Software Vault: The Sapphire Collection/Software Vault (Sapphire Collection) (Digital Impact).ISO/cdr16/cybera02.zip/CYBERA02.ASC

Text File | 1994-10-18 | 110KB | 1,973 lines

       █▐███  ██  ██ ██▐███  ██▐███ ██▐███  ██▐████ ██▐███ ██   ██ ██▐███
      ██   ██  █▐██  ██   ██ ██     ██   ██ ██   ██ ██     ██   ██ ██
      ██        ▐█   ██▐███  ██▐█   ██▐███  ██   ██ ██▐█   ██ █ ██ ██▐███
      ██   ██   ▐█   ██   ██ ██     ██ ██   ██   ██ ██     ██ █ ██     ██
       █▐███    ▐█   ██▐███  ██▐███ ██   ██ ██   ██ ██▐███  █▐███  ██▐███

                           October 18, 1994
                           Volume 1 / Issue 2
                        Copyright, 1994, (C)1994
           Cannot be Reproduced or Used without Prior Consent

                           Table of Contents
                           =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

+------------------+
|  General Topics  |
+------------------+

        1.0     Where to Get CyberNews
        1.1     How to Contact Us
        1.2     How to Write for Us

+-----------+
|  Reviews  |
+-----------+
                2.0             Software Review Section
                        2.1     Business Software
                                2.11    ACT 2.0
                                2.12    Johnathon Pond's Personal
                                        Financial Planner
                                2.13    MailCheck
                                2.14    SmartSuite 3.0
                        2.2     Home Software
                                2.21    Movies to Go
                        2.3     Multimedia/Games Software
                                2.31    The Haldeman Diaries
                                2.32    Myst
                                2.33    The New Grolier Multimedia
                                        Encyclopedia
                                2.34    Ocean Life
                                2.35    Prince of Persia II
                                2.36    Tie Fighter
                        2.4     Graphics Software
                                2.41    addDepth
                                2.42    Aldus Freehand 4.0
                                2.43    Hijaak Pro 2.0
                                2.44    Microsoft Publisher
                                2.45    Picture This!
                        2.5     Utility Software
                                2.51    AfterDark 3.0
                                2.52    NFL Sports Guide
                                2.53    Pure Motivation

1.0
-=-
Finding CyberNews . . . .

    So, you really enjoyed the first issue of CyberNews? Fantastic!

    You need to know how to get it every month? OK, check out the
    listing below:

BBS:    CyberNews is available on the following BBS systems:

        Support U. BBS, the official support BBS: [phone]
        PC Ohio [phone]
        . . . and a whole host of other BBSs we upload to each month.

        The filenames are:

        CYBERW02.ZIP - Windows Version
        CYBERA02.ZIP - ASCII Version
        CYBERR02.ZIP - ReadRoom Format

FidoNet:    CyberNews is FREQable from 1:100/380 via the following magic names:

        CYBERW - CyberNews Windows Edition
        CYBERA - CyberNews ASCII Edition
        CYBERR - CyberNews ReadRoom Format
        CYBER - All three versions.

Internet:   ftp.crl.com:/ftp/users/supportu
            ftp.uu.net:/published/cybernews
            wuarchive.wustl.edu:/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/zines
            polecat.law.indiana.edu:/pub/Incoming

CompuServe: CyberNews can be found in the following forums:

        Novell User (GO NOVUSER)
        IBM Applications Forum (GO IBMAPP)

Delphi: PC SIG

America On-line:    Computing and Software Section

Email:  To subscribe to CyberNews via
        email, send a message to [e-mail]. The latest
        ASCII version of CyberNews will be sent to you.

1.3
-=-
Contacting us:

We are really easy to contact:

    CompuServe:                     INTERNET: [e-mail]
    Internet:                       [e-mail]
    RIME:                           Route your messages to Patrick Grote
                                    on SUPPORTU
    BBS:                            Support U. [phone]
    Fax:                            [phone]
    Voice:                          [phone]
    Post Mail:                      11221 Manchester Rd., Suite 313,
                                    St. Louis, MO 63122

Departments:
=-=-=-=-=-=-

Production/Design:                          [e-mail]
General Manager/Back Office:                [e-mail]
Managing Editor:                            [e-mail]
Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations:     [e-mail]
Writer or Columnist:                        [e-mail]
Compliments:                                [e-mail]
Complaints:                                 [e-mail]
Letters to the Editor:                      [e-mail]

If you can't get us through any of those means, you probably don't need
to talk to us.

1.4
-=-

So you want to be a writer for CyberNews? Read on . . .

You need to do the following:

        *       Send a message to Roger Klein, Publisher/Production, asking for
                a copy of our Writer's Guidelines.  Guess what?  They are
                straight forward!  You can contact Roger at
                [e-mail] or on the RIME CyberNews conference.

        *       Upload a copy of CyberNews to your favorite BBS.  Ok, this isn't
                required, but we'd appreciate it!

What benefits do you enjoy as a software reviewer?

        *       Deluxe accommodations in the finest hotels around the world.
                (If you pay the bill .  . .)

        *       Free airline tickets anytime, anywhere.  (Again, if you pay the
                bill .  . .)

Ok, enough.  The benefits are vast and wonderful.  They are explained in
the Writer's Guidelines, which you can request by emailing Roger Klein
at [e-mail].

Oh, if you are on CompuServe, send Roger the message at INTERNET:
[e-mail].

2.0
-=-

                          Software Reviews
                         By CyberNews Staff

2.1
-=-

                         Business Software

2.11
-=-=
                              ACT 2.0
                             review by
                             Bill Lehr

    When I entered the world of business, things started to happen.
I met people and went places.  All sorts of information started to
pile up on slips of paper.  I quickly learned, the mind can only
absorb and retain so much information.  Meeting people and
remembering what happened can be kept under control with a good
simple customer contact program.  Let me tell you about my copy of
ACT2 for Windows.
    The installation was simple and self explanatory.  Within a
couple of minutes the program was installed and an interesting
question came up on the screen.  Did I want to register my ACT2 by
modem or by mail?  I couldn't believe the speed with which the
program was set up, including the modem, so I chose sending my
registration by modem, a chore I sometimes forget.  Within a few
seconds ACT2 dialed an 800 number, registered my program, hung up
and said thank you.
    So far, everything went right.  Why not take a trip with the
tutorial and find out all that I could about an advertised
productivity tool?  ACT2's tour whisked me off to a contact screen -
the main productivity tool of the program.  Across the top of the
screen was a standard Windows menu.  Below this is a 17 icon panel
with plenty of room for extra icons to be used with macros which can
be written to make ACT2 more efficient.
    The contact screen offers some 70 plus fields of information
about each of my business contacts.  If I don't like the fields, I
can change their names or order to suit my specific business wants
and needs.  This provides a custom-made contact file for my clients
with fields pertinent to my business.  The screen is simple to use,
and includes a help index that hasn't failed to understand my
requests made to it in my non-computer lingo.  My interest in
business programs is in their ability to provide higher p
roductivity.  If the program can make money (and time is money), I'm
interested.
    As a hypothetical scenario, I talked to a close acquaintance
about ways in which ACT2 could help his air-conditioning business.
He has a large number of residential and commercial customers for
which he installs and repairs air conditioners.  He repairs
equipment, sells service contracts, and performs warranty work.  How
can ACT2 help him?  ACT2 keeps a record of all his calls.  It knows
when a service contract goes into effect, when it's time for the
semi-annual equipment check-up, and when renewals are due.  It
reminds him of this information about two weeks in advance, on a
popup screen.  Then the screen directs him to the client.  Another
command dials the telephone and lets him set up an appointment with
the client.  The appointment is then entered into his date book
along with the time, name, address, phone number and equipment model
number.
    With new equipment sales, a certain period of time is set aside
for the warranty.  When the warranty is about to expire, a pop-up
reminder tells that it's time for a service contract with a
semi-annual or annual check up included.  Again, with date, time,
name, address, phone number and equipment model name.  With this
information, he loads parts into his van for the new machine's first
service call.  This is productivity!
    Customer Service?  ACT2's word processor generates template
thank you notes and/or "it's time for service" notes including
envelopes.
    What else does ACT2 do?  I have a thing about carrying address
books.  I'm always away from the office when I need someone's name,
address or phone number.  ACT2 will give me an address book each
week with updated information on all new clients.  (With past
programs I usually print two of them: one with my contact's name and
personal information, and a second one printed by company name
showing other contacts and people met within a given company.  ACT2
does the same thing.) ACT2 also gives me an updated daily, weekly
and/or monthly calendar for all upcoming appointments, projects and
other events.
    If anyone wants to know, I can tell them how many calls I've
made within any given time, how many sales, how many orders pending
or any other needed information.  I can also do a few of the
advanced features like write and send faxes to my fax program, make
custom reports for my manager, make mailing labels or envelopes,
send E-Mail messages through Compuserve, and retrieve or send ACT2
records to and from our branch offices.  And by the way, all record
entries are date stamped.
    ACT2 prints daily, weekly or monthly reports.  It will also
print pages for all of the popular planning books like Day Timers,
Day Runner and most others regardless of page size and layout.  If
you have your own custom sheet, ACT2 will work with it.  Sincerely,
ACT2 is a class act.  It is an economical program that can be
tailored to your particular business.  In my testing, we adapted it
to a law office, a dentist, a real estate sales office, a newspaper
reporter's personal contact file and made up a progr am for a seven
person sales office.
    ACT2 for Windows is a no nonsense program filled with simple
information which allows business people to increase organization
and productivity, regardless of what that business is.  ACT2 also
works well with most LANs, including Novell, and is available for
Macintosh systems.

