Composition researchers are poised to offer new answers to the three questions which are at the heart of ideological definition: what exists; what is good; and what is possible? Researchers must consider the impact of computer-assisted composition programs (often called "style checkers") as well as the basic word processor. Style checkers currently available place a strict emphasis on rules and mechanics of presentation and do not value content. The field must address the issues raised by entrenched product-centered software or it may find itself developing and working with tools uninformed by sound theory and pedagogy. Luckily, a grass-roots movement of teachers designing computer programs which emphasize quality of content has taken hold in the field of composition. The success of such ventures will depend upon the ability of software developers to gain recognition and support from English departments which typically see computers and those who work with them as part of the technological culture with which they will not conspire. Should English departments abdicate their responsibility to guide the development of computer tools for composition, the English teachers may very well find themselves working within an ideological, and thus pedagogical, concept of writing that is not of their own making. (Eighteen references are attached.) (RS)