Business as Usual    \|/    by Emmett Dulaney
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~           Contributing Editor

"Looks at general and specific business software packages"

           ACCOUNTING, GENERAL BUSINESS, AND "SUITE" DEALS

   Business software is a catch-all phrase for any software that can be 
used in the business place. This includes databases, information managers 
and spreadsheets. When you get right down to it, there is not a great deal 
that it does not include.

   This month, we are going to take a break from the tidy categories, and 
look at some miscellaneous programs within two categories -- accounting 
and general business -- and at the "office" program bundles that are 
flooding into and out of retail stores.


Accounting

   Microsoft Money for Windows serves a variety of financial functions. 
Originally intended for the home user, it is equally suitable for a small 
business that does not require a complex software package. It allows you 
to do loan amortization, check printing and bank reconciliation (primarily 
checking, but it could be used for savings, as well). Version 3.0 is now 
available; however, a quick perusal through many office supply stores 
should uncover version 2.0 still on the shelves. The list price is $34.99. 
(In the stores I visited, however, Version 2.0 was going for $14.99 and 
included a $10 rebate. This puts the out-of-pocket cash at five dollars, 
and represents too good of a deal for anyone to pass up.) It does require 
Windows.

   Peachtree Complete Accounting from Peachtree Software provides a solid 
accounting package for businesses needing more than Microsoft Money. It 
contains the necessary databases and forms for creating ledgers, 
performing order entry and designing custom reports. Running on DOS, 
Version 7.0 is the most recent edition. The Windows version, appropriately 
titled Peachtree Accounting for Windows, is currently up to Version 3.0.


General Business

   MailWorks 3.0 from WindowWare, Inc. requires Windows and allows you to 
print labels and put bar codes directly on envelopes. In so doing, you can 
take advantage of bulk sort rates and save approximately 5 cents on every 
letter you mail.

   Policies Now! from Knowledge Point contains standard business forms 
that you can modify to suit your own small business application. Running 
on DOS and requiring only 512K RAM, it contains such diverse forms as 
those covering jury duty, bereavement, addiction, establishing a smoke-
free workplace, etc.


Suites

    If you were to go to the local Chevrolet dealership and tell the parts 
manager that you wanted to purchase the parts necessary to build a Corsica 
from scratch, he would look at you as if you were crazy. Not only would it 
be one of the most time-consuming tasks this side of raising kids, the 
individual parts would also cost you two to three times the amount of a 
car off the lot. Why? Because the rules of economics dictate that when you 
purchase items separately, profit is built into every item you buy. When 
you buy a bolt, someone is making a profit on that purchase. When you buy 
the car already assembled, however, there is only one profit because only 
one item is being sold. The same is true for any item sold in bulk. From 
that one profit you pay, the burden then falls upon the manufacturer to 
divvy it among associated parties.

   Purchasing a software suite is akin to buying a car, particularly since 
most of them cost more than my first car did. A suite is a bundle of 
multiple software packages (three, four or five), and buying one is 
significantly cheaper than purchasing each of the programs separately. The 
benefits of buying in suites is that more and more of the programs are 
becoming integrated. For example, with Microsoft Office, you install a 
printer once and all the applications in the suite know what type of 
printer is out there; if you purchased the programs individually, the 
printer would need to be installed for each.

   The downside of buying in a suite, however, is that you have to want 
all of the programs in the package to make it more attractive. Quite 
often, ABC has the best word-processing program on the market, but CBA has 
the best spreadsheet. Buying separately you would pick each vendor's best 
product. Buying bundled, you settle for ABC's less than spectacular 
spreadsheet because you use a word processor more than anything else.

   There are three notable suites these days: Microsoft Office, Borland 
Office and Lotus SmartSuite. Microsoft Office for Windows, now at Version 
4.2, comes in two versions. The first is the Standard version, which 
contains Word 6.0, a word processor;  Excel 5.0, a spreadsheet; Power 
Point 4.0 for presentation graphics; and Mail 3.2.

   The Professional version adds Access Version 1.1 (Microsoft's database 
program) to the package. To run, you need Windows 3.1, a good amount of 
RAM (specifications call for 4MB RAM, but I would recommend 8) and a large 
hard drive.

   MOM is the Microsoft Office Manager, always watching to see if you need 
help with what you are working on. During installation, it prompts you for 
what you want to install and removes any files left by uninstalled 
applications. The toolbar, which appears at the top of each application, 
is identical from one program to the other -- Excel's looks exactly like 
Word's, etc., with only one icon different. With this consistency 
throughout, it makes it extremely easy to learn another application after 
you have mastered one.