                              Symantec
                         10201 Torre Avenue
                     Cupertino, CA  95014-2132
                           [phone]


2.12
-=-=
             Jonathan Pond's Personal Financial Planner
                             review by
                           Danny Williams

    If there is one thing we all know about money, it's that we
would like more of it.  We've all been teased by multimillion dollar
lottery prizes or Ed's personal message about your next ten million
dollar check.  Although either would be nice, most of us need
planning, saving, and investing to make sure we're not living off
cat food in our later years.  Jonathan Pond's Personal Financial
Planner (PFP) from ActiveBooks is a good source of just the kind of
information you need.
    Even though PFP comes on a CD and runs on your computer, it is
more of a book than a program.  This is not another
balance-your-checkbook program.  It does not pay your bills,
amortize your loans or help you track credit cards.  It helps you
take a long-term look at your current finances, where you would like
to be several years down the road, and what it takes to get there.
Unlike a book, though, PFP periodically asks you for information
about your current financial condition or future plans.  Text boxes
are then customized according to what you enter.  For a simple
example, if you enter $1,000 per month in income combined with
$15,000 in credit card debt at 19%, the text box along side the quiz
might suggest you get a part time job to help pay off that debt as
quickly as possible, or to transfer the balance to lower rate cards.
Jonathan himself even chats with you personally via sound and video
bytes scattered throughout the "book."
    The installation is straightforward and usual for modern Windows
applications.  The installation creates an ActiveBooks group and
copies a few files to your hard disk.  Bulky video and sound files
are left on the CD.  I did get a couple of unhelpful "An error has
occurred..." messages during the install, but clicking Ignore a
couple of times at least got the program functional.  Even after the
ugly install, the program runs as advertised.  There is no uninstall
utility included, but all files copied to the har d disk are in one
directory except for an ACTIVEBK.INI in c:\WINDOWS and I didn't find
any entries in WIN.INI made by PFP that might foul things up later.
    Running the program popped up a small window, about 1/4 of my
1024x768 screen, in the upper left corner.  "No problem," I thought,
and moused for the resizing bars.  Unfortunately, there aren't any.
The program is designed to run full-screen at standard VGA
resolution and proportionally smaller on higher resolutions;
resizing is not available.  Although this appears to be a
significant shortcoming, the READ.ME file tells me "this behavior is
normal."
    As with any book, PFP is organized with a title page, table of
contents, many pages of content, then an index and glossary.
Glossary items are hyperlinked from the text, so any time you don't
understand a term, the definition is likely only a click away.  A
sliding pointer on the bottom of the page gives the current page
number, and moving the pointer quickly takes you to any page in the
book.  The table of contents is unusually sparse for so large a
reference "book," but a click on a table item shows subhea dings for
quick "thumbing" to any section.  A hierarchical tree display is not
available, so you must remember in which major heading your topic is
hiding, or go hunting for it a click at a time.  This is not as bad
as it sounds, however, since the program automatically picks up
where you left off from the last session.  A "bent-arrow" history
button goes back through pages last read.  The question mark help
button is context sensitive, and the menu button provides bookmarks,
notes that can be "stuck" to pages in the book, and a quick exit
from the program.
    Quizzes are sprinkled throughout the book to collect information
from you.  This information is used to tailor sections of the book
to your specific financial condition.  A "Welcome Quiz" on page four
is the first of several that PFP uses and asks your name, number of
children, and income.  A few pages later, the multiple choice Wealth
Quiz helps you lay out how well your planning is going and areas
that need improvement.  If your life insurance is inadequate or you
have no will, this quiz will politely remind you to get these
crucial things attended to.  Other similar quizzes take up only a
few more of the 235 pages, properly leaving most of the book to
explain the nuances of such things as taxes, insurance, and
retirement.
    Your computer needs to be at least a 386 with 4Mb of RAM, and
Microsoft Windows 3.1, PFP needs 5Mb of disk for files and another
2Mb on the drive holding your temp directory.  An MPC equivalent
system with a 256 color VGA card and monitor, sound card, and CD-ROM
lets you see and hear all the multimedia parts, but the program will
work fine with just the CD.
    If you are in the market for a financial planning manual, want
some basic information on planning your financial future, and want
to see what may be the future of written material, pick up Jonathan
Pond's Personal Financial Planner.  There's a lot of good stuff in
there, and the presentation makes it fun to read.

                  Vertigo Development Group, Inc.
                           58 Charles St.
                        Cambridge, MA  02141
                           [phone]
                         Fax [phone]


2.13
-=-=
                             MailCheck
                             review by
                           Danny Williams

    First the LAN replaced Sneakernet, now E-mail threatens to
completely replace the pink paper "while you were out" forms, carbon
"speedmail" memos, and even order forms and invoices.  Clearly,
E-mail has gone from a convenience to a business critical necessity,
and it needs to be protected as such.
    In many cases, separate E-mail post offices (or hub or message
store -- the name depends on your E-mail software) are located in
separate locations.  Sometimes Accounting will have their own post
office, while shipping has another and receiving yet another.
Complicating matters further are branch offices in other cities or
even other countries that must be connected over a WAN (Wide Area
Network).  Sending a message between these offices may entail
several hops through different gateways and a failure at a ny point
means your message does not get through.  The usual mechanism for
detecting E-mail failure is irate users ringing your phone and
banging on your door asking why they haven't gotten any mail for the
last day, week or more.
    Saving you that stress is MailCheck from Baranof Software.
MailCheck verifies that your E-mail gets through two ways: in Normal
Polling mode, MailCheck sends mail to itself over the various links
being tested, then complains privately to you when it takes too long
or doesn't get through at all.  It also sends invalid messages to a
post office, then tells you if it returned the expected error
message.  This is called Bounce Polling.
    MailCheck has three main components: Poller, which sends out the
test messages via a local post office; Echo, which responds to those
test messages; and Monitor, which shows you what is going on.  The
Poller can be run either as a TSR, in a repeating batch file, or as
a regular executable in a multitasking system depending on your
E-mail system.  The computer running the Poller must be either
dedicated or at least only lightly loaded to properly test the
gateways.  If the Poller goes down, the whole E-mail v alidation
system stops working.  The Echo program, like the Poller, may need
to be a dedicated machine, depending on your E-mail system.  Each
post office being verified needs its own nearby Echo machine.  Using
Bounce Polling, no echo machine is necessary, but reliability is
less.
    Monitoring MailCheck can be done from any Windows capable
machine.  Real-time pop-up messages alert you to changes in the
status of any link while the program is running.  Status is also
available from the DOS command line.  Reports are also compiled and
saved so you don't have to look at all the popups, but you still
have a record of how your mail links are performing.
    Although this product is not one you need for your home LAN or
even a small single post office business LAN, if you are in charge
of keeping the mail flowing throughout a large organization over
many segments, then this is the right tool for the job.

                          Baranof Software
                       479 Washington Street
                         Brighton, MA 02135
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]

2.14
-=-=
                        Lotus SmartSuite 3.0
                             review by
                           Patrick Grote

    When you look around software stores today, it's hard to miss
the suite deals being offered by the big three companies.
Microsoft, Lotus and Novell each offer a suite that has at least
three components: word processor, spreadsheet and database.  Novell
stops there, but Microsoft and Lotus add their own twists to the
fold.
    Microsoft adds an email client.  Whippee!  Lotus takes the suite
to a higher floor by adding not only a personal information manager
(PIM), but a handy screen recording utility.  So where Novell leads
you into the dining room and Microsoft sits you down at the table,
Lotus delivers a super charged, gourmet feast of applications.
    Lotus includes the following packages in one box:

     Lotus 123 Release 5.0 - The industry leading spreadsheet.
     Lotus Approach 3.0 - A very easy to use database program.
         Lotus AmiPro 3.1 - An underrated word processor.
Lotus Freelance Graphics 2.1 - The granddaddy of the presentation field.
             Lotus Organizer 1.1 - A Daytimer like PIM.
Lotus ScreenCam 1.1 - One of the top five niftiest utilities available for Windows.

    As you can tell, there is about as much software power in this
one box than you could find anywhere.  About the only thing missing
is Lotus Doom Version 3.0!
    To review each application is out of the scope of this review,
but we'll say a little about each application before moving onto the
suite specific part.
    Lotus 123 for Windows 5.0 is Lotus' latest version of the
venerable great.  It is a rock solid performer that now includes
pre-designed templates that help you conquer typical business
problems and Lotus Maps which allows you to create color coded maps
with spreadsheet data to see how different geographic regions
compare.
    The neatest feature of Lotus 123 for Windows is version manager.
Do you typically send your spreadsheet to someone to mark up and
send back to you?  With version manager you can track the worksheet
changes.  You can even work on the same file at the same time with
someone in your group.  Amazing.
    Lotus Approach is a product Lotus purchased to round out it's
suite offering.  Version 2.0 was little more than a Lotusized copy
of the original, while 3.0 is a totally new product.  Usability is
the key feature with any Windows database program.  How fast can you
get your data ideas from your head to the screen and do they work?
With Approach, getting what you want out of your data is effortless.
I was able to get a fully integrated database for product requests
up and running in about an hour.  Simple.
    Lotus AmiPro 3.1.  OK, every suite has to have the old Achilles
heel.  Lotus AmiPro is SmartSuite's heel.  Don't get me wrong, Lotus
AmiPro has a very rich set of features, in fact, it is the word
processor I use on a daily basis.  Since there hasn't been a major
upgrade to AmiPro in over 1 and a half years, the program shows its
age in the places where Microsoft Word or WordPerfect shine -- user
convenience.  Lotus AmiPro lacks any sort of Wizard or Coach
function, so new users are left with an inadequate, bas ic guided
tour.  In addition, the right mouse button functions only on the
very basic level.  A Word or WordPerfect user moving from their
platform to Lotus AmiPro would feel like an appendage had been
removed.
    This isn't meant to totally bash AmiPro.  It is a very decent
word processing package that is showing signs of age.  There are
definite pluses in using Lotus AmiPro such as style sheets and a
very powerful macro language.  Basic.
    Lotus Freelance Graphics 2.1 is about as slick as slick can get.
We are talking greased water balloon slick.  It is so good you may
find yourself creating presentations just to use the package.  Lotus
has really done their homework and made Freelance the perfect
presentation tool.  Not only can you create a simple presentation in
a few minutes, but complex presentations are made easier via the
Smart Master process.  A blast.
    Lotus Organizer 1.1 is another product Lotus bought to make the
suite complete so to speak.  Lotus Organizer uses a day book
metaphor to present your time and projects to you.  It is very easy
to use and very basic in operation.  Who would use this?  I would
and do.  If you are a salesman, though, this isn't a package you
would want to base your contact list on.  On the other hand, if you
are an executive, this is the perfect application for you.
Refreshing.
    Lotus Screen Cam 1.1 has to be the neatest utility I have seen
for Windows since PlugIn.  The purpose of ScreenCam is to make a
"movie" out of your movements in Windows.  Not only does it playback
what you typed, clicked or moved, but it will also let you voice
annotate.  Super!  When you play the movies you create back, you
have full control over rewind, fast forward, pause, etc.  Cool.
    OK, one of the main reasons you buy a suite is so working among
 applications is as easy as it gets.  I am happy to report Lotus has
 finally gotten it right!  If you suffered through the installation
 process for SmartSuite 2.0, you'll be happy, very happy, to learn
 that the 3.0 installation is sequential.  You receive 27 disks that
 you can install as little or as much of the suite as you need from.
 In 2.0 you had to install each component by itself.  Since you
 install all the applications at one time, Lotus can save you disk
 space by sharing .DLLs and .EXEs among the different applications.
    Moving into actual usage, SmartSuite is the first suite to offer
a common interface in all the applications.  Using Lotus' SmartIcons
in each application, you can make them look as alike or as different
as you need to.  As well, you can simply drag and drop information
from one application to another without having to tweak anything.
    As an added bonus, all the applications are designed to work
flawlessly with Notes and CC:MAIL.
    Should you look into purchasing SmartSuite?  You should if you
want to save money and own the best suite available on the market
today!

