! Thank you very much. I created a default document with an On-Screen background that is much easier on the eyes. I think I am finding my default word processor, especially as it is clear Nisus Writer is no longer an option - sigh grumble… I only wish I could create folders from tab-delimited text like Nisus would let me do. Much appreciate your suggestion!