   It is also possible to open another application from inside one. For 
example, if you are composing a document in Word and need to incorporate a 
spreadsheet into the package, Excel can seamlessly come into play while 
you are working on the numbers. You then decide to represent the numbers 
graphically for better understanding, and Power Point clicks a graph 
directly into the document. Start typing again, and you are back in Word, 
having incorporated features from the other two packages without the need 
of having to go to any lengths to do so. This use of Object Linking and 
Embedding (OLE) is a far cry from the old method of copying things into a 
clipboard, then emptying the clipboard into the document.

   Dialog boxes and cue cards abound, as well as helpful "wizards" that 
help guide you through what you are working on. It is even possible for a 
Tip-of-the-Day to come up each time you start a session and give you a 
pointer that you may not have known.

   While Power Point and Excel are both fine applications, the heart of 
Office is Word. Over the years this word processor has evolved into one of 
the most intuitive document tools available. Whereas once a word processor 
was doing well to offer word-wrapping and the ability to spell check a 
document, those days are long gone -- and Word has been instrumental in 
seeing those days pass. Automatically, using IntelliSense, it can correct 
your spelling of a word the moment your cursor leaves it. If I spell 
Indiana as "indiana," the moment my thumb presses the space bar, the first 
letter is capitalized. My favorite feature, however, is a 100-level Undo 
command. Up to the last 100 changes you have made to a file can be pulled 
out.


Borland Office

   Borland's entry is the lowest in price, as well as in number of 
applications included. It comes with WordPerfect 6.0, a word processor; 
Quattro Pro 5.0, a spreadsheet; and Paradox 4.5, a database.

   While a mail interface is missing, the real change is a swap of the 
presentation manager for a database. On the plus side, all three 
applications are award-winners.

   WordPerfect is Microsoft Word's serious competitor, always competing 
for features on a nose-to-nose level. In the days when DOS was the desktop 
operating system and Windows a pipe dream, Word-Perfect was the processing 
package of choice for most businesses. The market began to crumble, 
however, when Windows grew to such acceptance and WordPerfect acted too 
slowly in releasing a compatible version of its product.

   Quattro Pro is an outstanding spreadsheet package. When first designed, 
it was a mirror image of Lotus 1-2-3. In the years following inception, 
however, it became like a child who has grown to striking manhood without 
resembling a parent. On-line, interactive tutors are available for almost 
every operation, and Object Help provides context-sensitive help screens 
from the manual with the click of a mouse.

   Paradox is a relational database that has been praised by users for 
years. Designed with ease of use in mind, that train of thought shows up 
in the layout of the toolbars, design of the icons, and throughout the 
program.

   There are a few minor problems I have with Borland Office. The first is 
that the applications act too much like stand-alones: they perform 
separately with little integration. The second is that Borland sells a 
large quantity of products each time it comes up with a new version. The 
way it does so is by selling exquisite programs at unheard-of prices (the 
latest release of Quattro Pro could be found for as little as $35). With 
the individual packages selling so cheaply, you lose the benefit to be 
gained by purchasing a suite.


Lotus SmartSuite

   Offering more applications than the other two vendors, SmartSuite comes 
with five programs: a word processor, Ami Pro 3.01; a spreadsheet, Lotus 
1-2-3 Version 4.01; presentation graphics, Freelance 2.01; a  database,  
Approach 2.1; and a time manager, Organizer 1.1. As far as quantity goes, 
this is a hefty package. Additionally, the applications talk to each 
other, sharing a common interface, dictionary and Smart Icons.

   The trump in the hand is Lotus's namesake application. The 1-2-3 
spreadsheet is virtually the model upon which all other vendors built 
their spreadsheets. Versatility is combined with functionality, allowing 
almost any number-crunching operation that can be dreamt to be performed. 
The numbers can be quickly converted to charts within the application for 
easier viewing.

   If I had to list the most popular word processors in use today, I would 
place Ami Pro third behind Word and WordPerfect. Being third in a category 
so large is certainly an enviable position. Freelance, on the other hand, 
is a presentation package tied for most awards with PowerPoint. 

   There are 65 design sets you can choose from, as well as 11 pre-made 
page layouts. Novice users who have never before used software to create 
slides or graphics can be up and running with Freelance or Power-Point in 
little time.