                   Lotus Development Corporation
                         70 Westview Street
                        Lexington, MA  02713
                           [phone]

2.2
-=-

                             Home Software

2.21
-=-=
                           Movies To Go!
                             review by
                          Eliot M. Gelwan

    Movies To Go!  bills itself as "your ticket to finding the best
movies." It is essentially a searchable database of capsule reviews,
cast and credits, for (as of summer 1994) 7500 classic and current
films.  It describes itself as a guide to selecting movies to get
from your video store to cut down on the frustration of browsing the
aisles.  The reviews are written by "ordinary people who love
movies" rather than critics, the manual asserts, and movies are
pre-selected to meet their standards for being "enjoy able to
watch."
    The program, which runs under DOS or Windows, has a mouse- or
key-driven graphic interface with some animated icons.  When you
select a film, a screen appears framed by a "Now Showing" marquee
with flashing lights.  Credits, cast, setting and what the authors
call "special categories" (e.g.  Disney, pirate movies, etc.)
appear as text in the marquee.  Other information, such as genre,
MPAA rating, and length appear iconized.  A meter shows a quality
rating for the movie, although it is difficult to see how this was
derived.  Since the authors have selected only quality movies, this
rating doesn't help you much, since most are rated in the excellent
range.  In random browsing, I could only find about 10-20%
considered as low as "average."
    You click on an icon (or hit a function key) to bring up a
"critical review" (more on this later).  This often appears in a
cartoon balloon spoken by either a goofy mouse or a goofy human
character (I couldn't figure out whether the choice of character has
any significance).
    You can search the database by clicking on a word in the text.
For example, if "Charles Laughton" is in the cast, and I click on
his name, the program will compile a list of films he appeared in.
Or if the plot summary includes the fact that the character goes to
South America, I can click on the latter and search for all movies
in the database with "South America" mentioned in the plot summary.
You can click on any of the icons to have it spit out a list of all
the movies of a given MPAA rating, a given q uality, or a given
category such as "family" movies.
    The data in Movies To Go!  is in a compressed form that makes it
impossible to add your own movies to the database, although you can
annotate each entry (they suggest you use this field to keep track
of which movies you've seen).  However, the database is updated with
about 200 new movies each month, the authors write.  Each update
(which consists of a new copy of the entire database, on two high
density disks) is $9.95 plus shipping, although they plan a price
increase in 1995.  You can also subscribe to thei r Movie Update BBS
Service for an annual fee of $25, which allows you unlimited
downloads of updates.
    So what didn't I like about this program?  Speaking broadly,
major aspects of its conception and performance.  First some
background.  My family and I are intense film buffs.  We go to the
movies a lot, and rent a lot of videos as well.  (This has been true
especially in recent months since the birth of our first son keeps
us from stepping out much.) We read the credits at the end of the
film too.  And we keep a slew of film reference books on the mantle
in the living room.  Questions, curiosities, connections, c
onstantly arise in watching films closely, and we enjoy good
reference sources.  If you're reading this review, you might be like
that as well.  I've noticed that an increasing number of people, for
better or worse, live in "film consciousness." Dinner parties and
other social gatherings in our circles rarely fail to include a
discussion of who's seen what new film.  There's a market out there
for good film references, especially one with an interesting
approach or a unique niche.
    Conception: So, for me at least, the conception of this program
has important problems.  When I go to the video store, it's not in
fear that I won't find anything.  I'm either seeking out one or more
specific movies; or I want to browse the aisles and discover some
obscure curiosity or be reminded of something I always wanted to
see.  I don't need a program trying to help by doing a poor job of
predicting what I'll like.  I think it would take some AI
application (probably with fuzzy logic or some such) to do that
adequately...
    Okay, so why not just use it as a reference source?  As I
mentioned above, because they've pre-selected only movies that meet
their standards of quality.  The edition of Halliwell's Film Guide
(in print) that I refer to, from several years ago, has nearly three
times as many film entries.  The manual for Movies To Go!  includes
an outline of the criteria they use to select movies for inclusion.
Top box office grossing movies, nominees for major Academy awards,
movies acclaimed by several critics or enthusiasti cally reviewed by
users of the program, and those with big stars in the cast, almost
guarantee inclusion.  Domestic rather than foreign, newer rather
than older movies, and those available in video are preferred.  For
someone who departs from the mainstream, e.g.  into foreign films,
or 'B' movies, or older films that weren't big hits or Academy award
winners, the selections here aren't adequate.  They relentlessly
refer to their subject as "movies," rather than "films," I noticed.
Call it snobbery if you will, but there's a difference.
    Each entry also lists any elements of "objectionable content" in
the film.  Ignoring for a moment all the debate about what
relationship the moral depravity of society has to the sexual and
violent content of our media, there's a little too much of a "moral
watchdog" tone about this aspect of Movies To Go!  for my taste.
    On the other hand, while I object if someone dictates my tastes
to me, I do appreciate critical comments.  I read film reviews, even
if I don't agree with them.  And a poor review doesn't necessarily
dissuade me from seeing a film.  This brings me to my next major
complaint about the program.  What it calls its "critical reviews"
are merely brief plot summaries or, in one case I came across in
browsing, just a list of the songs that appear in the soundtrack!
Nothing I would class as critical comments appears a nywhere.  To be
fair, one of the technical notes at the back the manual observes
that recent reviews have been longer and longer, so ImagiSoft may be
addressing complaints similar to mine.
    Performance: The authors say that the "compressed hypertext"
nature of the database makes searches fast.  But on my 486DX2-50,
with a fast hard disk, a large cache and fast video, it crawled when
doing a search or updating a screen.  Apparently this is a common
complaint from their users, because the manual addresses it at
length, and the distribution disk includes a text-only version that
requires only 256K DOS memory and 1.5 megabytes on your hard disk
free, as opposed to 525K and 3 megs for the complete p ackage.  The
manual also goes into detail about how to install a memory manager
and load most of your boot configuration into upper memory to make
room for Movies To Go!  to run in lower memory.  If you run a
complicated Windows environment as I do, you might have the same
experience as I did, of never being able to make enough room in
conventional memory for the program to run under Windows.
Nevertheless, I could get it to run easily from the DOS prompt after
a plain vanilla boot (easy enough with DOS 6 by h itting F5 at
start-up).
    If you install the text-only version, you will miss out on some
of the graphics features movie posters, actors' photos, and a
variety of animated icons and sound files of actors' voices.  I
never came across any, but there are also supposed to be photographs
of the grassroots reviewers whose submitted reviews are accepted.
    I couldn't even get the install program to run under Windows.
No matter which choice (install under DOS, under Windows, or quit) I
selected in the initial install menu, after a brief delay I'd land
up right back at that same menu, getting nowhere fast.  At least the
install screen was pretty.  I installed the program from the DOS
prompt, after exiting Windows and rebooting.
    So who should buy this program?  Well, I don't think it's for
seasoned film buffs.  If you are, however, a movie fan, and
especially one who frequently experiences existential angst while
lost in the aisles of the video store, you might find useful
guidance here.  A word of advice though if it's take-out Chinese
food and a movie to go, don't eat your food before you begin your
search in Movies To Go!  . You'll be hungry again by the time you
find what you're looking for.

Requires:   MS DOS compatible
        VGA monitor
        3 megabytes of hard disk (1.5 megabytes for text-only version)
        525K for the full program (256K free for the text version)
        386 or faster machine
        SoundBlaster compatible sound card and mouse recommended.

                          ImagiSoft, Inc.
                            PO Box 13208
                     Albuquerque NM 87192-3208
                       [phone] (voice)
                      [phone] (BBS/FAX)
                       CompuServe 70632,1177

2.3
-=-
                          Multimedia Software

2.31
-=-=
                        The Haldeman Diaries
                             review by
                            BOB GARSSON

    If you're a news junkie, a lover of political intrigue or simply
want to know more about the Nixon years and Watergate from the
perspective of a key participant, you need to get a copy of The
Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House.  But don't bother
with the print edition.  Invest in the acclaimed multimedia edition
recently issued by Sony Imagesoft.  It's well worth the added money.
You'll not only get the full text of the print edition, but double
that amount because the CD-ROM contains the unedite d journal
text--some 2,200 pages in all.  Along with it you'll get a great
many extras that add depth and insight to the book and its author,
the late H. R. "Bob" Haldeman, chief of staff to President Richard
M. Nixon during his years in the White House.
    Haldeman began his diaries two days before the inauguration--the
same day he arrived in Washington.  His final entry was made the day
Nixon forced him to resign.  In between, he tells of the Nixon years
as he saw them from his position of power.  It's the extras,
however, that make the multimedia edition worthwhile.  Not only
those 1,100 or so extra pages of text from the diaries.  The CD-ROM,
for example, will give you the ability to put the President's
appointment calendar alongside the diary entries so you can see both
in context.
    The disk also contains one hour of never-before-seen home movies
(consolidated from 27 hours of footage) shot by Haldeman over the
years.  His wife, Jo Haldeman, notes that he began shooting home
movies of his family prior to going to Washington and the hobby
progressed to state visits, trips to Camp David, internal White
House meetings and special events.  Haldeman eventually realized he
had archived significant historical documentation.  He though about
giving the home movies to the Library of Congress, bu t decided
instead to use them in a broader context.  Jo Haldeman makes it a
point to note, that Haldeman has never intended for the dairies to
be published when he set down the words--first in writing and then
on tape.  It was some 20 years later when he reviewed them and
realized what he had that he decided they would be made public.
There are, in addition to the film, some 900 photographs and there
are 30 minutes of diary excerpts in Haldeman's own voice--taken from
the tapes he dictated.
    Another item of interest is the 120-page letter Haldeman wrote
(but never sent) to Jim Neal, the prosecuting attorney.  In it, he
staunchly proclaims his innocence.  The voice introduction to the CD
is by Dwight Chapin, who worked closely with Haldeman in the White
House.  Haldeman died in 1993 before he could complete his project,
but his wife has continued the process and fulfilled his wish of
publishing his complete unabridged diary and the home movies in
CD-ROM format.
    There are seven basic parts to the dairies and they make up the
desktop view called the main menu.  Clicking on the stack of
notebooks displays a table of contents window, which lists the
different sections of the dairies.  The viewer can click the title
of any section to go there.  Clicking on the dairy itself displays
the diary window.  Entries appear by date and buttons at the bottom
allow skipping forward or back by day, month, or year.  When a
person's name is highlighted in an entry, clicking on the name jumps
to a biography of the person.  Clicking on the appointment book
brings up the split window which allows the user to compare the
diary entry with the President's schedule for the day.
    The user can click on the movie camera to see a list of
Haldeman's film clips, which appear in a play window with narrative
below.  Similarly, clicking on the photo album brings up a list of
photographs from the Haldeman scrapbooks and White House archives.
Photos also appear with narrative text underneath.
    By using a magnifying glass on the desktop, the user can begin a
search for specific text, such as a name, location or topic.  The
software reports the dates of diary entries that include the typed
text.
    Finally, there are biography folders.  Clicking on them brings
up a list of names and the brief biographies appear in a window with
buttons that display text and visual references to that person.
    Hardware requirements are a 386SX processor or higher with 4
megabytes of RAM and Windows 3.1 or higher.  A CD-ROM drive and
mouse or other pointing device is required.  The publisher
recommends a 256-color display and a Windows compatible sound card.
Without them, the user will not see colors or hear sounds.
    To successfully install the Haldeman Diaries requires two
megabytes of hard drive space and QuickTime for Windows, Version
1.1.  If the necessary files don't exist on your system, they will
be installed (with your permission).

