A AMY REPORT WEEKLY ONLINE MAGAZINE Monday, JUNE 13, 1988 Vol I No. 1 =========== PUBLISHER MANAGING EDITOR Ron Kovacs R.F.Mariano ======================================================= AMY REPORT EDITOR: Henry T. Colonna Headquarters Bulletin Board Syndicate 201-968-8148 ------------------------------------ CONTENTS ========* Editor's Column....................* Amiga Flight Simulators.........* Phasar Review......................* WordPerfect Library Previw......* Word Perfect Conference-DELPHI.....* Other WordPerfect News..........* CIS a Total Facelift...............* Microsoft Upgrades MAC Wares....========================================================================= Editor officially available on CompuServe and GEnie, others coming soon=========================================================================Editor's ColumnHello out there!This is issue one, number one of Amy Report, which I hope will grow into avery popular on-line magazine. An on-line magazine that appears regularlywill provide, by the nature of the medium in which it resides, much moretimely information than a paper-based magazine could. Especially for thosewho don't have the time or money to stay in touch with the message basesconstantly. I hope to report on products and provide information on rumors withinCommodore, starting with the next issue, if anything new happens. I chosenot to include information on that level in this issue, because we've allseen alot of information on what's happening currently. Anyone want to seeANOTHER article on OS 1.3? (grin) I hope you get to know me as an editor and a person, instead of as someperson somewhere whom don't know. I'll print letters, disagreements, andcolumns. Please submit articles to me. The reviews in this entire issuewere penned by me, Henry Colonna, and I hope I can get some publicsubmissions soon. I have included some news on Microsoft's software upgrades for the Mac, andsome information on the new CompuServe software, thanks to Ron Kovacs of STReport and Mike Schoenbach. On GEnie I'm HTCOLONNA and on CIS I'm74726,3216. Remember, anything goes having to do with the Amiga orcomputers in general, but not everything submitted will be printed ofcourse. Please upload and distribute this to all bulletin boards. But do notmodify the content. Of course, for your own use you can cut out sections(like the CIS table) but as an entity please respect AMY REPORT for anentire unit when uploaded and sent around. Reprints anywhere are fine aslong as reprint credits are given, and a copy of the magazine/newsletter ismailed to me. Contact me on CIS or GEnie for my address.Until next time!Henry Colonna=====================================================================Flight Simulators for the Amiga--Henry ColonnaI. Flight Simulator IIFlight Simulator II is the old classic from Sublogic. This program hasbeen around in various states for many years, and still remains animportant standard by which all other simulators are judged. With greatdetail SubLogic simulates a Cessna 182 propeller-driven aircraft and adds aGates Learjet in the ST and Amiga versions only. When Flight Simulator IIwas released for the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga over a year ago, FlightSimulator technology on home computers was taken to new levels. Sublogic added multiple views of the airplane from the positions of acamera outside to the Cessna (called "spot" view), from a car (or boat ifyou're over water) the control tower, or of course from the cockpit. A user can view the plane he is flying from beside, on top, underneath, orbehind the plane, and watch scenery and aerobatic maneuvers from theseviews. For purposes of this review, let's call this "positioning." Thepositioning features are as flexible as one could imagine, as there arecontrols to tweak the distance and the exact angle that one is viewing theairplane from, to achieve the exact position desirable. The actualcontrols of the airplane still function as always, so it's possible towatch the plane from outside do rolls and loops, or pass between the WorldTrade Center buildings. To make this clearer, let's imagine that theCessna is being flown under the Golden Gate bridge in San Fransisco. Thepilot could view this flight from above the airplane and watch it disappearmomentarily beneath the bridge, and zoom in close or further away to seemore of the total bridge or a smaller, but close-up view of the airplaneflying under the bridge. It's possible to tweak the controls to view theplane from the side, the very back, or from any position within a largeimaginary sphere around the airplane. If a particularly interestingvantage point is achieved, for instance between two buildings or under abridge, the position can be saved to a disk and named, to be recalled at alater date. This positioning is extremely flexible and very characteristicof Sublogic products. This small example is inadquate to show the full power of the flightsimulator experience. Remember it's possible to position the viewpointinside the control tower, or from a car looking up at the plane. There'snothing more exciting than landing on a runway