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KINDS OF SOFTWARE The information stored in the computer is called software. Most software stays in RAM temporarily and is erased from RAM when you no longer need it. But some software stays in the computer's circuits permanently: it hides in the ROM and is called firmware. To feed firmware to the computer, stick extra ROM chips into the main circuitry. To feed other kinds of software to the computer, use the keyboard, disk, or tape: type the information on the keyboard, or insert a disk or tape containing the information. You can feed the computer four kinds of software: an operating system, a language, application programs, and data. Let's look at them. . . . OPERATING SYSTEMS An operating system is a set of instructions that explains to the CPU how to handle the keyboard, the screen, the printer, and the disk drive. The operating system is divided into two parts. The fundamental part is in the ROM chips provided by the manufacturer. The advanced part is on a disk and called the disk operating system (or DOS, which is pronounced ``doss''). So to use the advanced part of the operating system, you must make sure the computer contains a disk (floppy or hard) containing DOS. Different computers use different operating systems: Computers Which operating systems they use Apple 2, 2+, 2e, 2c, 2c+, 2GS Apple DOS or Pro DOS Radio Shack TRS-80 TRSDOS (pronounced ``triss doss'') Apple Mac Mac System most ancient microcomputers Control Program for Microcomputers (CP/M) DEC's Vax minicomputers Virtual Memory System (VMS) Big IBM mainframes use an operating system called Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS) or an operating system called the Virtual Machine with Conversational Monitor System (VM with CMS). IBM PC and clones Most of IBM's personal computers (such as the IBM PC, IBM PC XT, IBM PC AT, IBM PS/1, and IBM PS/2) use an operating system called PC-DOS. Clones use a variant called MicroSoft DOS (which is abbreviated as MS-DOS, which is pronounced ``em ess doss''). Instead of buying PC-DOS or MS-DOS, you can buy a more modern operating system called Operating System 2 (OS/2), but it causes complications and is unpopular. Many people buy PC-DOS or MS-DOS and then modernize it by adding a supplement called Microsoft Windows. Microsoft Windows is not an operating system; it's a supplement to an operating system. Before buying Microsoft Windows, you must buy PC-DOS or MS-DOS. A supplement, such as Windows, that modernizes an operating system and hides the system's ugliness is called an operating-system shell. PC-DOS, MS-DOS, and Windows are all called operating environments. Unix AT&T's Bell Laboratories invented an operating system called Unix. It's pronounced ``you nicks'', so it sounds like ``eunuchs'', which are castrated men. (Be careful! A female computer manager who seems to be saying ``get me eunuchs'' probably wants an operating system, not castrated men.) ``Unix'' is an abbreviation for ``UNICS'', which stands for ``UNified Information and Computing System''. The original version of Unix was limited to DEC minicomputers used by just one person at a time. Newer versions of Unix can handle any manufacturer's maxi, mini, or micro, even when shared by lots of people at a time. Microsoft has invented a slightly improved Unix called ``eXtended Unix'' or Xenix (pronounced ``zee nicks''). It runs on the IBM PC and other microcomputers. Though many programmers adore Unix, it won't outsell MS-DOS, since Unix is harder to learn, runs slower, consumes more memory, costs more, and is having its best features stolen by the latest versions of MS-DOS. LANGUAGES Languages that humans normally speak ___ such as English, Spanish, French, Russian, and Chinese ___ are called natural languages. They're too complicated for computers to understand. To communicate with computers, programmers use computer languages instead. The most popular computer languages are BASIC, LOGO, PASCAL, C, DBASE, and COBOL. Each is a tiny part of English ___ a part small enough for the computer to master. To teach the computer one of those tiny languages, you feed the computer a ROM or disk containing definitions of that tiny language's words. The typical microcomputer's ROM chips contain part of BASIC and part of the operating system. To use the computer fully, you must insert a disk containing the rest of BASIC and DOS. Different people prefer different languages. Most students prefer LOGO in elementary school, BASIC in high school, PASCAL in college, and C in graduate school. To do accounting, most business executives prefer DBASE on microcomputers, COBOL on maxicomputers. Although those six languages are the most popular, many others have been invented. Five old languages still in use are FORTRAN, RPG, LISP, PL/I, and SPSS. Five new