   All three software suites provide applications that most business users 
need on their computers. Selecting which one of the three to purchase has 
to be based upon which trump card within the suite you will be most 
comfortable with. Microsoft is banking upon Word to be the word processor 
that guides you into the other packages, while Lotus hopes you will lean 
upon 1-2-3's ease of use to buy its integrated package. Borland, on the 
other hand, uses all three entries as its trump cards, and all three are 
award-winning stand-alone packages. No matter which you choose, plan on 
having lots of hard-drive space and the ability to upgrade RAM if things 
start bogging down a bit.


Coming Attractions

    Rare is the business these days that has several computers not 
connected and communicating with each other in some fashion. As a company 
grows, and more importantly as the number of computers and users grows, so 
does the need to share and access information.

   Beginning next month, this column is going to take an in-depth look at 
networking. Next month, we'll begin with the basics of network types, how 
they work, what the benefits are, etc. Subsequent months will cover peer-
to-peer networks, nondedi-cated as well as dedicated servers, and the 
whole gamut.


Business Bits

   The heart of the Microsoft Office engine is its dependence on Word 6.0. 
Learning and mastering Word, you can easily work through the other 
applications in the suite. Even if you are just looking for a good word 
processor to use or upgrade to, Word can be purchased separately, and I 
would highly recommend learning how to use it, for it looks as if it will 
be setting  standards for some time to come.

   There are two books presently on the market that segment functions of 
Word and guide you through its operations. Katherine Shelly Pfeiffer's 
Word For Windows Design Companion (Ventana Press, $21.95) is in its second 
edition and provides an excellent resource for understanding the graphics 
tools. Written in an easy-to-follow format, it walks you through sample 
operations step by step (with illustrations on virtually every other 
page). The manner in which the book is written allows readers to move to 
the topics pertinent to them at the moment, regardless of their existing 
Word experience level. Desktop Publishing with Word for Windows by Tom 
Lichty (Ventana Press, $21.95) is also in its second edition. Aimed more 
at the beginning user than the first book, it educates in an informative 
manner, without talking down to the reader. There are a substantial number 
of illustrations and screen shots, all of which accent the text and serve 
to make it more coherent.

   I have always been amazed at people who plunk down a substantial amount 
of cash to purchase computers or software, then do not make the minimal 
investment in learning how to use their purchase. Both of these books 
serve the purpose of teaching how to use Word, and anyone purchasing the 
word processor or the Office Suite should set one of these two on the 
register counter also.


                                  -=*=-

               Emmett Dulaney is the author of Voodoo NetWare,
            and a few other books. He can be reached at P.O. 
            Box 353, Muncie, IN  47308; on America Online as 
            username EDULANEY; or via the Intenet at 
            edulaney@aol.com.

                                  -=*=-

                            INTEROFFICE MEMO

Microsoft Money For Windows: Microsoft Corp., One Microsoft Way, Redmond, 
WA 98052-6399, (206) 635-7156; $39.95. REQUIRES: DOS 3.1+, Windows 3.0+, 
1MB RAM and a hard drive.

Peachtree Complete Accounting: Peachtree Software, Inc., 1505 Pavillion 
Place, Norcross, GA 30093, (800) 288-0068; $249.99 for DOS, $169 for 
Windows.

MailWorks 3.0: WindowWare, Inc., 4103 Lake St., Minneapolis, MN 55406; 
$49.95. REQUIRES: Windows 3.0+, 2MB RAM and 2MB hard-drive space.

Policies Now!: Knowledge Point, 1311 Clegg St., Petaluma, CA 94954, (707) 
762-0333; $295. REQUIRES: 512K, DOS 2.1+.

Microsoft Office 4.2: Microsoft Corp., One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 
98052-6399, (206) 635-7156; $750 for the Standard version and $995 for the 
Professional. REQUIRES: Windows 3.1, 4MB RAM, and a minimum of 25MB hard-
drive space (full installation uses 62MB).

Borland Office for Windows 2.0: Borland Intl., Inc., 1800 Green Hills 
Road, Scotts Valley, CA 95067, (800) 331-0877; $595. REQUIRES: Windows 
3.0+, 4MB RAM and a minimum of 16MB hard-drive space (80MB for full 
installation).

Lotus SmartSuite 2.1 for Windows: Lotus Development Corp., 55 Cambridge 
Parkway, Cambridge, MA 02142, (800) 343-5414; $795. REQUIRES: Windows 
3.0+, 4MB RAM and a minimum of 27MB hard-drive space (62MB for a complete 
installation).

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