and watching the plane landfrom the control tower of that airport. The user can size the windows to any position he should so desire, justlike an Amiga window, and add multiple windows. For instance, it isentirely possible to slide the instrument panel out of view and expand the"from the seat of the plane" view to full screen. Or, slide the instrumentpanel out of the way, and pull up the "spot" view and watch both at thesame time. In fact, it's possible to mix and match any 2 views from any 2positions and from any range (called zoom). To further enhance these very flexible capabilities, the last minute or soof flight is stored in memory, and can be replayed. During the reply, theuser does not have to limit himself to the views used during the flight. For instance, it's very hard to land from any other view other than insidethe airplane. However, just as the plane stops, it's fun to click onreplay and switch to the control tower view and watch the airplane land. Then it's possible to switch to the spot view and replay the sequence yet athird time.These positioning features, combined with zoom, replay, and window sizing,make Flight Simulator the excellent product that it is. No other flightsimulator currently available offers this flexibility (even Sublogic's ownJet).Flight Simulator II provides fult radio navigation with very gooddocumentation for the beginner. There are several different options, butmost often the technique used is to local two airports on the referencecharts and tune into two frequencies, from which it's possible to locatethe plane, where it's going, and make adjustments as necessary. One doeshave to access the flight reference charts frequently with this product,unlike the others mentioned in this article. The charts provided withFlight Simulator II are replicas of real-world charts, and significantlyenhance the simulation experience. Additional appropriate charts arepackaged with each additional (extra cost) scenery disk.Flight Simulator supports environmental conditions like wind, fog andclouds, that are user-definable. It's possible to set the location andspeed of the wind, and wind has realistic effects on the aircraft. It'salso possible to enter the altitude and depth of clouds and fog, whicheffect visibility. Landing with deep ground fog is lots of fun!There's also an autopilot to fly from airport to airport, which is usefulfor very long distances and will even keep the plane level and at aselected altitude. There's a "reliability" option that w)ll make certainparts of the airplane have a chance to fail during a flight, requiringemergency action.Another very enjoyable feature is the ability to fly with another FlightSimulator II owner over the modem or with a null modem cable. It's fun todo aerobatics together and fly towards and away from each other. It worksquite well, although 2400 baud is recommended for the fastest update of theother person's plane.There's an option on the menu that says "Jet". Clicking on the Jet willinstantly transform the Cessna into a Lear business Jet, which is muchfaster and more sensitive (but more responsive) to controls. Finally, Sublogic provides a World War I game that consists of flying overa river and dropping bombs on enemy airports and other eneey locations, andfighting planes that swarm up in the sky toward you. Sublogic cheats a bitand gives you a small radar to help locate the other planes. It's alsopossible to use the modem option and join up with another player to fightthe enemy. One can still switch to the lear jet in this mode, but itdoesn't give the jet guns or bombs.Criticisms - Flight Simulator will occasionally (tho not often) dosomething a little bit bizarre like throw a triangle of water into the air,or have a patch of ground that disappears when one gets closer. There seemto be some subtle bugs in the scenery routines that show up occasionally. Also there's a bug in the sound routine - when flying upside down the soundstops completely. Both of these are relatively minor. The World War Imode, when connected over the modem, should pass data for the otherplayer's bullets. That way, two players could compete with each other. Currently, a player can shoot but the other player doesn't see the bulletsand no damage is registered.Overall, Flight Simulator is regarded as being highly realistic by most ofairplane pilots, though not perfect. The Cessna is more realistic than theLear Jet from what I understand, but I'm not a real-world pilot. It is anexcellent program that I feel anyone can enjoy tremendously, even if thesound of a "flight simulator" does not appeal immediately. Thedocumentation is excellent and can get a non-pilot up in the air. Thesensation of Flight Simulator is hard to describe, it's a relaxing, calmingproduct that seems to be like a kind of therapy. It's excellent, state ofthe art product that has provided me with many hours of enjoyment.II. JetNot to be confused with the Lear Jet in Flight Simulator, Sublogic severalmonths ago released Jet, a combat simulator with both a carrier-based F-18and a land-based F-16. Jet has been a long time coming, and for thosereasons caused high