languages are FORTH, PILOT, PROLOG, ADA, and MODULA. The Secret Guide to Computers tutors you in all those languages and more, so you become a virtuoso! PROGRAMS The computer will do whatever you wish ___ if you tell it how. To tell the computer how to do what you wish, you feed it a program, which is a list of instructions, written in BASIC or in some other computer language. To feed the computer a program, type the program on the keyboard, or buy a disk containing the program and put that disk into the drive. But before buying the disk, make sure it will work with your computer. For example, if the disk says ``for MS-DOS computers'', it will work with an IBM PC but not with an Apple. A person who invents a program is called a programmer. Becoming a programmer is easy: you can become a programmer in just a few minutes! Becoming a good programmer takes longer. You can buy two kinds of programs. The most popular kind is called an application program: it handles a specific application, such as payroll or psychotherapy or chess. The other kind of program is called a system program: it creates a system that just helps programmers write more programs! Main applications An old-fashioned office contains a typewriter, filing cabinet, and calculator. A modern office contains a computer instead. To make the computer replace your typewriter, buy a word-processing program. To replace your filing cabinet, buy a database program. To replace your calculator, buy a spreadsheet program. Each program typically comes on a set of disks. Why computerize? To save time! A word-processing program lets you edit mistakes faster than a typewriter. A database program lets you find info faster than thumbing through file cards. A spreadsheet program lets you revise numbers and totals faster than rekeying them on a calculator. But even the most modern computerized offices still contain typewriters, filing cabinets, and calculators. Those pre-computer relics aren't used much, but they're still used occasionally, to accomplish tiny tasks for which a computer would be overkill. A typewriter is more practical than a computer, if what you're typing is short (a paragraph or less), or if you're typing answers onto a form somebody mailed you. A filing cabinet is more practical than a computer, if you're filing fewer than 100 items, or if you're filing documents that were mailed to you and that would take too long to retype into the computer. A calculator is more practical than a computer if you're manipulating fewer than 10 numbers or writing numbers onto a pre-printed form. But for most tasks, the computer is far superior to pre-computer relics. Here are the details. Word processing A word-processing program helps you write memos, letters, reports, and books. It also helps you edit what you wrote. As you type on the keyboard, the screen shows what you typed. By pressing buttons, you can edit what's on the screen and copy it onto paper and onto a disk. The most popular word-processing program is Word Perfect, which lets you perform many tricks. About 60% of all people doing word processing are using Word Perfect. The fanciest versions of Word Perfect require a Mac, a Next computer, an IBM PC, or a clone. Stripped-down versions of Word Perfect are available for the Apple 2 family, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, minicomputers by DEC and Data General, and IBM mainframes. Discount dealers sell the IBM PC version for about $250; the other versions cost less. The second most popular word-processing program is Microsoft Word. It runs on the Mac and the IBM PC. Another wonderful word-processing program is Ami Pro. Though it's not as famous as Word Perfect of Microsoft Word, people who use Ami Pro are thrilled. Though Word Perfect, Microsoft Word, and Ami Pro are fancy and popular among experts, they're complex. Many simpler word-processing programs have been invented for beginners. Databases A database program helps you manipulate long lists of data, such as names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, comments about folks you know (your friends, customers, suppliers, employees, students, and teachers), past-due bills, and any other data you wish! As you type the list of data, the computer automatically copies it onto a disk. The computer lets you edit that data and insert extra data in the middle of the list. The program makes the printer print the data in any order you wish: alphabetical order, ZIP-code order, chronological order, or however else you please. The program can search through all that data and find, in just a few seconds, the data that's unusual. For example, it can find everybody whose birthday is today, or everybody who's blond and under 18, or everybody who lives out-of-state and has owed you more than $30 for over a year. The best easy-to-use database program