Some of those on the WordStar List are sadly familiar with the false hope that the release of Xoom Word Pro (XMWin) raised when it was released by Xoom.

It was advertised as a Win95 product, part of Xoom Office '97.  The Xoom Web page even had a 32 bit symbol as its download tag.  Whether this was deliberate misleading or a result of how well the program (a Win3x one) works under Win9x and WinNT when used by employees who do not have a Win3x machine, I do not know.

Xoom was started by, among others, a former SoftKey employee, with a goal of providing Value Software to people--that is effective software which is just past prime.

According to post on this List, XMWin was Corel's aborted reworking of the WSWin code that had been licensed from SoftKey.  Corel's purchase of WPWin ended that project. This created the opening for Xoom to market it as a product licensed from TLC Properties.

From all reports, actual on-line sales, cover CDs, and the final free download, thousands of copies were distributed.

Unfortunately the program when compared to the original WSWin was had some significant bugs, especially in the speller. John L. called it a WSWin1.5 version. When I got my copy, I called it Xoom Word[Star] Pro[fessional] 1.0 [for Windows 2.0-].

This was a play on the old WordStar Professional name. The program was clearly WSWin (even including a WSWin2 screen shot in the help file). I felt some of the changes had a negative effect. But . . .

Although the program is a Win31 program, its file open/close was been modified for WinWord6 (aka Win95) file import/export. Since WinWord is the "default" word processor environment for Win9x, this is a significant modification. This has been accomplished by replacing the Mastersoft Word for Word (w4w*.dlls) autorecognition capability with a hard coded single Softek file open/close capability. This was the one used in ClarisWorks 1 and 2. By renaming any of the other Softek XTD files which came with the program to the WinWord6, the open/close could be WordPerfect 5 or WinWord2.  The w4w*.dlls can still be used to import and export files (the dlls are not with the program, but are ubiquitous) but have to be installed (see below).

The other major drawback, which can also be a strength is the spell checker. XMWin came with a long list of languages. The language files are the same ones as used with Lotus Word Pro, but appear to use an earlier speller engine which had bugs. The earlier version used with WSWin (and Lotus AmiPro), required three files--a dictionary (I*.dat), a hyphenator (H*.dat), and a thesaurus (R*.dat). With the exception of the creation of personal dictionaries, the XMWin version needs only two files--a dictionary with hyphenation included (I*.dat) and a thesaurus (R*.dat).

XMWin does come with a full set of the hyphenation files (H*.dat). Other than fixing personal dictionary problems, there only effect to degrade XMWin's performance. Loading a second hyphenator slows things down. I personally keep the files in sub directory from which I can move them when I need them.

So for WSWin users XMWin provides the opportunity to expand their language options.

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Compatible British Thesaurus
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The XMWin thesaurii are fully compatible with WSWin, but will not work without a dictionary. This is not generally useful except it means that the XMWin British Thesaurus (REKTR300.DAT) can be renamed to the WSWin convention (RBRTF.DAT) and used.

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Two Spellers
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Before I continue, be aware the XMWin speller has a more extreme form of the occasional bug in WSWin--a correctly spelled word is marked as misspelled. That said . . .

The XMWIn speller files are:

 xmwlang.dll
 icdllwin.dll (unique to XMWin)
 ihdllwin.dll (common with WSWin)
 redllwin.dll
 pddllwin.dll

The WSWin spell checker files are:

 wswlang.dll
 icdllwin.dll (unique to WSWin)
 ihdllwin.dll (common with XMWin)
 etdllwin.dll

Both of course have their own I*.dat, H*.dat, and R*.dat files.  Either speller can be used with WSWin or XMWin. For example . . .

To install the WSWin spell checker with XMWin rename XMWin's icdllwin.dll and xmwlang.dll to *.org. Copy the WSWin spell checker files into the XMWin directory. Rename wswlang.dll in the XMWin directory to xmwlang.dll.

Now the WSWin spell checker will run in XMWin. If you want to switch back, restore the icdllwin.dll and xmwlang.dll to the originals.

Reverse the above instructions, if you want to run the XMWin speller with WSWin.

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w4w*.dlls in XMWin
==================

To install the w4w file import/exports in XMWin is a little more complicated. I am going to reference the dlls which come with WSWin, but the complete set is found in Word for Word for Windows, now an INSO retired product.

From the WSWin directory copy the all the w4w*.dlls to the XMWin directory. Rename XMWFLT.INF and XMWFLT.INI (in the Windows folder/directory) to XMWFLT.ORG. Download my WSWFLT.INF to the XMWin folder and rename it to XMWFLT.INF. Run XMWin to automatically create a new XMWFLT.INI. Now the Mastersoft file import and export will work using the ^KR and ^KW (WS key mapping) commands. One can even use macros assigned to the file menu (Import.XMC and Export.XMC).

With this modification XMWin can import and export a variety of files.

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WSWin and XMWin in the same directory
=====================================

I use XMWin because the import of WinWord6 files without extra styles and because of the dictionaries. I also have it installed to use the w4w*.dlls. Because of that I made some changes to the XMWin dlls so they can be in the WSWin directory.

The conflict between the two spellers is due to differences in the icdllwin.dll.

[1] Rename the XMWin icdllwin.dll to icdllxmw.dll

[2] Using a hex editor in xmwlang.dll at hex address 9C0B-9C0D change WIN to XMW.

[3] Using a hex editor in icdllxmw.dll at hex address 020Eh-0210h change WIN to XMW.

[4] Copy all xm*.* to WSWin directory.

[5] Copy the XMWIN spell checker files to WSWin directory (icdllxmw.dll (renamed from icdllwin.dll to avoid conflict with the WSWin version), i*.dats, pddllwin.dll, redllwin.dll, r*.dats, xmwlang.dll (this should have moved in step [4]). The h*.dats should be put in a sub-directory.

[6] Copy Softek files isoftek.itl, xsoftek.xtl, and winword6.xtd to WSWin directory. (XMWin comes with *.xtd files for WordPerfect 5.1, DosWord, and WinWord 2, but they are not implemented.)

[7] Copy caret.* and cg*.* files if WSWin directory if Mail List and Correct Grammar are not installed in WSWin. XMWin installs them by default. If you move Correct Grammar, the WIN.INI will need to be edited to reflect this directory change.
 

If you do not want to use the XMWin spell checker, then to have the two programs in the same directory follow steps [4], [6], and [7]. Delete the xmwlang.dll copied into the WSWin directory and make a copy of the wswlang.dll in the WSWin directory naming it xmwlang.dll.

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2 T bug
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To correct the double T (Table and Tools) in the XMWin menu, beginning at 2952A6 in XMWIN.DLL change "&Table" to "Ta&ble".

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Sharing Thesaurii
=================

Because the XMWin and WSWin thesaurii are compatible, it is possible to change xmwlang.dll to point to the same thesaurii as wswlang.dll. Again use a hex editor to change all the references in xmwlang.dll to wswlang.dll for languages you wish to share.  For example REKTR300.DAT to RBRTF.DAT, if you use it as the default British thesaurus.

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XMWin.CFG
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If you have a wswin.cfg that you like, rename it to xmwin.cfg for it to work cleanly with XMWin.