                           Sony Imagesoft
                        2400 Broadway Avenue
                             Suite 550
                      Santa Monica, CA  90404
                           (310) 4492371

2.32
-=-=
                                Myst
                             review by
                             Rob Szarka

    Myst has been hailed, universally it seems, as a phenomenal
breakthrough in CD-ROM software and even as a new art form.  In the
final analysis, Myst is simply a game, in many ways like games that
have gone before, but that it is a phenomenon is without question.
Myst has steadily gained an enthusiastic following, largely through
word of mouth (I have yet to meet someone who doesn't speak of the
game in glowing terms) and complete with an interactive fanzine for
the Mac; Myst's creators were even featured recently on the cover of
Wired.
    A great deal of Myst's charm surely lies in its superb graphics
and sound.  The accompanying booklet informs us that "the
development team...spent hundreds of hours sketching out the
detailed worlds you'll experience in Myst." One look at Myst and
you'll already have guessed that for yourself.  The graphics are so
rich in color and detail that you may believe you've entered the
world of Myst indeed.  The sound, likewise, is comparable to the
best CD-ROM games on the market.
    The object of Myst is a bit harder to pin down.  Those old
enough to remember Adventure, that venerable puzzle game from the
days of mainframes and 32k personal computers, may find Myst
somewhat along those lines.  However, if Adventure is its ancestor,
clearly the species has evolved.  Myst is a story, though there's no
plot.  The player is plunged into the world of Myst without knowing
the game's object, but it is clear at least that there is a secret
waiting to be discovered.  Myst's story isn't a prete xt, it's the
game itself.
    Myst's creators, Cyan's Robyn and Rand Miller, produced a
handful of children's games before Myst, but Myst is aimed at a
broader and older audience.  It isn't a shoot-em-up.  Nobody dies.
There are no dead ends.  What Myst does offer is a detailed world
worth exploringa world that does, eventually, yield its secret.
Myst should appeal to most people old enough to possess a little
patience, and unlike most computer games, to women as well as men.
    The Macintosh version requires System 7.0.1 or higher, 256
colors, and 4MB of RAM; its Windows 3.1 cousin calls for a 386 DX-33
or better, SVGA (256 colors), MS-DOS 5.0 or higher, 4 MB of RAM, and
an MPC-compliant sound card.  As with any graphics and sound
intensive application, more than the minimum is certainly desirable.
Technical help is available from Broderbund via voice, fax, or BBS;
the frustrated and, if you will, mystified can also obtain hints
from the included pamphlet and text files availabl e on the BBS.
Broderbund will also be happy to sell you a copy of Myst through
their BBS, though you may well find a better price elsewhere.

                        Broderbund Software
                         500 Redwood Blvd.
                       Novato, CA 94948-6121
                           [phone]
                           [phone]
                        BBS: [phone]

2.33
-=-=
             The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia
                             review by
                           Roger W. Klein

    Grolier's Multimedia encyclopedia has got to be the best CD that
I have ever seen!  It not only has loads of educational value but is
also brimming with entertainment value.  The disc is loaded with
multimedia clips of different historic events, full color animated
maps, and sound effects covering a broad range of subjects.
    This award winning CD-ROM contains all 21 volumes of the popular
Academic Encyclopedia.  It includes over 33,000 articles on a broad
range of subjects - Science, World History, Music, Art and a whole
lot more.
    Grolier's uses Multimedia maps that incorporate animation and an
intelligent narration that leads you both through time and space.
The Knowledge Explorer's Audio-Visual Essays combine photos, music
and narration to provide overviews of such subjects as the Human
Body, Space Exploration, and the Lands and Peoples of Africa.
    The great thing about having a full set of encyclopedias on disk
is the fact that you can search for a topic and Grolier's will bring
up every instance of that topic from every volume in the set.  This
saves considerable time compared to searching the indexes of a
hardcopy set of encyclopedias.  As an example, I did a search for
the words "scale" and "music" (by utilizing the search feature's
"and" and "or" options you can narrow your search).  The search
brought up a list of 41 articles with 151 occurrences.
 You can even place bookmarks so that you can come back to topics
found in a search.
    After choosing the topic "music" Groliers provided me with an
extensive definition of the term including descriptions of the
different types of music in the world.  By clicking on the sound
icon on the tool menu, a list of various musical pieces is displayed
that can be played in full stereo using a compatible sound card.
    For children, teens, and college students having a tool such as
Groliers available for research projects and term papers would be
invaluable.  For adults, Groliers can provide hours of entertainment
and also serve as a great reference tool for an almost unlimited
number of topics.  I would have given anything to have access to
something like Groliers when I was going through school.
Regardless, I have found many instances where having it now has been
a great help.  Groliers is great to have even if you only n eed to
look up a definition.  However, you'll definitely want to take full
advantage of this veritable knowledge treasure.
Requirements:   IBM-compatible PC, 386SX or better
        MS-DOS 3.3 or higher
        MS-Extensions 2.21 or higher
        MS-Windows 3.1
        VGA (SVGA recommended)
        MS-Windows-compatible sound card
        1.5MB Hard disk space
        4 MB RAM
        Mouse
        MPC-compliant CD-ROM (Min. 150KB/Sec throughput)

                Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
                          Sherman Turnpike
                         Danbury, CT  06816
                           [phone]

2.34
-=-=
                             Ocean Life
                       Volume 2 (Micronesia)
                    Volume 3 (Hawaiian Islands)
                             review by
                         William M Frazier

    If you love warm ocean waters, you probably dream of going to
the South Sea Islands, the Caribbean, or Hawaii.  The sea life found
in these areas surpass the color and beauty of sea life found nearly
anywhere else in the world.  Unfortunately, due to limited personal
resources or time, very few of us attain this dream.  Realizing
this, Sumeria Inc.  has released a series of multimedia CD-ROMs,
titled Ocean Life Volumes 2 and 3. Incorporating movie clips, sound,
and still photographs, the CD-ROMs take you t o the reefs of
Micronesia and Hawaii, where you can experience the richness of life
found in these underwater worlds.
    Ocean Life, Volume 2, is a two CD-ROM set, and covers the area
around Micronesia.  Ocean Life Volume 3 contains a single CD-ROM of
sea life found in the waters off the Hawaiian Islands.  Both CD-ROM
volumes are in hybrid format, meaning that you can run them on
either a Macintosh or IBM compatible computer.  All 600 MBs of data
are available on either platform.  Whether you are using a Mac or a
PC, system requirements are pretty steep.  For the Macintosh you
need to run the System 7 or newer operating syst em, have 6 MB of
RAM, and a 256 color monitor.  On the PC side, you need at least a
486DX CPU running at 33Mhz, DOS 5 and Windows 3.1 or newer, 8 MB of
RAM, SVGA (256 colors or more at 640 by 480 resolution), and a sound
card.  On both the Mac and the PC you also need a CD-ROM drive
capable of a sustained transfer rate of 150 KB per second..  The
system I used for this review is an IBM compatible 486 computer with
8MB of RAM and a double speed CD-ROM drive.
    You can run Ocean Life directly from your CD-ROM, or install the
icons to your Windows desktop.  Installation of Ocean Life is easy.
Just run Setup from your file manager, and the Ocean Life program
group and icons will be created on your desktop.  Unfortunately, if
you have problems, documentation and help files are limited.
Program documentation consists of a ten page pamphlet inserted in
the CD-ROM jewel-case.  Two of these pages are used to list the
terms of the software license.  On-line help is a l ittle better,
explaining the purpose of the various icons found on the user
interface.  There are also a few README files on the CD that explain
some of the common problems found in the program and changes to the
documentation that occurred after the pamphlet went to print.
    One of the first things you find when running Ocean Life, is
that 256 colors is the minimum for decent color reproduction,
especially in the movie sequences.  If your system supports more
than 256 colors, use them.  Ocean Life is also a resource hog.  You
should close any other applications you may have running.
    Ocean Life is a multimedia presentation of tropical fish life
found in the areas covered by the two volumes.  Both employ a
similar user interface.  After the introduction movie sequence, you
arrive at the main selection screen.  From this screen you can view
movies and hear descriptions of various families of tropical fish
life.  You can also access other selections from this screen, such
as a fish Family Index, Morphology, Reef Life, Charts and Maps of
the area, a Play All selection, and program Help.  T he main method
of presentation is a combination of audio narrative coupled with a
movie clip.  You are also treated to soothing, New Age background
music throughout the program.
    Ocean Life, Volume 2 has a few problems that need to be
mentioned.  First of all, it is nearly impossible to access the menu
bar at the top of the screen.  You can cause the menu bar to become
visible, but you can't get the menus to drop down.  The other
problem is even worse.  QuickTime for Windows has a nagging problem
of consuming Windows resources.  After watching 10 to 15 movie
clips, you run out of resources, and the Ocean Life program exits
prematurely.  Unfortunately it doesn't return your Windows
resources, and you have to completely exit Windows.  Volume 3 solves
the menu bar problem, and all menu items are available.  The
QuickTime problem with Windows resources is still there, but Sumeria
has improved their program recovery routines.  Most of your Windows
resources are recovered after Volume 3 closes.
    I made a toll call to Sumeria technical support and questioned
them about the problems I found in Volume 2. They were honest about
the bugs in the program and informed me that a new version would be
released by late September or early October, fixing most of the
problems.  Owners of Volume 2, who are having difficulty with the
program, can call Sumeria and have the new version mailed to them
free of charge when it is released.
    Ocean Life is an excellent, non-technical introduction to
tropical fish and their habitat.  It has an intuitive user interface
and incorporates all of the basic elements of a multimedia
presentation.  I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in
tropical fish, from the aquarium keeper to the young, future marine
biologist.

