|AÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» |Aº |6Last Things Last |AºÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ^1Marketplace |AÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͺ |6Last Things Last |Aº |AÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ^C^1Uno, Due, Tre... Lotus-compatible spreadsheets are a standard in the IBM PC world. If you don't already have such a program, we've got one here, Borland's Quattro. Produced by the software company known for successful products like Turbo Pascal and Sidekick, Quattro has attracted a loyal group of users who regard it as superior to the Lotus product it imitates. In addition to utilizing 1-2-3 macros and worksheets, Quattro can load and use data created with dBASE, Paradox, and other popular programs. Straight ASCII data files can also be imported. SQZ! Plus compression is included to let you compact your spreadsheet files by up to 95% on saving, and will expand such files automatically on retrieving. Use 1-2-3-style menus, or menus in Quattro's powerful native mode, or design custom menus of your own. Context-sensitive help is always available. Powerful graphics features are included within Quattro. And when it's time to print, PostScript graphics are supported for laser printers and typesetters. Quattro is also smarter and faster than most spreadsheets: it only recalculates those formulas that need recalculation, leaving the unchanged ones alone. All this is available, on a non-copy-protected disk, at a surprisingly low price. The $247.50 list price is a bargain already, but BIG BLUE DISK readers can get it for only $197.95, a 20% savings. Call (800) 831-2694 to place your order today! ^C^1Writing with your PC Back in issue #4, we presented PC-Write, an excellent shareware word processor. (That issue is available from us for $9.95 if you wish to check it out.) Since it's a shareware program, you are expected to pay a registration fee if you wish to keep using it. There's an alternative: you can buy a registered copy directly from us, which carries no obligation of further payment. Our registered copies, at the discount price of $69, include the program and utility diskettes, a hardbound manual, and technical support and newsletters from PC-Write's publisher, QuickSoft. This is a really good deal for a powerful word processor like PC-Write. We use this program all the time inhouse; I'm using it to type this text right now. It will edit plain ASCII files, or import or export files in WordStar format. Support for many printers is included, and you can customize it for your printer if it's not one of the ones already listed. There's even a speling cheker -- oops, spelling checker. If you write on your PC, PC-Write is the right choice for you, right? So perform this rite: write us and order PC-Write! (Okay, I got a bit carried away with puns here, so sue me.) ^C^1The Plot Quickens We are now making an effort to make some of the best "finds" in commercial software available to you conveniently and economically. In this case, we are pleased to offer ^1Quicken^0, from Intuit. This accounting package is ideal for business or personal use. It is speed-optimized: it will write and print 20 checks (if you have continuous-form checks for your printer) in 3 minutes; it can look up a check you wrote 1000 checks ago in 1 second; and it can analyze your budget vs. actual expenses for a full year in 4 seconds. Quicken offers macros to perform repetitive tasks for you entirely automatically. It will even remind you to pay your bills when they come due; you can set it up to pop up a reminder when you power up your machine, even if you forget to run Quicken. Quicken's special business sections support payables, receivables, cash flow forecasting, payroll, petty cash control, and job, client, and property bookkeeping. It works great for doctors, property managers, consultants, and other small businesses. (It won't work with dollar amounts over $9,999,999.99, so if you're dealing with this sort of big bucks, you're out of its league. But for anyone not at this stratospheric level, Quicken works great! Once you expand to the $10,000,000.00 level, you can afford to switch to a higher-priced accounting package anyway.) There's no need to alter your bookkeeping procedures, because Quicken works just like your checkbook. There's no accounting jargon like "credit" and "debit," so you needn't have a degree in accounting to use it. Comprehensive documentation and online help is included, and free technical support is available from the manufacturer. With all the kilobuck business software out there, you might expect to pay a price way up in the three-figure range for a program this versatile. But Quicken is available for the amazingly low price of $49.95. Call us toll-free at (800) 831-2694 to place your credit-card order. Specify 5 1/4" or 3 1/2" disks. Quicken is not copy-protected, so you can keep a backup and be assured of not losing productive time due to a disk crash. (Back up your data on a regular basis, too, of course.) All in all, it's a great deal for anyone who's looking for an accounting package. ^C^1Mail it out! We've released a commercial program of our own that will be of use to you if you keep mailing lists. ^1Mail-Outs^0 lets you keep lists limited in size only by your available disk space, and can select sort by ZIP code, name, or other criteria. You can print labels or address books of all or selected names on your list, and you can export sublists to other files. A word processor is included to let you write letters using mail-merge commands to address them automatically. At $49.95, Mail-Outs is a great buy. If you'd like to try Mail-Outs out before you buy it, a demo version, limited to 50 addresses but otherwise complete, is available on BIG BLUE DISK #11. This issue, like all our back issues, is available from us for $9.95 (less if you buy multiple issues). It contains the Mail-Outs demo, along with the usual assortment of other programs and features on a BIG BLUE DISK issue. (Ask us for a back issue catalog if you're curious about the exact contents of this or other back issues, and the price schedule for multiple-issue orders.) Call us toll-free at (800) 831-2694 to place your credit-card order. ^C^1When you need a formatted disk NOW Has this happened to you: You've just finished writing an important document in a word processor, and are ready to save it. At that moment, DOS informs you that there's no space left on the disk you're using. You need to insert another formatted disk to save your document, but you can't find one. What do you do? Some programs let you format a new disk from within the program, but this is a slow, tedious process. Other programs have no such feature, leaving you without a way to save your data if you don't have a formatted disk handy. Your problem is solved: we're now selling pre-formatted disks for your critical applications. Since these disks have already passed through the formatting process, bad disks are eliminated before they can get to you. Our disks are guaranteed 100% error-free. So, if you want a convenient, worry-free supply of disks for all your data storage needs, give us a call! 5 1/4" disks (DS/DD, formatted in the standard 360K, double-sided, 9-sector format used by PC-DOS or MS-DOS 2.0 or later): ^C 50 pre-formatted disks: $38.00 ^C100 pre-formatted disks: $69.00 3 1/2" disks (Formated in the standard 720K, double-sided format used by PC-DOS or MS-DOS 3.2 or later): ^C 10 pre-formatted disks: $19.00 ^C 25 pre-formatted disks: $45.00 Call us now at (800) 831-2694 to order or for more information. ^C^1BBS Sysops: Open a Gateway We've released as shareware a program, ^1E-Mail GateWay^0, allowing system operators (sysops) of FidoNet-compatible bulletin board systems (Fido, Opus, etc.) to open up an electronic mail gateway with various commercial services (CompuServe, The Source, MCI Mail, and GEnie; more are coming, and an option to create gateways to other systems is supported). It works by converting appropriately-addressed messages in your netmail area to text files which can then be sent through a script file (which requires Procomm+ from Datastorm Technologies) that actually logs onto your account on the remote service to transfer the mail and receive inbound messages. If you run a BBS and are interested in this, you can download or file- request the program ("GATE113.ARC") from our BBS at (318) 222-3503, FidoNet node 1:380/2. Or write for more information to: SOFTDISK, INC., PO BOX 30008, SHREVEPORT, LA 71130-0008, Attn: Daniel Tobias. (Note that the filename above is for the current version, 1.13; this is subject to change.) This file contains the complete, uncrippled program; a $50 registration fee is requested if you make regular use of it. (Note: FidoNet, Fido, CompuServe, The Source, MCI Mail, GEnie, and Procomm+ are all trademarks of their respective owners.)