anticipation and expectations. Most have beendisappointed with it, though it's still a very good and desirable product.Jet allows the user to pilot either fighter and load it with variouscombinations of bombs, air-to-air missiles and of course a machine gun. There are several different scenarios through which points are earned. Thepilot has 3 jets to get as many points as possible, and can select a skilllevel from one to nine.I have to begin criticizing Jet with its difficulty settings. There's verylittle "feel" given to what each difficulty level will bring, except for acrude chart given in the manual.Jet also seems a bit disjointed when it's first loaded. There's a menuthat has 10 options to select from, 7 combat possibilities, a demo, anoption to load and look at scenery disks, and a multi-player dogfight. Ismelled trouble the second I looked at this menu.Herein lies one of the big faults of Jet, and why it's inferior toInterceptor (more on Interceptor in a moment). There are severelimitations and restrictions on what happens in Jet and what Jet allows theuser to do. Jet allows the user to select between ground combat only orair combat only, or "mixed" attack. Each mode provides different scenery,with no or very little scenery available in the air combat modes. Theground is flat with little dots, no terrain except some features at theairport. There is some nice scenery available in the ground combat and"combined" attack modes, but it's disappointing because of the promise inadvertisements and on the package that Jet is "scenery disk compatible." Only by loading the game does one realize that Jet _is_ partially scenerydisk compatible. It's not possible to bomb the ground targets (like thewhite house) and it's not possible to have combat within a certain area. Before Jet arrived I envisioned fighting over the modem right in the centerof Washington DC. I would swoop down to the whitehouse attacking an evilRussian in the air with a Sidewinder, and imagine tourists holding hot dogsrunning in the streets for cover, dripping mustard atl over their shirtsand clothes. Unfortunately when I got the program, I was confronted withthe harsh reality that Jet would only let me fly among the scenery likeFlight Simulator, but faster, and with the sounds of the fighter as opposedto the Cessna or the Lear jet. I could not dogfight an opponent above thewhite house, nor could I turn evil myself and bomb the Pentagon. I wassorely disappointed. The combat modes in Jet are limited to the sceneryset on the disk itself, and there isn't any scenery at all in the aircombat scenarios. Sigh.The combat is also very unrealistic in several areas. Your Jet has nocountermeasures at all, and the enemy doesn't seem real. Countermeasuresare used to jam enemy missiles in most other games o& this nature - there'schaff and flares usually. When an enemy missile is fired, Jet relies onthe pilots aerobatic skills to outfly and confuse the missile. The manualdoes list techniques, but, the program needs countermeasures desparatelyfor realism and enjoyment. As far as ground targets go, a single on-target hit will destroy thetarget, which explodes into what looks like X's and O's. This is true evenof ships - a single hit from a bomb makes the ship explode and vanish intoX's and O's. Hokey. Worse yet, get into trouble and you can land on thewater in Jet. Loud sigh. C'mon Sublogic!Positive Remarks - Jet does support fighting another player over the modem. This can be great fun, even if there is no scenery or countermeasures. Thegame still is very enjoyable, and does support Sublogic's wonderful viewsand zoom features (tho sadly lacks the instant replay feature found inFlight Simulator, which really would give the views added power.) But theydo add a "missile's eye" point of view, which shows on the screen whatwould be happening if there were a camera at the very tip of the launchedmissiles. Night is supported as in Flight Simulator, and there are starsand a moon. Night flying is some of the most enjoyable. I would say that,despite its problems and my long list of complaints, Jet is worth the moneyafter tiring of Interceptor, or if there's a friend to fight with over themodem.Another positive thought is that Jet is made by Sublogic. Sublogic isknown for enhancing and improving their games from time to time. They donot release a product to the market and wait until it dies to releaseanother product. There are already rumors and speculation that Sublogic isrevamping Jet, although I wouldn't hold my breath for an improved productany time soon. Since there are a limited number of flight simulationproducts, and since Jet is a good game, I can recommend it afterInterceptor.