                            Sumeria Inc.
                      329 Bryant St., Suite 3D
                      San Francisco, CA 94107
                           [phone]
2.35
-=-=
            Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow  & The Flame
                             review by
                           Lisa Ramaglia

    Imagine that you are a traveler who has stowed away on a ship
bound for Persia.  Once there, you meet a beautiful princess.  You
and the princess fall deeply in love with each other and are
married.  After 11 days of wedded bliss, you enter the palace only
to find that you have been replaced by a look-a-like, and no one
seems to remember you, including your bride.  The evil, look-a-like
"Prince" orders you captured.  Somehow, you manage to break free and
escape through a window.  You vow, that if you survive, yo u will
someday return to reclaim your Princess and defeat your enemy
(whoever he is).  Your journey is just beginning...
    You'll find that Prince of Persia has a very simple installation
procedure.  From the DOS prompt, switch to your disk drive (A:
ect.), type INSTALL, and press enter.  The installation program will
prompt you when to change disks, will create the directory for you
if you haven't already, and then place you in the SETUP window.
    Be certain that when setting up the configuration that you
carefully check the information on the sound card you have.  Your
system can freeze or a crash if it's not right.  If I had done this
from the beginning, I would not have had to test it nine different
times.  Once I pulled out my sound card manual and checked the IRQ
setting, I had no further problems and the sound was great.
    From the SETUP screen, you can also choose whether or not you
want the game accessible under Windows.  They do mention that if you
notice a problem while under Windows, launch from DOS only.  I found
that I had no sound at all when I tried to run under Windows.  If
you have tend to run everything under Windows, give it a try.  It
may work on your system.  I find that my computer doesn't like to
run most DOS programs through Windows, so I stick them on my menu
program and run them through DOS.  It's much easier than bothering
with the command line.
    From the SETUP screen, you can also tell the program whether or
not to run with the 640K or to use High Memory, if it's available.
I chose the latter and received no "Out of Memory" messages.  I've
been getting a lot of those lately.
    Now, on to the game:    Prince of Persia starts with a visual
story, telling the plot leading up to the point where you have to
jump out of a window to save yourself.  After jumping through this
window, you fight your way across the rooftops, leaping from
building to building.  If you're not careful, you might fall to your
death (if the guards don't get you first!).  If you manage to
escape, you will jump aboard a ship where your journey begins.
    The keyboard or a joystick can be used during play.  You can
easily switch between the two by pressing Alt-O for the options
menu.  After making your selections, you are put back where you
left.  (I chose the moment I was falling to my death.  I returned to
listen to my scream of terror and the thud of me hitting the
ground.)
    I played by both methods.  When reading the instruction manual,
it looked like the keyboard method would be too confusing to
contemplate.  It turned out to be just the way the manual was set
up.  They split the keys for their examples, which was a little
confusing.  During actual play, and much re-playing, I got the
pattern down and was able to progress into the level.
    I didn't do as well with the joystick.  In their diagram, they
assume that you are using a simple two button joystick, which seems
easy enough to use.  I, on the other hand, have a flight-stick type
that has a trigger and a button on top (not so easy to figure out).
    After a while, I became better at the joystick, but chose to
switch back to the keyboard.  Try them both and see which you like
better.
    I must admit, I love this game!  I'm hooked.  Every free moment
I get, between feeding the kids, changing diapers, and naps, I find
myself back in front of the computer.  You get no help in this game
at all.  There's no one to tell you which way to go, or what to do.
You've got to figure it out on your own (unless you purchase the
official strategy guide!).  So, not only do you have to deal with
sword-slashing guards, you have to solve a puzzle as well.  It took
me many tries to get every so many feet.  I'd figur e out one part,
then get stumped at the next.  It must have took me 10 times at
least to figure how to jump off the pier and onto the moving ship,
without missing and drowning myself.
    The beginning part of the program had very colorful movie-type
graphics.  The backgrounds are beautiful, and full of detail.  The
animated figures are not as detailed as some of the major video game
systems put out, but are impressive none the less.  You'll also find
that games for your computer usually cost less than the ones for the
regular game systems.
    If you like the action games for Super Nintendo and SEGA, like
Aladdin, you'll like this one.  I find that I get the same kind of
action and fighting, and no gore.  The kids will like this one too.
Give it a try!

Requirements:   286/10MHz or higher
                640K RAM (but can be set to run in High memory)
                2MB of RAM for sound
                Hard disk with 7MB of free space
                VGA card and monitor
                1.44MB 3.5" disk drive
                DOS 3.1 or higher

                      Broderbund Software Inc.
                         500 Redwood Blvd.
                        Novato Ca 94948-6121
                          [phone]

2.36
-=-=
                            Tie Fighter
                             review by
                             Doug Reed

    Tie Fighter is the sequel to X-wing, the best-selling action
game that allowed you to enter the Star Wars universe and fight
against the Empire.  In Tie Fighter, however, you fight for the
glory of the Emperor, seeking to destroy the treacherous Rebel
Alliance.  While still using the same 'engine' as X-wing, the
graphics have been substantially improved, with gouraud shading
added to give the ships a beautiful three-dimensional appearance.
The musical score and sound effects are equally well done.  Sixteen
an d thirty-two bit stereo sound cards are put to superb use and
truly enhance the Tie Fighter experience.
    Tie Fighter expands on the Star Wars universe, combining an
interesting story with intense battles.  Before it is over you will
have performed search and destroy missions, rescue missions,
escorted vital transports, defended the emperor from attack, and
captured a traitorous admiral seeking to betray the Empire and join
the Rebellion.  In between the action are sandwiched a number of
scenes that play out the story and once seen can be viewed again at
your leisure.  In addition, you can join the Emperor's secr et order
of loyal pilots which keep tabs on what is going on in the Empire
and will ask you to complete clandestine objectives during some of
your missions.
    Unlike X-Wing, Tie Fighter is user-friendly.  Tired of having to
constantly restore your pilot from your last saved position?  Tie
Fighter takes care of that for you, so that there is no constant
exiting to DOS every time you fail to complete a mission.  Tired of
constantly having to change speeds to keep that pesky Rebel fighter
in front of you?  No problem, just tap on one key and you
automatically match speeds with your target.  Wondering who the heck
is shooting at you?  Tap another key, and the computer tar gets
whoever is trying to blast you to space dust.  You get the idea.
Every aspect of X-wing has been worked over and improved in Tie
Fighter, providing a very enjoyable gaming experience.
    Tie Fighter allows you to fly 6 different Imperial fighters over
the course of the game, the Tie Fighter, Tie Interceptor, Tie
Bomber, Assault Gunboat, Tie Advanced, and Tie Defender.  Only the
last three are equipped with shields, so you must be careful during
combat because only one or two shots are all that is required to
blow you to bits.  No longer can you attack enemy fighters head on
as in X-wing.  Now you are vulnerable and your enemy has
strong-hulled fighters equipped with even stronger shields.  How
ever, you do have superior speed and maneuverability, so you can use
this to get behind your opponent and destroy them.  In X-wing, your
wingmen were basically useless and often you had to complete all of
the objectives yourself.  Group tactics are encouraged in Tie
Fighter, however, and your fellow Imperial pilots will help you
accomplish the mission objectives.  And if you feel overwhelmed,
help is only a keystroke away.
    Overall, Tie Fighter is a substantial improvement over X-wing,
and will keep you hooked for a long time.

                  LucasArts Entertainment Company
                           P.O. Box 10307
                       San Rafael, CA  94912
                           [phone]

2.4
-=-
                           Graphics Software

2.41
-=-=
                              addDepth
                             review by
                             Judy Litt

    If you've been reading CyberNews from the first issue, you'll
know that I reviewed trueSpace, another 3D program, in that issue.
You'll also know that I didn't find that program quite as easy for a
3D novice to use as the company's literature proclaimed.  addDepth
is a 3D drawing program for the common man.  (Have you noticed that
3D programs like program names with the first letter not
capitalized?)
    One of the nice things about addDepth is that you can be crating
3D drawings before you ever crack the manual (which is only about
one hundred pages), thanks to wizards.  There are two different
wizards in addDepth: the template wizard and the step by step
wizard.  They do what you'd think they do.  The template wizards are
thirty-three templates-3D drawings that you simply add your text to.
The step by step wizard takes you step by step through the 3D design
process.  First you choose depth and bevel, then ro tation, effect,
and light source.  Finally, you type in your text.  What would make
the step by step wizard outstanding would be the ability to go
through it and apply all the same design decisions to objects
(circles, squares, etc.).
    addDepth comes with basic 2D drawing tools: rectangle, ellipse,
and polygon tools.  There is also a pen tool which allows you to
create objects point by point.  You can fill open and closed paths,
group paths, and make paths compound-just like you would with an
ordinary 2D drawing program.  You can also add and delete points,
and convert points from straight to curve and visa versa.  Still,
addDepth is not meant to be a replacement for 2D drawing programs.
For instance, there is no way to rotate a 2D object; y ou must make
it 3D to rotate it.  You can create objects in your 2D drawing
program and then import them into addDepth to extrude.  addDepth can
import the following graphics formats: cdr, ai, fh, wmf, and cgm.
    One thing I've found about addDepth: extruding objects on my
486DX2/50, with 8 MB RAM, can be painfully slow, depending on the
complexity of the object.  However, you don't have to wait for the
program to finish extruding before editing it more.  A preview of
what changes will do to an object would be nice.  At some point,
you're going to have to wait for the object to be completely
extruded.
    Creating colorful 3D objects with addDepth is a breeze.  There
are twelve styles that come with addDepth.  You can create a
rectangle, click on a style in the styles palette, and you're done!
You can also edit any style on the styles palette, and add styles.
You can create an object, make a new style for it, and then "grab"
that style onto the styles palette.  You can also easily work in
either RGB or CYMK color modes.
    A style is a combination of effects.  There are five parts to
every object in addDepth: the front face, the front bevel, the side
surface, the back face, and the back bevel.  You can apply an
effect to any of these faces.  Effects include the following:
shading, stroke and fill, gradation, decal, and invisible.  Only
one effect can be applied to each face.  The gradation and the
decal effects are probably the coolest.  The decal effect allows
you to map (place) any 2D drawing onto any face of an object.  The
neat thing about the gradation effect is that it can be a one way
gradation or a two way gradation.  A two way gradation goes from
one color to a second color, and back to the first color.  There is
a color style dialog box.  This dialog box shows a preview of the
effects you apply.  Like extrusion, the preview is interruptible:
you can apply one effect, and then go on to apply another effect
without waiting for the preview to redraw.  You can also rotate the
preview in 3D space.  The preview is always a lowercase m-
I'd like to see the actual object I'm working on.
    Printing in addDepth (at least to my HP1200c) seems to be a real
hit or miss affair.  I created an object that had a two way
gradation.  When printed out of addDepth, there was obvious banding.
I saved the file in FreeHand, Adobe Illustrator, and cgm format.
There wasn't enough memory to print the entire object out of
FreeHand-but the banding was gone and I had a nice, smooth
gradation.  I imported the cgm graphic into CorelDRAW, and printing
was quite fast.  But the banding was back.  Printing out of Adobe
Ill ustrator was relatively fast, and the entire object printed.
However, for some reason the colors of the gradation were much
darker-making it hard to see that there was a gradation (although
there was no banding).
    One other minor annoyance: when you quit addDepth, Program
Manager is automatically maximized.  Since I use Dashboard, a
program manager replacement, I found this very annoying.
    If you've seen the ads for addDepth, you've seen a color graphic
and the statement "create this graphic in ten minutes or your money
back." I think that's an accurate statement.  addDepth is easy to
use and easy to learn.  It allows you much more creativity than
CorelDRAW's extrude function.  If you want some 3D objects to liven
up your designs, but don't have much time to learn a new program,
consider addDepth.
Requirements:   386 or higher
                4 MB RAM (486 with 8 MB RAM recommended)
                MS Windows 3.1 or later
                4 MB hard disk space