is Q&A (which stands for ``Questions & Answers''). It lists for $399; discount dealers sell it for $189. It also includes an easy-to-use word processor, at no extra charge. It requires an IBM PC or clone. To computerize your business cheaply and pleasantly, get an IBM PC clone and Q&A. If your business is typical, Q&A is the only applications program you'll ever need, since Q&A includes a top-notch database system and a word processor that's much easier to use than Word Perfect. If you have a Mac, you can't run Q&A. Instead, get Filemaker Pro. It's an easy-to-use program that performs almost as many database tricks as Q&A but lacks a word processor. Discount dealers sell it for $265. What I use Although this book discusses hundreds of application programs, I use only two of them on a daily basis: Q&A and Word Perfect. I use Q&A to run my book business, course business, accounting, and life. To type this book, I could have used Q&A but decided to use Word Perfect instead, because Word Perfect lets me perform extra word-processing tricks that make the book look pretty. So Q&A and Word Perfect are the only two application programs I need. Maybe you'll discover they're the only application programs you need! DBASE If you need even more database tricks than Q&A performs, invent your own database program by using a computer language called DBASE (pronounced ``dee base''). It resembles BASIC but includes extra vocabulary for handling databases. It's published by the Ashton-Tate division of Borland. It runs on the IBM PC. Another company, Fox Software, has invented an improvement on DBASE. The improvement is called FOXPRO. It runs on the IBM PC and the Mac. Recently, Fox Software became part of Microsoft. To run the newest versions of DBASE and FOXPRO, get an IBM PC or clone. Older versions of FOXPRO run on the Mac. Q&A and DBASE are the two most famous tools for databases on the IBM PC. Q&A is easier than DBASE but has some limitations. If you can live within those limitations, use Q&A; if you can't, you must use DBASE or FOX or a competitor (such as Alpha, Filemaker Pro, Approach, Access, or Paradox). The typical business makes the mistake of buying DBASE and hiring a consultant to write DBASE programs. Six months later, the business complains that it's paid the consultant $2000 in fees and the consultant's program still doesn't work. The business would have been better off using Q&A, which is so easy it doesn't need a consultant. Spreadsheets A spreadsheet program handles tables of numbers. For example, it can handle your budget, inventory, general ledger, baseball statistics, and student test scores. As you type the numbers, the computer puts them onto the screen in neat columns. You can tell the program to compute the totals, subtotals, and percentages and put them on the screen also. The computer lets you revise the numbers. Whenever you revise a number, the computer instantaneously recalculates all the totals, subtotals, and percentages and shows them on the screen, faster than your eye can blink! When the numbers on the screen finally appeal to you (for example, your budget finally balances), press a button that makes the printer print onto paper the entire table of numbers, including even the totals, subtotals, and percentages. Pressing another button makes the computer copy the table onto a disk. The most popular spreadsheet programs can also graph the data. Spreadsheet programs can become weapons that mesmerize people into believing everything you say ___ even if what you're saying is wrong. For example, suppose you want to submit a budget. If you scribble the budget on a scrap of paper, nobody will take you seriously; but if you put your data into a spreadsheet program that spits out beautifully aligned columns with totals, subtotals, percentages, bar charts, and pie charts, your audience will assume your budget's carefully thought out and applaud it, even though it's just a pretty presentation of the same crude guesses you'd have scribbled on paper. The most famous spreadsheet program is Lotus 1-2-3, which runs on the IBM PC. Version 2.4 lists for $495, but discount dealers sell it for $289. For a fancier spreadsheet program, get a competitor called Quattro Pro, which discount dealers sell for just $40! The fanciest spreadsheet program is Excel, invented by Microsoft. It requires either a souped-up IBM PC (containing containing Microsoft Windows) or a Mac. Discount dealers sell it for $295. For the Apple 2 family, the most famous spreadsheet program is Appleworks, which also handles word processing and databases. The typical spreadsheet program requires that the entire spreadsheet fit in the computer's RAM. If your spreadsheet contains too many rows and columns to fit in RAM, you'll want to buy more RAM. But you might be wiser to give up the spreadsheet