------General Sublogic Comments for both Flight Simulator and JetNeither Jet nor Flight Simulator are copy protected in any way shape orform. Please do not abuse this privelege. These are excellent programs,and it's unusual for a company to trust its users to this extent. Pleasedon't stab them in the back by stealing their software.Sublogic makes and supports scenery disks which are loaded with extraterritory and graphics to explore. Currently there's disk 11 (New Englandarea) disk 7 (East Coast) and recently released Western Europe. With thesedisks there is a Space Shuttle (scenery 7) hot-air balloons (scenery 11)and churches and the London bridge and Eiffel Tower to enjoy (WesternEurope). Look for more information in a future issue of Amy-report. Scefery disks are a greater advantage to Flight Simulator than Jet, sincewith Jet you can't attack the scenery in any way. More scenery disks arecoming.As previously mentioned, Sublogic listens to its users and upgrades itsproducts. They even improve the scenery disks from time to time and wffera modest upgrade fee.Sublogic doesn't seem to be content with being second best. Despite anyofficial announcement or information, I would be surprised if they didn'timprove Jet sometime in the coming year. This is just speculation on mypart.III. InterceptorInterceptor is the new flight simulator on the block, released in fact atthe beginning of June. It's getting alot of attention, and for goodreason, since it's state-of-the-art Amiga software.Interceptor allows the user to pilot either an F18 or an F16 just as Jetdoes, but it does have groufd targets. It's all air combat. But, it doesmost of what it does alot more superbly than Jet.The game flows much more smoothly. It's organized much better, and italways has much more clearly defined goals than Jet does. At the beginningof Interceptor, one can choose to practice various flight maneuvers or cango directly to Qualify, which is required before any missions are assigned. Qualifying consists of taking off from the deck of the carrier Enterpriseand landing again. Then the fun starts as missions with increasingdifficulty are assigned to the player, very similar to what would beexpected from a MicroProse game. Interceptor keeps track of time spent inthe air, crashes, missiles and guns fired, successful missions, and more. These statistics are much more interesting than Sublogic's "medals" screen.Practicing consists of watching some flight maneuvers in the air fromdifferent viewpoints (similar to Sublogic's "spot" mode, more on thissoon.) A text description in the manual describes how to perform thesemaneuvers, but not nearly as clearly as it should.After watching, the player can practice by following an instructor from therunway up into the sky and executing maneuvers along with the instructor bypressing the fire button. The name of the maneuver about to be performedis listed on the screen, and when the player is ready he presses the firebutton. The idea is to stay right behind the instructor, but if he's lost,pressing the return key will line the player's plane right behind theinstructor again.The practice mode can be returned to at any point in Interceptor, to honeone's flying skills. It's very nice to help a user practice his flyingskills and demonstrate some important combat techniques.After spending this much time with Interceptor it should become obviousthat the level of graphic detail and sound is superb. Afterburners areshown on the plane by making the tail glow yellow and orange. Buildingshave shadows and the ground scenery is more colorful. The graphics have afaster frame rate than Sublogic's Jet. When qualifying I noticed that thecarrier Enterprise had a turning radar tower and was better rendered thanin Jet. When ejecting, the cockpit blows off Interceptor's jet, and theparachute unfolds as the jet crashes into the ground and explodes intotriangles. When the pilot parachutes to safety the parachute touches theground and folds haphazardly as it would in real life. The sounds arebetter with whistling winds, machine noises for the landing gear, andrealistic explosions. The missions are exciting too. The player is briefed on the screen (onlythe first few missions are described in the book) and then required toenter a digital number from the enclosed code wheel (there is no disk-basedcopy protection, protection is in the form of a code wheel.) Then moreinformation is given to the player, and then Interceptor procedes to make avery anxiety-provoking sound similar to the what could be the beginning ofa television show, as the large map of the surrounding area continues tozoom down to the runway, and the plane on the runway, until the cockpit isshown. Then the noise stops and the player is inside the plane looking outof the cockpit. The first time I experienced this I almost fell out of mychair. Missions present their own surprises with a real-life Air Force Onethat can be followed and watched as it lands, a cruise missile thatexplodes if it isn't destroyed in time, and more. There are 7 missionsthat get more difficult when repeated. There's also a free flight modewith no confrontation, and, of course, the practice mode.Combat is much more exciting with more realistic enemies, countermeasures,and maximum G-force. The HUDs display is far superior to Jet's, similar,in fact, to the movie Top Gun.This is the state of the art combat simulator for the Amiga. It'sexciting, beautiful, and it sounds great (the more RAM the more soundInterceptor has), and has interesting surprises for the user along the way. Flaws - Interceptor