Ok, I guess I like Grammarly (grumble, grumble)

Ok, I grudgingly admit that I like Grammarly.

My complaints still hold: [UPDATE: these are all fixed now]

1. Mac users are second-class citizens. Mac Word integration has the file size limit, and there is no Mac outlook integration. [UPDATE: Mac integration is now good]
2. Their desktop tool won't edit a locally-stored text file. You have to do cutting and pasting. [UPDATE: it integrates well with TextEdit. But not vim.]
3. The file size limit is too small for serious work. Yes, you can do cutting and pasting again, but really? In 2020? [UPDATE: it now operates on large files]

The grumpy old man in me really wants to mumble something about snot-nosed little kids and go back to a typewriter and liquid paper.

But ... well ... I do have some bad writing habits.

Mostly I sometimes write unnecessarily complicated sentences, including useless phrases that I must have learned sound intellectual. It's a little humbling to have it pointed out over and over, but the result of more concise writing is worth it.

Mind you, there are many MANY times that I click the trash can because I don't like Grammarly's suggestions. In much of my technical writing, I use passive voice because active is too awkward. I also deviate from the standard practice of including punctuation inside quotes, especially when the quotes are not enclosing an actual quotation, but instead are calling out or highlighting a technical term, like a variable name. If I tell you to enter "ls xyz," and you type the comma, it won't work. You have to enter "ls xyz". I also sometimes include a comma that Grammarly thinks is not needed, but I think it helps separate two ideas.

Also, Grammarly isn't good at large-scale organization of content, which can have a MUCH greater effect on clarity than a few superfluous words.

In other words, *real* editors don't have to worry about being replaced by AIs for quite a while.

And yet ... and yet ... even with its limited ability to understand what I'm trying to say, it is still improving my writing. In small ways, perhaps. But improvement is improvement.

So yeah, I'll keep paying them money (grumble, grumble).