program and switch to a database program instead, since database programs store data on disks instead of in RAM. Database programs produce the same pretty tables as spreadsheet programs, so your boss won't know you switched. Compulsive perfectionism The most successful business programs are the ones that make work become fun, by turning the work into a video game. That's why word processing programs and spreadsheet programs are so successful ___ they let you move letters and numbers around the screen, edit the errors by ``zapping'' them, and let you press a button that makes the screen explode with totals, subtotals, counts, and other information. Sometimes, word processing can be too much fun. Since it's so much fun to edit on a word processor, people using word processors edit more thoroughly than people using typewriters or pens. Word processing fosters compulsive perfectionism. Word-processed documents wind up better written than non-electronic documents but take longer to finish. According to a survey by Colorado State, people using word processors take about 30% longer to generate memos than people using pens, and the word-processed memos are needlessly long. Graphics The first easy-to-use graphics program was Mac Paint, developed by Apple Computer Incorporated for the Mac. It lets you use the Mac's mouse to draw pictures on the screen, copy them onto paper, and perform special effects. It's fun. It's the program that made the Mac popular. Mac Paint has been replaced by dozens of fancier programs that run on the Mac, IBM PC, and all other popular computers. Architects and engineers draw blueprints by using a program for computer-aided design (CAD). Desktop publishing A program that lets you combine graphics with text ___ to create posters, ads, and newsletters ___ is called a page-layout program or desktop-publishing program. The fanciest desktop publishing programs are Aldus Pagemaker and Quark XPress. Each runs on the IBM PC and Mac. They let you easily create headlines and multiple columns with graphics. For the IBM PC, a pleasant alternative is Ami Pro, which is a word-processing program that includes many desktop-publishing commands. Integrated programs Instead of buying a word-processing program and also a database program and also a spreadsheet program, you can buy a single ``monster'' program that does a little bit of everything! Such a program's called an integrated program. The best integrated programs for the IBM PC are Q&A, Microsoft Works, and PFS First Choice. Here's how they compare. Q&A is the best at handling databases. Q&A's main weakness is that it does not handle spreadsheets at all. Microsoft Works is the best at handling word processing and spreadsheets. Its main weakness is that it requires a peppy computer and a mouse to run well. PFS First Choice is the easiest to learn how to use, but you'll outgrow it soon, since it lacks advanced features. Each IBM clone built by Tandy comes with an integrated program called Deskmate. For the Apple 2 family, the most popular integrated program is Appleworks. Creative applications You can buy programs that teach you new skills, produce music, play games, and perform wild tricks. Vertical software Software that can be used by a wide variety of businesses is called horizontal software. Programs for word processing, databases, and spreadsheets are all examples of horizontal software. Software targeted to a specific industry is called vertical software. Programs specifically for doctors, lawyers, and real-estate management are all examples of vertical software. Vertical software is expensive because it can't be mass-marketed to the general public and isn't available from discount dealers. The typical vertical-market program costs about $2000, whereas the typical horizontal-market program costs about $200 from discount dealers. Until the price of vertical software declines, use horizontal software instead. With just a few hours of effort, you can customize horizontal software to fit your own specific needs. Viruses Some nasty programmers have invented computer viruses, which are programs that purposely damage your other programs and sneakily copy themselves onto every disk that you use. To avoid catching a virus, make sure that the only software entering your computer comes from a reputable, safe source. DATA When you buy a program, it comes on a floppy disk. Here's how to use that program disk, if you have just one disk drive. First, put the program disk into the drive, and press some buttons (or type a word) that makes the computer look at the disk. (To find out which buttons to press, read the manual that came with the program.) When the computer finishes looking at the disk, remove the disk from the drive. Insert a second disk, called the data disk. At first, the data disk contains no information; it's