supposedly does not have the realistic flight of Jet. It does not have analog joystick support. Unfortunately months before thegame was released Electronic Arts representatives were in AmigaForum andanalog joystick support was requested. EA chose to ignore its users'requests. This is unfortunately, and, for some (especially professionalpilots), infuriating. But it isn't noticeable to the non-pilot like me.Interceptor has an interesting bug that will allow you to land on water oron land with the landing gear up if you do so very gently. Normally,however, Interceptor does not allow landings on water, like Jet alwaysdoes.Interceptor is a closed product. No more missions, no more scenery. Italked to an Electronic Arts representative who said that they areconsidering making missions/scenery disks and that letters from users wouldhelp. Write them! We may see some expansion. But, based on pastexperience with EA products, this doesn't happen much. Once an EA producthits the streets there are no fixes, revisions, or enhancements except tothe Deluxe series, and even that doesn't happen very often. We mostprobably won't see any more scenery or missions for Interceptor. Thisisn't that big of a drawback compared to Jet, considering how Jet handlesscenery anyway.The manual for Interceptor is good, except it has no explanation for theHUDs. I had to call EA myself (non toll-free) for instructions on the HUD. What's happening to EA's documenation? Another recent game, FerrarriFormula One, has pathetic docs, but, fortunately, Interceptor isn't nearlythat bad.There is a mission in Interceptor - the very last mission, that's totallymisleading. The enemy planes don't come from exactly where they aresupposed to, and the thing that the briefing says to attack is a non-functional prop. It's not supposed to be, but they cheated alot. If I hadbeen a beta-testor for Interceptor, I would have screamed at this one. It's not up to the level of complexity and believability as the othermissions are.There is no night in Interceptor - no stars, no moon, just a day sky with ayellow sun.The "positioning" in Interceptor is alot weaker than in Sublogic'sproducts. There is a "from the plane" view, a camera view outside theplane, and a control tower view. However, there are set positions thataren't completely user-definable like in Sublogic's Jet or FlightSimulator, and there are only 4 levels of zoom. This restriction on thezoom renders the control tower view useless - it's only good if the planehappens to be very close to the tower and in the right position, which veryinfrequent. Fortunately the "spot" view is good enough to be exciting whenflying through San Francisco, and it does show missiles firing and flaresvery nicely. Watching an ejection sequence from outside the plane iswonderful. (Tip: Watch an ejection sequence right after launch from thecarrier - you will spin around and see the carrier in the background -breathtaking). You cannot mix views or get rid of the instrument panel asin Sublogic's products. Interceptor's positioning is good enough, but it'snot as flexible as Jet's. Oh well. You'll notice my list of criticisms is longest for Interceptor. The reasonis that it's easily my favorite combat-simulator and one of my favoritegames ever on a computer (and I've been doing this for about six years.) Since I care about the program, I find more to fault with it, and because Iplay it so much, I find more to fault with it.IV. Harrier Strike MissionThis is a game released by Mindscape that is fun to play but isn't in therealm of the other products.The premise of this game is based on a Harrier combat simulator - a planewith vertical landing and takeoff capabilities. Sounds neat and differentright? Wrong! Harrier Strike Mission is basically a much-enhanced Skyfox. It doesn't use the complex graphics systems of the other games mentioned sofar, and doesn't have the realism associated even with Jet.Harrier Strike Mission has a map that's divided into squares. The goal isto move into adjacent squares, and by conquering enemy tanks and planesmoving ground sites forward until the whole map is traversed, and the enemyheadquarters at the other side is destroyed. I've never reached that farbecause I've been busier with other games that have been more interestingto me, like Jet and Interceptor.The graphics are fairly crude (again, flat and skyfox-like, not true threedimensional, like the other games.) The ground combat and sky combat aresharply divided by a layer of clouds. You don't see the planes when you'reflying on the ground, for instance (very Skyfox-like again.)The sounds of the game aren't especially good, either, but they aren'tespecially bad. The program does use the Amiga's voice for some warnings. Many groan when they hear the standard Amiga voice being used, but in thisgame it's supposed to be the computer talking to you, warning you ofimpending doom, so it works well.There are countermeasures (geez, Sublogic, even this thing hascountermeasures!) but missiles, unrealistically, seem to have an unlimitedrange.To be completely fair, this game is fun and enjoyable, but it's more of an"arcade" type game and doesn't reach the realism or detail of the otherproducts. It really isn't a simulation. If the idea of a very advancedSkyfox appeals to you, you may like this game. Others who are interestedin more realism, would be best with some of the other offerings and come tothis game only after exhausting the other possibilities. There aren't thatmany selections to choose from, so if you need something else to play, cometo this game. It's not bad.