                          Ray Dream, Inc.
                    1804 N. Shoreline Boulevard
                      Mountain View, CA 94043
                           [phone]

2.42
-=-=
                         Aldus FreeHand 4.0
                             review by
                             Judy Litt

    If you hang out on the boards (CompuServe, America Online, the
Internet, FidoNet) and you use a PC, sooner or later you're going to
notice it: there's a lot of Corel bashing going on.  I use Corel,
and I like it.  I also use FreeHand and Illustrator.  So it was very
interesting to me when I got the chance to review FreeHand 4.0 for
CyberNews.
    One of the first things you'll notice when you open FreeHand 4
is that there's no dialog box to open a new document.  You'll have
to go to the View|Tools menu and start opening some palettes.  The
first one to open is the Inspector palette-this is where you set the
parameters for your document.
    This brings me back to Corel.  Corel, graphic artists will tell
you, is for non-artists.  FreeHand and Illustrator, on the other
hand, are for real graphic artists.  All the palettes in FreeHand 4
are very reminiscent of Corel.  You don't have to wade through lots
of dialog boxes to get something done.  However, all the palettes
can really clutter up the screen.  FreeHand should take a tip from
Corel: there should be a way to minimize all open palettes with one
click of the mouse.
    Another new feature that I'd been eagerly awaiting is the
support of multiple pages.  FreeHand implements this in a way
similar to Illustrator: there is a pasteboard on which a maximum of
thirty letter sized pages can fit.  The really cool thing is that
you can have multiple pages of different sizes on the pasteboard.
Rearranging pages is a snap.  You simply display the document
inspector, and drag the pages until they're in the positions you
want.  When you drag a page to an empty space in the document inspec
tor, the other pages automatically re-number.
    Moving between pages takes a little getting used to.  You must
first highlight the page you want to go to on the document
inspector, and then go to the lower left corner of the window.
Press where you see a percent, and then choose fit page.  There are
two buttons on the lower left side of the window that are welcome
additions to FreeHand.  One displays the current view magnification,
and allows you to change that magnification to fit page, fit all,
12, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, or 800% with the click of a butto n. The
other allows you to toggle back and forth between preview and
keyline mode.
    Creating and applying colors is a breeze and the way it's done
is truly unique.  There are three palettes involved: the color list,
the color mixer, and the tints palette.  To create a new color,
click on the color model you wish to use in the color mixer (CYMK,
RGB, and HLS).  Then move the sliders until you have the color you
want.  Drag that color to the color list-and it's automatically
added.  You must then double click on the color name to rename it
(don't forget to press enter).  If you want to create tin ts of a
color, drag the color to the tints palette.  The palette will
automatically show you tints in ten percent increments from ten to
ninety percent.  Then just drag the tint you want back to the color
list.
    Applying colors is drag and drop also.  Just drag a color to the
object you want to color; it doesn't matter whether or not the
object is selected.  You can also apply color the old fashioned way.
Select the object, select either fill or stroke on the color list,
and then click on the name of the color you want to apply.  A word
of caution: if you place a color graphic of any sort into FreeHand,
the colors applied to that graphic are automatically added to the
color lists.  Even if you later delete the graphic , the added
colors remain.
    If you create custom colors that you know you'll be using again,
never fear.  You can export colors into your own personal color
library.  Or you can make up several personal, customized color
libraries.
    The way text is handled in FreeHand 4 is quite different from
previous versions-with many useful new features.  When you click the
text tool on the page, you immediately get a text box that you type
into.  At the top of that text box is a ruler with tab settings.
You'll find setting tabs easy if you're already using PageMaker,
since both programs use the same sort of system.  You can also click
and drag to create a text box of the size you want.  When you first
start creating text boxes, you'll notice that the y're opaque-you
cannot see anything behind them.  If you want them to be transparent
(I did), go to preferences on the file menu.  Put a check mark in
the box "buffered drawing" under the display menu.
    If you don't click and drag to create the correct size text box,
you may find yourself working with text boxes that are much larger
than the actual type.  Doubleclick on the link box, and text box
will resize to fit the type.  Many new operations on type are useful
and easy: tabs, space before and after paragraphs, columns, rows,
hyphenation, text wrap, flowing text into graphics; the list goes on
and on.  I did find a few of these new operations awkward - kerning
type, in particular.  To kern type, you click an insertion point
between two letters, and then specify an em space percentage to
increase or decrease the space between those two letters.  FreeHand
4 is getting awfully close to marrying the illustration and page
layout program, but it's not quite there yet.  There are no master
pages and no spell checker.  The only type of text that can be
placed is RTF or ASCII.  You can have text wraps, but not on groups,
blends, or OLE objects.  If you want to wrap text around an OLE
object (say a CorelDRAW graphic), you must create a path around the
OLE object and then wrap the text around that path.
    Another long awaited addition to FreeHand - support for OLE.
Finally, FreeHand and PageMaker talk to each other.  Well, sort of.
You can't place a FreeHand graphic into PageMaker, but you can use
the insert object option under the edit menu to get your FreeHand
drawings into PageMaker.  You can now place CorelDRAW 3 graphics
into FreeHand, but not any later versions of CorelDRAW.  This is
good news if you own CorelDRAW 3, since there is plenty of clipart
with that program, and there is no clipart bundled with FreeHand.
Other graphics formats that can be placed: cgm, eps, ai, drw, tif,
bmp, wmf and wpg.
    One feature not implemented well in any version of FreeHand is
autotrace.  You have almost no control over it.  I think FreeHand
has a poor autotrace program compared to Illustrator and CorelDRAW.
    Although many operations that were buried deep in the menus are
now on palettes, there are some new operations that are now buried;
most notably all the new path operations.  But it's worth digging to
get at these.  FreeHand 3.1 had a wonderful manual, and a good
on-line tutorial.  I don't like the way the manual is organized in
FreeHand 4, and there is no online tutorial.  There is a small
getting started tutorial, which is good, but if you're not familiar
with the program it'll probably take a while to learn .  It's not
the same old Freehand.  This version of FreeHand is almost a whole
new program.  There're new tools, a whole new interface, new
operations, and some operations have changed places on the menu.
Even exiting the program is different.  If you haven't saved
recently, the program will inform you of that and ask whether you
want to quit or review.  Many of the changes in the program are
exciting.  If you're upgrading, it's definitely worth the price.  if
you're trying to decide on an illustration program, Fre eHand should
give Illustrator a run for the money.  But users new to illustration
programs, and FreeHand in particular, may find it a little hard to
learn.

Requirements:   486 or higher
                MS-DOS 5.0 or higher
                MS Windows 3.1 or higher
                12 MB RAM
                20 MB hard drive space

                         Aldus Corporation
                       411 First Avenue South
                       Seattle, WA 98104-2871
                           [phone]

2.43
-=-=
                        Hijaak Pro Version 2
                             review by
                          Eliot M. Gelwan

    From humble beginnings as a screen capture utility, Hijaak has
grown so powerful that it has appended 'Pro' to its name with this
upgrade to Version 2. It's the first utility you should have, and
perhaps the only one you need, for the manipulation of graphics
images in almost any format anywhere on your system.  For screen
capture, graphic file format conversion, basic image editing and
processing, and file viewing, it takes the place of the plethora of
shareware utilities with which I previously clogged my hard disk,
even supplanting my previous favorite, Graphics Workshop for
Windows.  You don't even need to know the format of an image file to
work with it in Hijaak Pro.
    Image conversion in Hijaak Pro is powerful and easy.  The
program knows more than 70 vector, raster and fax-image formats,
although some are import-only or export-only.  There are 24
supported fax flavors alone.  Windows clipboard images, JPEG
compressed graphics, and Kodak Photo CD images are among the new
formats supported in Version 2. My major disappointment in this
regard is that, although it can export to .EPS (encapsulated
PostScript), it cannot import .EPS images.  Macintosh, Amiga and
even Sun image f ormats are fully translatable.
    Effortless screen capture in any video format is one of Hijaak
Pro's greatest assets.  You can capture the entire screen, a
cursor-defined area, or a specific window or icon as easily as
hitting a predefined hotkey combination while Hijaak Pro is iconized
in the background.  Once defined, the image can be captured to the
Windows clipboard or to the Hijaak window, saved to a disk file in
any of the supported formats, or output directly to your printer or
plotter.  A separate 6K TSR for DOS-session screen capt ures can be
loaded from within Windows or from the DOS prompt.  In addition to
acquiring images from screen capture, you can scan a graphic image
directly into Hijaak Pro from any TWAIN-compliant scanner.
    Hijaak Pro integrates directly into many major word processing
and page layout (desktop publishing) applications, so that you can
use it from within those applications to import graphic images in
formats the native application does not support directly.  For
example, I'm no longer limited by the graphic import filters that
come with Microsoft Word.  If Hijaak is running in the background
while I'm in Word, all the Hijaak-supported graphics formats
magically appear in the drop-down menu in Word's "Insert Pic ture"
dialog box, and can be directly imported without jumping over into
Hijaak Pro for the conversion.
    Although they will not replace PhotoShop or even PhotoFinish,
Hijaak Pro has image editing and processing capabilities which are
adequate for many "quick 'n' dirty" jobs.  These include the ability
to crop, rotate, stretch or shrink the image, change resolution,
change number of colors, smooth, invert colors, convert to
greyscale, optimize palette, do histogram equalization, and adjust
brightness and contrast.  There is a small preview image which
changes as you apply your edits, and you can undo your last c hange
if you don't like the result.  You can also clone your image and
manipulate the clone, leaving the original intact in case you aren't
satisfied with your experimentation.
    I love the Hijaak Browser, which you can run from inside Hijaak
Pro or as a standalone.  If you're like me, your hard disk is
clogged with a variety of graphics images, from clipart you've
acquired with various applications, to downloaded .GIFs, to the
.BMPs and .ICOs that are ubiquitous in Windows.  I also scan in a
lot of photographs and diagrams to use in my academic presentations
and even correspondence.  With the Browser, I've been able to build
a browseable database of my images in the form of a catalog ue
folder for each of my image-laden directories.  This process
collects images from all of the graphic formats supported by Hijaak
Pro.  Once the catalogue folder is built, the Browser displays a set
of bitmapped, full-color preview images, or "thumbnails," sorted
however I please whenever I open that directory.  You can also make
a custom catalog file that contains images from diverse directories
across your disk, e.g., united by a single theme, and you can create
nested subfolders inside any catalogue folde r.
    Unlike other graphics viewers that produce thumbnails, the
Browser puts all the images for a directory into this single file,
as opposed to space-gobbling individual thumbnail files for each.
Image files can be copied, moved or deleted by dragging and dropping
the thumbnails without going into File Manager or the equivalent.  A
click on any thumbnail opens the full image for conversion, export
or image manipulation.  I did find, however, that my system froze
when a catalogue folder got sufficiently enormous, i.e., several
hundred images.  It's easy enough, though, to split it into several
smaller folders by selecting only a portion of the images in the
directory at a time.  Several dozen images won't cause you any
problems in a given folder.
    My only other complaint about Hijaak Pro is what a resource hog
it is.  I have a fast 486 with 8 Megs of RAM, but I still have to
shut down everything extraneous I might have running to use it with
Microsoft Word.  Loading, zooming and scrolling images, on the other
hand, are not intolerably slow on my system; I really have no
business doing graphics-intensive work with only 8 Megs of memory
anyway!  Anyone with more than a passing need for screen capture,
graphic image browsing and cataloging, conversion or basic
processing, could wrap it all up in one package with Hijaak Pro.