blank. Put your fingers on the keyboard and type the data that you want the computer to manipulate. The computer will display your data on the screen and copy it onto the data disk. At night, before you go to bed, hide the data disk (which contains all the personal data you fed the computer) to protect it from any accidents and from any competitors, vandals, toddlers, pets, and goblins that go bump in the night. Two drives If your computer has two floppy disk drives, put the program disk in the main drive (``drive A'') and the data disk in the other drive (``drive B''). If your computer has one floppy disk drive plus one hard disk drive, put the program disk in the floppy disk drive, copy its program onto the hard disk, then use just the hard disk. The hard disk holds the program and data. SOFTWARE COMPANIES Will your computer be pleasant to use? The answer depends mainly on which software you buy. Software companies will influence your life more than IBM, Apple, or any other hardware manufacturer. The thirteen dominant software companies are Microsoft, Novell, Lotus, Borland, Symantec, Oracle, Computer Associates, Intuit, Electronic Arts, Broderbund, Claris, Adobe, and Autodesk. Here's why. . . . Microsoft The most important software company is Microsoft, which takes in about 4 billion dollars of revenue per year. It makes the most popular operating system (which is MS-DOS). The company's main founder, Bill Gates, became a billionaire when he was 30 years old and appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. Now Bill is 38 and worth 7 billion dollars. He doesn't have that much cash in his pocket, of course: most of his billions are invested in Microsoft stock. Microsoft is the most diversified software company: besides selling MS-DOS, it also sells other operating environments (Windows and Xenix), programming languages (Microsoft BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, C, and others), a word-processing program (Microsoft Word), database programs (Access and Fox Pro), a spreadsheet program (Excel), an integrated program (Microsoft Works), a computerized encyclopedia (Encarta), and a wide variety of other software. It's the main software publisher for the IBM PC and Mac. It also wrote the versions of BASIC used by the Apple 2 family, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64, and Radio Shack TRS-80. Microsoft continually develops new products because of pressure from competitors. For example, Microsoft's been forced to improve Microsoft Word because of competition from Word Perfect and improve Microsoft C because of competition from Borland's C. Those continual pressures to imrpove keep Microsoft a vibrant, dynamically changing company. Novell Novell makes Netware, which is software that lets you wire computers together so they can communicate with each other. In 1994, Novell bought Word Perfect Corporation, which makes the most popular word-processing program, Word Perfect. Novell's purchase was natural, since both companies are in Utah. Word Perfect Corporation sold out to Novell because Word Perfect Corporation's been having financial trouble, since many customers have been switching to Microsoft Word, which has been improving dramatically. Novell also bought a product called Quattro Pro, which was invented by a company called Borland. Borland sold that product to Novell because Borland was having financial trouble competing against Microsoft. Hey, if all of Microsoft's competitors have financial problems competing against Microsoft, maybe Novell will buy them all! Altogether, Novell takes in about 3 billion dollars per year. Lotus Lotus makes the most popular spreadsheet program (which is 1-2-3). For too many years, Lotus sat on its laurels, and customers gradually began to switch to competitors such as Microsoft Excel and Quattro Pro. We expected Lotus to gradually die. But during the 1990's, Lotus displayed good taste and made wide moves: it dramatically improved 1-2-3; it bought a company called Samna, which made the nicest word-processing program (Ami Pro), so Ami Pro became a Lotus product; it began selling an easy-to-use presentation-graphics program, Freehand; and it began selling a product called Notes, which helps people send electronic mail to each other and edit each other's documents. Now Lotus is doing okay. It takes in about a billion dollars per year. Borland Borland was started by Philippe Kahn, who grew up in France. To study math, he went to a university in Zurich, Switzerland, where he got curious about computers and decided to take a computer class. The university offered two introductory classes: one explained how to program using a language called PL/I, the other explained PASCAL. Since PASCAL was brand new then, nobody had heard of it, so 200 students signed up for PL/I and just 5 students signed up