[Demonic_Rush]

Well, I have a few suggestions that no one has offered yet, (Perhaps for a reason haha ~ ^ _ ^ ~)

You could try Automator to convert these thousands of files. I don't know if it will work since I didn't look up any info on this particular problem, but Automator was designed for these types of problems (Gigantic loads of tedious work in a short time).

Perhaps you could Print them all and OCR Scan them (EXTREMELY tedious, but it works fairly well). If you are a professor at columbia maybe you can get some Pages to do the grunt work or get some poor soul with a workstudy job to do it. (I was recently gagged into OCR scanning an entire book for the provost) I know from expeience that the student will hate you, but if he turns out to be like me, He'll still do a good job. :)



Try out this application: http://www.neooffice...va/en/index.php

Someone told me it works decently w/ WP but I've never used it and thus can't personally vouch for it



Perhaps this will help, it is a site from Columbia w/ info on WPerfect.

http://www.columbia....sh.html#convert

If anyone can help w/ this please do, I'm only offering skeletons of suggestions that should work well, Although I know next to nothing of Word Perfect other than the fact it went the way of the Dodo along w/ Appleworks.
In anycase, I hope this jump starts things a bit

[smax013]

I don't know how to say it any other way...OS 9 is dead...buried...ain't coming back. Get over it and get used to it. The ONLY way to keep using OS 9 (and WordPerfect with it) is to keep buy used PPC based Macs and use them (unless you want to mess with Sheepshaver). If you want a new Intel based Mac, then you will HAVE to live without OS 9. It is long gone.



As to your conversion problems, you could try a conversion program like MacLinkPlus Deluxe to see if it has better luck converting WordPerfect documents into something that Word (or NeoOffice or whatever) can use with less loss of important information.



Overall, If you are going to go to a new system, then you should just do it...waiting only makes it worse as you will have more documents.



In the end, I see the following choices:

1) Stick with used PPC based Macs that can run OS 9 and thus run WordPerfect. For now, this is likely an OK option as there are still plenty of older Macs out there that can still run OS9 (whether in true mode or Classic mode in OS X). But, this option will not work well indefinitely. At some point, it will get tough to keep your Mac running and it will be tough to get replacements.

2) Go to an Intel Mac and switch to another word processor and convert all the files to the new word processor.

3) Go to a Windoze based system (which could be a Mac running Windoze in Bootcamp or Parallels/Fusion or could be an actual Windoze computer) and switch to WordPerfect for Windoze and hope it converts well.

A possible 4th option is an Intel Mac with Sheepshaver, but considering how much trouble you have had otherwise, I can only imagine what kind of trouble that might cause for you...thus, I would NOT advise that option.



As to being left behind. I am sorry but it is the nature of the industry...things change...they presumably improve. When you get left behind, it is NOT just a function of Steve Jobs (and the tech industry) leaving you behind...it is also a function of whether or not you choose to try to keep up. Using a machine running OS 9 and not going to Mac OS X a LONG time ago was a choice on your part...and now it is even harder to make the change. The longer you wait, the harder it is.

[utsumi]

Dear FJackson:

(1) Many thanks for your suggestion.

(2) Yes, when I called Corel yesterday, they said that the files created with WordPerfect for Mac can be read with the WordPerfect for window.

This means that I do not need to convert thousands, thousands WP files into WORD files -- as I mentioned yesterday in other blog page, I had to stop doing it since I found that some of conversion process lost pertinent information during it operation.

Now, then I can start preparing to get MacBook.

(3) I then suppose that with the use of Parallel or Fusion, I can run both of WP for Window and other application programs (e.g., WORD of Microsoft) side-by-side so that I can make copy-and-paste from one to other.

(4) I don't know nothing about the Sheepsaver.

(a) Is it difficult to install in to the MacBook? Some people mentioned of their horror stories, and hence objected its use.

(b) Do they have similar tech support as for Virtual PC of Microsoft?

© How much is it?

Best, Tak

[utsumi]

Dear FJackson:

(1) I am very glad to know the blog on WordPerfectmac in Yahoo. This is a kind of savior in hell!!

(2) I joined in this group and downloaded "SheepShaver-WordPerfect Install 1.1".

I will read them through in this summer.

(3) Since I want to use several application programs for OS9 with my MacBooklPro, I would certainly need your help to install SheepShaver on it.

Again, I am very happy to know this discussion forum in Yahoo.

Best, Tak

[utsumi]

Dear Demonic_Rush:

(1) Many thanks for your valuable suggestions.

(2) The URL out from Columbia Univ. is very interesting to read through.

One of the suggestions in it is to use MacLinkPlus for conversion. I found that it does very good job, albeit testing with a few of WP files yet.

(3) I would hesitate to ask anyone doing intellectually tedious and boring job of converting WP files to WORD.

(4) Many thanks for your concern anyway, I will report my progress on this job here from time to time.

Best, Tak