First, a little history. Back in the days before microcomputers were common, I had an opportunity to program on a small computer called the HP 2000. I co-developed a set of instructional material for economics, and as an after thought, I wrote a simple economic simulation of a firm. Later, in 1983, a software publisher called CONDUIT published an improved version simple simulation. They first did a version for the Apple II, and then a version for the IBM-PCs which were becoming popular at the time. For a piece of software that had a limited audience, it sold reasonably well (I made a couple thousand dollars from it!), and it lasted a remarkably long time. It was not until early 1995 that CONDUIT discontinued the product, as part of what I was told was a cessation of business.
So the rights to BIZNES reverted to me. I decided I did not want to support the DOS version because I do not know enough about DOS, and also because DOS is a dead end. I thought that it would be relatively easy to port it to the Macintosh because I had started a game version of the program (available as shareware as MacTykoon), and I thought it would be simple to change it to give it the functionality of BIZNES. I was wrong. I had to rewrite the program from scratch. The only thing I took from the DOS version were the formulas at the heart of the simulation.
So BIZNES lives on, in a new re-incarnation. The HP 2000 version has been dead at least a dozen years, the Apple II version for at least five, and the DOS version is recently deceased. But the Mac version has just been born and who knows how long it will live.
One of the reasons the program has had a long life is that the computer is not the center of the package, but just a necessary ingrediant. Rather the center consists of problem sets, and the computer just provides data for these problem sets. If you look at the documenation that goes with this simulation, (a student manual and an instructor's guide), you will see that more work went into doing them then went into writing the fairly simple program. And you really do have to look at the documentation to make sense of what the program is all about.
Here are some Notes on the Mac version. I believe that all the features of the DOS version are available in the Mac version, and a few extra features have been added. The interface is much improved. (If you do not like it, you should have seen the DOS version. And that was considered a good interface ten years ago.) The option to graph was not put there by me, but by the programmers at CONDUIT. I pondered whether to keep it, because graphing the data is meaningful only in a few, special cases. In the end I kept it and also added the ability to print the graphs. (I have to confess in part this was because it was a fun thing to program.) The ability to customize parameters has been made far easier by breaking it out into a separate program.
The shareware version of the program comes with the Student Manual in MacWrite and also WriteNow formats. There is also an Instructor's Manual and a program which lets one alter the parameters of MacBiznes. To obtain these, you must pay for at least two copies of the MacBiznes package ($20.) When you do so, send me a request for the instructor's supplements along with your e-mail address. When I have received notification from kagi that you have paid your shareware fees, I will e-mail the instructor's supplements to you.
Suggestions for improvements or reports of bugs may be sent to me at bobs@kagi.com
Robert Schenk
May 1996
How to Pay the Shareware fee of $10
Paying for MacBiznes is fairly simple. Open the Register program that accompanies MacBiznes. Enter your name, your email address, and the number of single user licenses you desire for each program you wish to purchase (or Site or Word-Wide licenses). Save or Copy or Print the data from the Register program and send the data and payment to Kagi Shareware. More specifics on the Register program to follow. Kagi Shareware handles my payment processing.
If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi Shareware. Their e-mail address is shareware@kagi.com and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either Copy the data from Register and paste into the body of an e-mail message or you can Save the data to a file and you can attach that file to an email message. There is no need to compress the data file, it's already pretty small. If you have a fax modem, just Print the data to the Kagi fax number.
Payments sent via email are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days and if you provide a correct internet email address you will receive an email acknowledgement.
If you are paying with Cash or USD Check you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi Shareware
1442-A Walnut Street #392-SB
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via check, it must be a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi Shareware cannot accept checks in other currencies, the conversion rate for non-USD checks is around USD 15 per check and that is just not practical. If you have a purchasing department, you can enter all the data into the Register program and then select Invoice as your payment method. Print three copies of the form and send it to your accounts payable people. You might want to highlight the line that mentions that they must include a copy of the form with their payment.
Kagi Shareware can not invoice your company, you need to act on my behalf and generate the invoice and handle all the paperwork on your end.
Please do not fax or email payment forms that indicate Cash, Check or Invoice as the payment method. As far as we know, there is still no technology to transfer physical objects via fax or email and without the payment, the form cannot be processed. Payments send via postal mail take time to reach Kagi Shareware and then up to 10 days for processing. Again, if you include a correct email address, you will hear from Kagi Shareware when the form is processed.