Requirements:   Windows 3.1
    4 Mb RAM
    6 Mb free hard disk space.

                        Inset Systems, Inc.
                         71 Commerce Drive
                     Brookfield, CT 06804-3405
                           [phone]

2.44
-=-=
                        Microsoft Publisher
                             review by
                          Eliot M. Gelwan

    Publisher is the Windows page layout program for the rest of us.
For the beginner, it allows you to rapidly produce
professional-looking documents such as newsletters, flyers,
brochures, and greeting cards easily, with a high degree of
automation.  Yet it is powerful enough for the more experienced
publisher.  Unless you're a full-time professional, doing
book-length publications or color separation pre-press processing,
you won't miss the expense, the steep learning curve, and the
complexities of the heavyw eight publishing programs like Ventura,
QuarkXpress or Pagemaker.  You are, however, limited to loading one
publication at a time, so you'd have to go through the Windows
clipboard to cut and paste between Publisher documents.
    Publisher's interface is intuitive, with toolbars and ribbons
changing with the context.  Popup balloons explain icons to you when
you move your cursor over them.  You'll do fine working with this
program right out of the box and with the on-line help (which is
fortunate, since you have to buy the 400-page manual separately!).
You can import your text from a document prepared with any text
editor or major word processor in any of a wide variety of formats,
or you can enter text directly in Publisher's word processor, which
will be familiar to users of Word for Windows (of course!).  The
native word processor supports styles, which can either be defined
and saved within Publisher or imported from major word processors.
I haven't tried producing a major document entirely within
Publisher's word processor since I am a long-time Micr osoft Word
addict, but from playing with it, I'm guessing that you might even
consider it powerful enough to use as your primary word processor
for light use.  Such text-processing features as kerning (for 15-pt.
and larger type), drag-and-drop editing, automatic bullets and
numbering, multiple columns, smart quotes and even a spell checker
make it quite robust.  When using Publisher for simple projects such
as greeting cards, banners, invitations, or certificates, for which
it is well-suited, you'll certainl y want to enter text directly
rather than take the extra step of creating it in a separate word
processor and then importing it.  By the way, I was pleased to see
its support for banners, to which I'd thought I had to bid good-bye
way back when I switched over from dot matrix printing with
continuous feed paper to a page printer.  You can also lay out a
poster that prints section-by-section on multiple sheets.
    At our home, we now make all our greeting cards for birthdays
and holidays in Publisher.  We recently scanned in a picture of our
newborn son and easily used Publisher to make our birth
announcement, which we then reproduced on a fine grade of paper to
much acclaim from those who received it.
    For the beginner at desktop publishing, many ease-of-use
features take your hand and guide you through the creation of a
document from conception to printout.  The most unique and
sophisticated of these are the Wizards, as appear in the latest
versions of the entire suite of Microsoft applications.  These are
essentially complicated macros which magically design your
publication.  You select the Wizard for the type of document you
want to create from an opening dialogue box, answer the questions it
asks you a bout stylistic and layout options, then you sit back
while it lays out the document template to your specifications.  All
you do to complete the document is enter your text and import your
graphics to the locations laid out for them.  Even experienced users
will find the Wizards an efficient shortcut.
    You can also enable "Cue Cards" which give you step-by-step
hints while you build your publication.  Or, you can choose to skip
the Wizards and other levels of help entirely, in which case you're
presented with a blank page and you start from scratch laying out
the design elements by drawing frames for each graphic or text.
There's also an intelligent "Layout Checker" which gives you design
tips.  While Publisher had Wizards in version 1, they were so cutesy
as to be thoroughly obnoxious: "Aye aye, Captain!  Publisher is
creating your masterpiece!" and the like.  I'm glad Microsoft has
avoided that in this release.
    You can link text frames on successive pages so that text
automatically flows from one to the next when imported, and
automatically adjusts itself when you insert or delete additional
text later.  Publisher even automates the insertion of "continued
on" and "continued from" messages in the appropriate places.
    One of the nicest features of Publisher is WordArt, an included
OLE-based utility which allows you to do typographic tricks similar
to standalone products such as TwistType and Typestry.  If you've
used the latest version of Microsoft Word, you're probably already
familiar with the power and ease of this feature in creating text
effects such as shadows, outlines, and bending text along a path.
And Publisher's "Logo Creator" takes it one step further, allowing
you to integrate text effects and clipart into s eals and logos.
    In general, Publisher's drawing tools are as convenient and
complete as its text tools.  Grouping objects and layering frames
operate as in top-end publishing programs.  The ability to crop an
image you've imported without opening up your paint or drawing
program is certainly welcome; you cannot, however, rotate images or
adjust their brightness or contrast from inside Publisher.  For
precision layout adjustment, automatic alignment and the ability to
"nudge" any frame (text or graphics) by minute increments are boons.
A clipart gallery allows you to view and select thumbnail sketches
of all your clipart, both that which came with the program and that
which you have on your hard disk from other sources.
    You'll probably want to buy this product as the CD-ROM edition,
which includes what Microsoft also sells separately as the Publisher
Special Occasions Design Pack, and is oriented to holidays, seasons
and life events such as births, weddings and birthdays.  All in all,
you end up with a collection of more than 400 clipart images, over a
hundred borders and 27 fonts, several extra templates, and previews
of specialty paper you can order from PaperDirect.  While I didn't
find the fonts all that useful or uniqu e, given my prior
collection, they would form a pretty adequate and versatile
collection for anyone who had been making do with Windows' Times
Roman and Arial.  You'll probably want the CD-ROM edition anyway,
just for the extra thematic clip art and templates.  Installation is
flawless, especially with the CD-ROM version, which allows you to
avoid all that initial disk swapping.

Requirements:   386SX or higher
    DOS 3.1 or higher
    Windows 3.1 or later
    CD-ROM drive (double speed suggested)
    4 MB of memory
    5 MB available hard disk space
    VGA or better
    Mouse or other pointing device (recommended)

                       Microsoft Corporation
                         One Microsoft Way
                          Redmond WA 98052
                           [phone]

2.45
-=-=
                           Picture This!
                             review by
                         Jacci Howard Bear

    Picture This!  for Windows is an image editing, cataloging,
conversion, and screen capture utility from International
Microcomputer Software, Inc.  (IMSI).  Having recently completed a
review of another similar program I was anxious to compare the
features of the two programs.  As it turns out, Picture This!
handles the image editing beautifully but is lacking in other
essential (to me) areas.
    Although the packaging for Picture This!  touts its image
management as "complete" I found it incomplete in the image
cataloging arena.  You can easily organize images into albums;
however, the program only deals with a limited number of bitmap
images--and no vector graphics.  When adding just one image to an
existing album the update re-reads each existing image in the album.
This can be overly time-consuming when updating a large album.  You
can add titles and comments to each album, as well as to each image
.  But you must launch the actual image before editing the contents
of the image info.  There is a basic sort function allowing you to
sort the thumbnail images in an album by name or size but no way to
search by title, comments, or keywords.  This would make locating
specific images in a large album tedious.
    There is no print function for the album (thumbnail images)
which is important to me.  I like to plop down in the middle of my
bed some evenings with a notebook full of cataloged images and
search for the perfect or near perfect illustrations for my work.
The Picture This!  albums are on-screen only.
    The screen capture utility is functional if somewhat limited.
It captures full screens, windows, and rectangular portions of the
screen to file.  There is no freehand capture function.  There is no
capturing to the clipboard--all screen captures go directly to a
file.  However, the program does provide for a user-defined hotkey,
and pre-defined file prefix making multiple screen shots simple.
The speed of the screen capture is slow and the quality is only
"fair."
    In spite of the less than spectacular showing in image
cataloguing and screen capture, Picture This!  has wonderful photo
retouching and special effects capabilities.  Just a few of the
tools are: edge, sculpt, emboss, brightness/contrast/gamma control,
sharpen, soften, and pixelize.  Most of these tools also have
several options to control how they work.  The ability to overlay
images to create "multiple exposures" and add textures and patterns
and tints makes the program both flexible and loads of fun.  It ha s
a variety of halftone screens and patterns.  The cropping/matte
features are also interesting--rectangular with custom corners and
round shapes.
    Picture This!  converts images to grayscale, bilevel (black &
white), and color.  It also converts to and from several formats
including BMP, GIF, JPEG, and TIFF.  Batch file conversions make it
possible for you to convert a variety of images to another format in
just one operation.  The list of supported formats is not as
extensive as most other conversion programs I have encountered.
    Overall, the program is easy to learn and use.  The manual is
well-written, if brief.  If you have never delved into image editing
you may find the appendix useful.  It provides an overview of such
items as halftones, DPI, and image processing.
    Other features of Picture This!  include TWAIN scanner support,
printing of poster size images, and Photo CD support.
    The image cataloging and screen capture capabilities of Picture
This!  do not overly impress me.  They aren't bad.  They just aren't
as full-featured as other similar programs.  The variety of image
editing and special effects and the ease of use are splendid.  The
only serious problem I encountered was an apparent incompatibility
with TIFF images exported from CorelDRAW!  Something about the TIFF
files that CorelDRAW!  creates causes Picture This!  to crash when
loading those files.
    For someone looking for a mid-level image editing program with
more than just a handful of features, I do recommend Picture This!
I wouldn't call it a "complete" image manager and editor; but, it
does have some wonderfully fun (and useful) features.