for PASCAL. Philippe signed up for PASCAL because he hated big classes. His professor was PASCAL's inventor, Niklaus Wirth. In 1983, Philippe went to California and started a computer company. Since he was an illegal alien, he tried to pretend he was thoroughly American and named his company Borland, in honor of the land that produced astronaut Frank Borman. His first product was Turbo PASCAL, which he had created back in Europe with the help of two friends. Most other versions of PASCAL were selling for hundreds of dollars. Philippe read a book saying people buy mail-order items on impulse only if priced under $50, so he charged $49.95. The book and Philippe were right: at $49.95, Turbo PASCAL became a smashing success. Later, Philippe improved Turbo PASCAL and raised its price to $149.95. He also bought other software publishers and merged them into Borland, so Borland became a huge company. Philippe has occasionally experimented with dropping prices. For example, it dropped the price of its spreadsheet program, Quattro Pro, to just $49.95, even though Quattro Pro was in some ways better than 1-2-3, which Lotus was selling for about $300. The head of Microsoft, Bill Gates, said that the competitor that worries him the most is Borland, because he's afraid Philippe will pull another publicity stunt and drop prices below $50 again, forcing Microsoft to do the same. Keep it up, Philippe! We need more clowns like you! During the 1980's, Borland bought two companies that invented wonderful database programs: Reflex and Paradox. Recently Borland stopped selling Reflex, but Paradox lives on. Paradox's main competitor was DBASE, published by a company called Ashton-Tate. Philippe decided to win the competition against Ashton-Tate the easy way: he bought Ashton-Tate, so now Borland publishes both Paradox and DBASE. Philippe said he bought Ashton-Tate mainly to get his hands on Ashton-Tate's mailing list, so he could sell DBASE users on the idea of converting to Paradox. But Philippe paid too much for Ashton-Tate, whose products, employees, and mailing lists were all becoming stale. Since Ashton-Tate was a bigger company than Borland, Philippe had to borrow lots of money to buy Ashton-Tate, and he had trouble paying it back. Buying Ashton-Tate was Philippe's biggest mistake. By 1994, Philippe was having trouble competing against Microsoft's rapidly improving products and also having trouble repaying the money he'd borrowed to finance the take-over of Ashton-Tate. Financially strapped, he sold Novell his crown jewel, Quattro Pro, gave Novell the right to make a million copies of Paradox. Novell's founder, Ray Noorda, said candidly he wasn't thrilled by Quattro Pro but wanted to buy it anyway, just as an excuse to give Philippe some money, so Philippe could stay in business and scare Microsoft, so Bill Gates would devote his energy to fighting Philippe instead of fighting Novell. Why fight? See, no matter how rich the computer guys get, they still act like a bunch of tussling toddlers. I'm waiting for their mama to say, ``Boys, boys, will you please stop fighting, shake hands, and make up!'' If Israel can make peace with the PLO and Jordan, why can't Bill Gates make peace with his competitors? Answer: they're all greedy ___ and Bill's also a bit brash. (For example, he walked out on CBS's interview of him when the interviewer, Connie Chung, mispronounced ``DOS'' and also asked him a pointed question about a competitor.) But Bill's actually somewhat glad at his competitors' successes, since Microsoft needs to have enough successful competitors to prevent the Justice Department from accusing Microsoft of being a monopoly. By letting several competitors invent new ideas and bring them all to market, we consumers get to choose for ourselves which ideas are best ___ and vote on them with our dollars ___ rather than kowtow to a single dictator. Symantec My favorite database program, Q&A, is published by Symantec. Like Lotus, Symantec shows good taste in acquisitions: it bought two companies making good versions of the C programming language (Lightspeed and Zortech) and also bought two companies making DOS utility programs that fix DOS's weaknesses (Peter Norton Software and Central Point Software). Symantec tries hard to improve all those acquired products, but I wish it would improve Q&A instead! I'm sad to see Q&A, the world's best database program, be neglected and fall into obsolescence. Specialized companies Oracle and Computer Associates (CA) make software that runs on computers of all sizes: maxicomputers, minicomputers, and microcomputers. Oracle's software handles databases; CA's software handles accounting (such as bill-paying, bill-collecting, inventory, and payroll). Intuit makes programs that handle accounting on microcomputers. Intuit's programs are cheap: under $100. Intuit's most popular accounting programs are Quicken (which tracks expenses and balances your checkbook), Quickbooks (which handles all major business accounting), and Turbo Tax (which helps you fill in your 1040 income-tax form for the IRS). Turbo Tax used to be published by a company called Chipsoft, but Intuit bought Chipsoft in 1994. Electronic Arts and Broderbund make the best educational games and low-cost tools for budding young artists and musicians. The two companies planned to merge but change their minds, so they're still separate. Claris, which is owned by Apple, makes the Filemaker Pro database (which is as easy as Q&A) and the Claris Works integrated package (which resembles Microsoft Works). Claris's programs run on the Mac. Out of pity for you folks you don't have Macs, Claris also sells versions that run on IBM PC clones using Windows. Adobe makes Postscript software (used in many laser printers). In 1994, Adobe bought Aldus (the company that invented the first desktop-publishing program, Pagemaker). Autodesk publishes Autocad, which is the fanciest program for handling computer-aided design (CAD). BUYING SOFTWARE You'll want four kinds of software: an operating system (which teaches the CPU how to handle the keyboard, screen, printer, and disks); a computer language (such as BASIC); application programs (such as a word-processing program, a spreadsheet program, and a database program); and data. When shopping for a computer, beware: its advertised price usually does not include all four kinds of software. Ask the seller which software is included and how much the other software costs. The typical fancy program (such as a word-processing program, database program, or spreadsheet program) has a list price of $495. That's also called the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP). If you buy the program directly from the software's publisher, that's the price you'll pay. (You'll also pay about $7 for shipping & handling. If the publisher has a sales office in your state, you'll also charged for sales tax, even if you're phoning the manufacturer's out-of-state headquarters.) That list price is made ridiculously high as an marketing ploy, to give you the impression that the program is fancy enough to be worth a lot of money. But if you walk into a typical computer store, you will not pay $495 for the program. Instead, you'll pay $299. That's called the street price because it's the price you see when you walk down the street and peek in the windows of computer stores. (You'll also pay sales tax.) Instead of charging $299, mail-order dealers charge slightly less: $279. That's called the mail-order price. (You'll also pay about $7 for shipping & handling, but you won't pay tax if the mail-order company is out-of-state.) Another way to get that kind of price is to visit a discount computer superstore such as Comp USA. Version upgrades If you already own an older version of the program, you can switch to the new version cheaply, by asking for the version upgrade, which costs just $99. You can order the version upgrade at your local computer store, or from mail-order dealers, or directly from the program's publisher. The most aggressive dealers (such as Comp USA) charge slightly less: $95. To qualify for the version upgrade, you must prove that you already own an older version of the program. You can do that in several ways. . . . If you're ordering directly from the program's publisher, the program's publisher will check its records to verify that you had sent in your registration card for the previous version. If you're ordering at a local computer store, bring in the official instruction manual that came with the old version: the store will rip out the manual's first page (the title page) and mail it to the publisher. If you lost that manual, you can instead give the store Disk 1 of the old version's set of disks. The store needs the original title page or disk; copies are not accepted. If you're ordering from a mail-order dealer, send the dealer the title page by mail or fax. Some manufacturers (such as Microsoft) use a simpler way to qualify you for the version upgrade: when you install the new version, it automatically searches your computer's hard disk for the old version and refuses to run if the old version is missing. If you bought the old version shortly before the new version came out, you can get the new version free! Just phone the publisher and ask for the free version upgrade. Here's how you prove you bought the old version shortly before the new version came out (where ``shortly before'' is usually defined as meaning ``within 60 days''): mail either your dated sales slip or a ``free version-upgrade certificate'' that came in the old version's box. Though the upgrade is ``free'', you must pay an exhorbitant charge for shipping