Requirements:   IBM PC-AT or PS/2 (at least 10Mhz 286/386)
                mouse
                2MB minimum RAM
                MS-Windows 3.x
                EGA, VGA, Super VGA, 8, 16 or 24-bit graphics device
                TWAIN Scanner (optional)

                                IMSI
                         1938 Fourth Street
                        San Rafael, CA 94901
                           [phone]

2.5
-=-
                            Utility Software

2.51
-=-=
                           AFTER DARK 3.0
                             review by
                             W. Macleod

    After Dark is a full featured suite of screen savers for MS
Windows.  Installation is quick and simple allowing you to select
the drive and directory of your choice.  The install even shows you
the available space, before and after installation, of your
selectable drives.  The program comes with a "Quick Reference Guide"
that gives you all the information you really need to setup and take
advantage of all its features, but also includes extensive on-line
help.
    When the program is first started, it brings you to the Main
selection screen from which you can choose your setup selections.
Setup consists of four areas: General, Password, Advanced options
and Ecologic.  General allows you to set the time of inactivity
before the saver becomes active, this can be set from 1 minute to
779 minutes.  Other options include: the ability to mute the sounds
that are part of many of the savers; selection of whether the After
Dark icon will appear on the desktop or not; deter mining if mouse
movement will deactivate the saver.  Enabling SystemIQ enhances
After Dark's sensitivity to your systems workload, including
monitoring com ports, to prevent it from activating at times when
you need all the processing time you can get.  There is also a
setting to determine just how sensitive the SystemIQ should be.  You
can also change the Hot Key combination used to invoke the saver
immediately and you can select hot and cold control corners for your
desktop.  Moving the mouse cursor to a hot corner activated the
saver, moving it to a cold corner prevents the saver from activating
at all.
    The Password section allows you to protect your system by
requiring a password once the saver is interrupted.  The password
can be configured for one time usage or to be on at all times.  You
can also configure it to use your network password or set it up to
require a password every time you launch MS Windows.
    The Advanced Options area allows you to manipulate your screen
saver modules.  If you add or edit some modules you can update your
list from here.  You can reset all modules to their default
settings.  You can select to have After Dark activate while you are
in a full screen DOS session.  You can opt to have After Dark update
its module list each time it starts up, handy if you do a lot of
editing and/or creating of your own savers.
    The Ecologic section is After Dark's power manager.  If you have
one of the newer Energy Star monitors you can set it up to power off
your monitor after a saver has been active for a specified time.  If
your monitor is not Energy Star compliant, this feature will simply
black your screen instead of powering it off.
    The Main screen allows you to select, configure and test any of
 the more than 30 included screen savers.  If you already own After
 Dark 1.0, or 2.0, Star Trek, The Screen Saver, Disney or other
 Berkeley Systems savers, they will also be accessible from the main
 control panel.  There is also a "Randomizer" that allows you to
 select multiple savers and play them in order or randomly.  The
 time each saver will run can also be set for each individual saver.
 You can even select different modules from different versions of
 After Dark or other BSI savers to pay in the same Randomizer!
    A rather unique feature is called Multimodule.  This allows you
 to combine several modules into one display.  The modules can be
 configured to run side by side or to overlap each other and the
 specific area and size that each module will occupy can be set.
 After you have setup a multimodule that you like you can save it to
 the multimodule folder and use it anytime you desire.  After Dark
 comes with several pre-created multimodules that you can use or
 delete.  Some of the modules you can create can be very stunning or
 very bizarre.
    After Dark comes with more than 30 savers.  It includes all the
savers from version 2.0 and 15 new ones.  Savers run from the
classic Flying Toasters to Bad Dog which presents a mischievous
looking pup who scampers about your desktop, digging holes, removing
chips, chewing on wires, answering natures call and all those other
things puppies do to endear themselves to us.  The program is large,
occupying better than 5 MB, but is worth the space if you value a
screen saver for more than just its functional pu rpose.  If you are
like me you have numerous shareware and freeware savers, as well the
standard Windows savers, cluttering up your system.  With After
Dark, I will be removing all of those other savers and the space
will probably be nearly equal.  This is a fun product and I highly
recommend it!
    Requires 386 or better running Windows 3.1 Enhanced mode, VGA
display, 4MB RAM and 5MB free Hard Drive space.  Soundblaster or
compatible sound card is recommended.

                          Berkeley Systems
                          2095 Rose Street
                         Berkeley, CA 94709
                           [phone]

2.52
-=-=
                     Review of NFL Sportsguide
                             review by
                         Gail B.C. Marsella

    The NFL Sportsguide is one in a series of Sportsguides from
Momentum Development, Inc.  It is essentially a PIM (Personal
Information Manager) with a note pad, calendar, appointment book,
and phone book, but its structure is organized around the specifics
of professional football.  (College football is not included.) There
are wallpapers for each of the teams, an NFL screensaver, a trivia
game, complete game schedules for the entire season, and a database
of statistics, stadium maps, and team information (a ddress, phone,
coach, owner, team colors, local radio station that covers games,
and so on.) A BBS is available by subscription for those who wish to
update this information periodically.
    The program installs conventionally by selecting RUN from the
Program Manager File menu, and then SETUP from the floppy disk.
When loaded, the introductory screen asks for a team choice, and
then the window that opens has the logo of that team as the
background.  Several windows can be open simultaneously for
different teams.  A menu bar allows access to the different
features.  To review the program for usability and fan interest, it
was necessary to locate a dedicated football fan and observe his
behavi or as he explored it.  I found him in the next room, watching
ESPN.
    I seated the test subject in front of a Compaq portable with
which he was comfortable, and loaded the Sportsguide with a window
for the Detroit Lions.  A big smile came over his face when he saw
the game schedules.  The display can show either the schedule for
the selected team, or the entire league schedule, with times and TV
networks noted.  Additionally, portions of the schedule can be
copied to the clipboard, or selected and printed directly from the
File menu.  He thought the wallpapers were "neat to l ook at,"
although he also thought they were too bright and annoying for
general use.  Additionally, once a football wallpaper is installed,
there is no way to remove it from within the Sportsguide; you have
to go out to Windows control panel.
    The trivia game took up significant evaluation time.  Playable
from the stats of either a particular team or the entire league, it
establishes the player's intelligence level as play progresses.
(Goalpost and potato were at the low end of the IQ scale; coach and
owner were near the top.)
    The PIM features also elicited interest.  The calendar and
appointment/phone book can be called together or separately.  Their
layouts are complete, fairly standard, and uncluttered; the
appointment book has a search function for individual phrases, a
print function, and a schedule button for listing games on the
displayed day.  On the calendar, clicking on an individual day also
displays a list of the scheduled games.  The test subject noted that
he would have preferred that game days be highlighted in so me way
on the calendar, because the Thursday games are infrequent, but he
thought the basic features were very useful.
    The General Info menu has all the choices for statistics and
team information, as well as a notepad.  ("What are you going to put
on the notepad?" I asked.  He looked at me in astonishment.  "Scores
and stuff, of course!" Of course.) The stadium maps also include a
phone number for ordering tickets, and the statistics are divided
into several categories, including team stats, team rankings, league
standings, NFC leaders, and AFC leaders.  The test subject was
disappointed that the stats sections lacked a s earch function, but
he judged the statistics to be complete and accurate up to the
publication date of the software.  Overall, this would make a good
gift for a football fan.
    Note: Although the Sportsguide ran without a hitch on the
Compaq, it makes trouble on a Gateway 2000.  I tried the Gateway
before the Compaq; at best it ran, but always gave an error message
before loading.  At worst the entire system seized up.  A call to
MDI technical support identified the problem: the video drivers
shipped with Gateway systems.  Gateway owners can obtain updates
from the video card manufacturer's BBS, which should fix the
problem.  The number is 1-905-764-9404; download LOADER.ZIP, M3
2W23.TXT, and M32W23.ZIP, and follow the instructions.

                     Momentum Development, Inc.
                  240 East Hersey Street, Suite 11
                       Ashland, Oregon 97520
                           [phone]

2.53
-=-=
                          PURE MOTIVATION
                             review by
                             W. Macleod

    Pure Motivation is a MS Windows screen-saver and quote of the
day program.  It provides protection against screen burn-in while
providing you with "inspirational" sayings to start each day of
computing.
    Installation presented the first problem with the program.  I
wanted to install it to my D: drive, but it would only allow
installation to my C: drive.  The install tells you that you can
install it to any drive, but gives the "Path not Found" error
message when an attempt to install to other than C: is made.  I have
seen this in other Visual Basic applications, but was surprised and
disappointed to see it in a commercial production software.
Otherwise the install is simple and "intelligent" It makes a c ouple
of changes to the win.ini and system.ini files, but also makes a
copy of the original files and saves them to its home directory to
allow an easy uninstall.  It does not overwrite any existing files
during installation.
    After installation the program detects which screen-saver, if
any, you currently are using and requests permission to override and
make Pure Motivation the default.  The program has its own control
panel where various settings can be adjusted.  This panel can be
accessed from an icon on your desktop, or from the screen-saver
setup section of the Windows Control Panel Applet.  The panel allows
you to choose between a "standard" library of quotations that comes
with the program or from a custom library that you have created
yourself.  The standard library consists of 1000 quotations from
some of the great minds of yesterday and today, from Dante to Nixon.
There is an editor that allows you to modify your libraries,
deleting those quotes you do not care for and adding any you might
want.  You can choose to just have the "quote of the day," similar
to the feature found on many BBSs, active or just the screen-saver
or both.  The quote will come up each time you start Windows and
requires you to click on an exit box to end it.  The screen-saver is
actually a quote that moves about your screen.  You have the choice
of a static quote or a random quote.  The quote is superimposed on a
background of varying color that can be selected to be solid or
marble-like.  There is also an option called "Motivational
Vacation." This option allows you to set up so that a quote comes up
on your screen in the middle of any application running at set
intervals.  You can set the Vacation to pop up at intervals of from
1 minute to ever y 6 hours.  You can also set the time that it stays
displayed from 1 to 60 seconds.  There is also an icon called "Quick
Quote" that allows you to bring up a quote at any time simply by
double clicking on the icon.
    In operation, I found the screen-saver to be disappointing in
that the movement across my screen was somewhat jerky using either
the solid or marble background.  The saver also allowed my mouse
cursor to show through as well as a couple of my icons.  When I
start up my computer it is to "do something" and I found I did not
like having to wait for the quote to come up and then having to
click exit to get rid of it.  These are my personal feelings for the
program, functionally it is fine, just not something that I would
use.  If you are the type of person who draws inspiration from
others, this program will meet your needs quite nicely.
    Requires 386 or better and MS windows 3.0 or later.  A VGA or
higher resolution monitor is recommended.

                         Insights Software
                 222 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 2000
                        El Segundo, CA 90425
                           [phone]