and handling ($10 for just the disks, $30 for disks plus manuals). Competitive upgrades If you don't own an older version of the program, you can't get the version-upgrade price. Here's the best you can do: if you already own a competing program (such as a different brand of word processor that competes against the word processor you're trying to buy), ask for the competitive-upgrade price. It's usually $129, which is just slightly higher than the version-upgrade price. Get it from your local store, mail-order dealer, or directly from the publisher. To prove you qualify for the competitive-upgrade price, provide the title page or Disk 1 of the competing program (or have Microsoft's software automatically scan for such programs). Copying software If you buy a program, you should make backup copies of the disks. Use the backup copies in case the original disks get damaged. You're not allowed to give copies of the disks to your friends. That's against the law! If your friends want to use the program, they must buy it from the software publisher or a dealer, so that the programmer receives royalties. If you give copies to your friends and become a lawbreaker, you're called a pirate; making the copies is called piracy; the copies are called pirated software or hot software. Don't be a pirate! Don't distribute hot software!Some software publishers use tricks that make the computer refuse to copy the program. Those tricks are called copy protection; the software is copy protected. But even if the software publisher doesn't use such tricks, it's still against the law to make copies of the program for other people, since the program is still copyrighted. If your friends want to try a program before buying it, don't give them a copy of the program! Instead, tell your friends to visit you and use the program while they sit at your computer. That's legal, and it also lets you help your friends figure out how to use the software. If you buy a version upgrade, you're not allowed to give the older version to a friend to use on a different computer. You must destroy the older version ___ or keep it just for emergencies, in case the newer version stops working. Some software publishers, such as Word Perfect, let you donate the old versions to schools, but just after getting the publisher's permission. Demo disks Besides sitting at a friend's computer, another way to ``try before you buy'' is to phone the program's publisher and ask for a free demo disk. Although some demo disks are just useless animated ads, the best publishers provide useful demo disks (called trial-size versions) that closely imitate the full versions. For example, the typical trial-size version of a word-processing program has nearly all the features of the full version, but it refuses to print memos that are more than a page long and refuses to copy your writing onto a disk. Trial-size versions are nicknamed crippled software, because each trial-size version has one or two abilities cut off. Playing with crippled software is a great way to give yourself a free education! Freeware Software that you're allowed to copy and use freely is called freeware. For example, most demo disks and trial-size versions are freeware. Most software invented by schools, government agencies, and computer clubs is freeware. Ask! Shareware Some software, called shareware, comes with this plea: although the author lets you copy the software and try it, you're encouraged to mail the author a contribution if you like what you tried. The suggested contribution, typically $25, is called a registration fee. It makes you a registered user and puts you on the author's mailing list, so the author can mail you a printed manual and newer versions of the software. Though most shareware authors merely ``ask'' for contributions, other shareware authors ``demand'' that you send a contribution if you use the software for longer than a month. Software for which a contribution is ``demanded'' is called guiltware ___ because if you don't send the contribution, the author says you're guilty of breaking the law. To get shareware, copy it from a friend. If none of your friends own the shareware you want, buy the disks from a computer club or store for about $5 per disk; but remember that the $5 pays for just the disk, not the registration fee that you're honor-bound to mail in if you extensively use the program. Special deals If your office wants many employees to use a program, ask the publisher for a site license, which permits your company to make copies for all employees in the office. But the employees are not allowed to take the copies home: the copies must all be used at the same site. If you're in a school and trying to teach kids how to use a program, ask the publisher for a trial-size version or educational version or educational site license.