-----SummaryFlight Simulator II and Interceptor are my favorites, obviously. Jet isalso a nice game and I'm hoping they upgrade it and extend it past what itcurrently is. The availability of Sublogic scenery disks makes theseproducts very appealing - I especially wish they were integrated into Jetmore complexly.I personally think there's a market for someone somewhere to really take acombat simulator very seriously. The program could be $150 if the companychose, as long as they provided support, upgrades, and enhancements. Thereshould also be a hardware attachment to simulate a real airplane. Takethese flight simulators out of the "game" market and make them into aprofessional product, like what we normally see from word processors,spreadsheets, and databases. If it's necessary, charge a high price andprovide alot of support and upgrades. Somebody? The Amiga really isn'tbeing pushed to its absolute limits as it could be. I'd be interested fromhearing from more of you out there, especially on the "reality" of each ofthese games. Any professional pilots want to write something on therealism of the flight characteristics and combat abilities? I'd like tosee it.=====================================================================Phasar - Professional Home Accounting System and Register--Henry ColonnaOn to more serious subjects, Phasar is a home accounting program fromMarksman Technology, newly picked up and distributed by The Catalog.I got this program when I first bought my Amiga, and I've been very pleasedwith it. It allowed me to begin my year of accounting in May, when I gotthe Amiga, instead of acting as if January were the beginning of the yearand I'd just been born in May, like some other programs. This is called a"fiscal year."There are two versions of phasar, one for 512K computers and one for 1 megcomputers. They are functionally identical except that the one meg versiondoes less disk access.Phasar keeps track of income categories (up to 29), expense categories forkeeping track of where money is being spent (up to 97) and 39 accounts (afinancial "entity" that has a balance assigned to it at all times, likechecking, savings, and charges.)Beginning Phasar requires reading through the tutorial to learn the programbefore starting an actual personal accounting system. The tutorial is sogood that it actually turns the drudgery of manipulating numbers enjoyableand watching your money dwindle away interesting. It's humorous because itsteps through a married couple named Eggbert and Eloise who run an egg farm(of course.) However, besides the tongue-in-cheek humor, the examples arevery clear, obviously aimed at the non-accountant like me.In fact the entire program is aimed at the non-accountant who wants to keeptrack of where his money is going every day. The back of the box says thatartificial intelligence routines are used to quicken data entry. I laughedwhen I saw that - surely they are joking, or exaggerating some littlefeature way out of proportion.Well, they aren't lying. Phasar will predict things like the date, thenext check number, and actual dollar amounts when it can, like during splittransactions. Split transactions are transactions in which money isdistributed among several expense categories. For instance, a check atthe local grocery store might be for groceries, car supplies (oil) andmedical (some drugs.) Phasar handles these easily and very efficiently.If one should ever get lost in Phasar, the HELP key works and givesinformation on what to do. Pressing control-l will give a list of possibleentries. For instance, control-l in the "expense categories" gives a listof expense categories with a number beside them, to enter. In otherplaces, the program will also highlight a unique letter in each list. I'llgive a small example and leave everything in lower case, except for theletter that Phasar would highlight, which will be in capitals. Let'spretend we wrote a check to a hardware store with a funny name and forgothow to spell it. We've written checks there before, so we can get Phasarto tell us how to spell it. With the cursor in the payee slot, we'll typethe first letter of the place "y" and hit control-l. Typing "y" limits ourchoices down only to those payees whom we've entered before and that beginwith "y". Phasar would present: yOplut yogurt yuppie country Club yucK food restaurant yUslimmer's hardware none of the aboveNow it's hard to see the way I've presented it. The way it really happenson the screen is that everything appears normal except that the letter I'vetyped in caps is in a very contrasting color. For the hardware storepayee, I could type either "4" or "U".I can hear some people screaming right now "that's bizarre and unusal! That's not an Amiga interface!" No it isn't a standard, general Amigainterface. It's unique and different, with an Amiga front end. But onceyou get into the program, it has its own user interface like what I'veshown above. It is odd at first. However, as I began to use the interfaceand step through the tutorial, it grew on me very quickly and I became veryused to it. I now think that the user interface is absolutely excellent -it's different but it's one of the very strong points of the program.Phasar provides a little calculator at the bottom of the screen to entermanual calculations should you ever need to.With income categories, a user can set up a "standard" transactions pagethat will keep track of deductions for taxes, social security and anythingelse, assuming of course that the figures are the same for each paycheck. The standard transactions page can also be used to pay a list of regularbills automatically. For instance, the home mortgage, car loan, servicefees for checking accounts, and any utilities with "regular" predictablemonthly amounts could all be entered into the program with only a fewkeystrokes!Editing mistakes and getting reports is very quick and easy. Phasar is afast program with disk access, but it definately has a slow screen refreshrate. Uncharacteristically slow for the Amiga in fact. Reports can begenerated for any time period within the current year for accounts, income,and expenses, and can be sorted in many orders, and printed to the screenor printer.Reconciling an account statement is the simplest and yet most powerful I'veseen yet in a home-accounting program. Phasar presents a list oftransactions, and the user steps through hitting the return key, markingeach transaction. If the account doesn't balance, Phasar allows editing oftransactions (for mistakes), or entry of new transactions if any wereforgotten. Phasar will keep track of a us%r's "net worth" if he chooses to type theappropriate information, like car, home, and loans. It will do an analysisof those loans too. By "analysis" I mean remaining principal, originalprincipal, remaining interest, paid interest, number of payments made,dates, balance, etc. It also keeps track of how much miscellaneous cashwas spent, by using a "cash category" and automatically assigning whatisn't accounted for (like what was spent for bubble-gum, cigarrette rollingpapers, etc.) to a "miscellaneous cash expense" category.Phasar comes with a separate program called PHTAX which will estimate thetax liability for the entire year up until the time when PHTAX is run, andit will read the main data file automatically for calculation. The usercan design the way the tax form looks each year for automatic printout. Since I haven't been through a full year yet, I don't know too much aboutthis part of the program (and am going to stop trying to fake it. GRIN)Phasar also keeps track of budgets. It will list how much is spent incomparison with how much was budgeted, and even do graphs. Unfortunately,the graphs are crude, and this is the only place where Phasar will dographs. Phasar needs a graphing module desparately that's much moreinvolved than what it currently offers.Phasar will print checks, but, honestly, getting everything alignedproperly can be a tedious process. This isn't a fault of Phasar - try tovisually picture all the different kinds of checks and getting your dot-matrix printer to print everything in the correct position. With someprinters it's hard enough getting normal tractor-feed paper to workproperly! The manual does suggest places to go for tractor-feed checks,which I suspect are much easier to use.As a bonus, Phasar comes with a Date/Address organizer. Basically it keepsa calendar of important events and will allow the storing of names andaddresses. I haven't found this to be particularly useful, though I'm sureit was a requested feature. I wish there were an option NOT to use thispart of the program, to help conserve RAM.Phasar is not copy protected in any way, and multitasks very well. I'vehad it crash one time in several months of heavy use. That crash was non-duplicatable and haven't happened since, so I deem Phasar a "very, verysolid and well-behaved program." It's highly recommended for a home userwith non-professional needs.=====================================================================WordPerfect Library Preview--Henry ColonnaWordPerfect Library was released this past week for the Amiga. Here's abrief synopsis of each program and it does. A more comprehensive reviewwill appear later.Calculator: This is a programmer's calculator, a scientific and financialcalculator. It has algebraic and European options, and is large on thescreen (almost half the screen.)Notebook: Notebook is like a big multitasking rolodex file. It willhandle data and store them with some information shown as a list in themain screen. The screen for each individual record can be user-designed,and the product supports the modem for dialing phone numbers. It hasstandard fields for each file as a standard non-relational database does.File Manager: File Manager is the weakest part of the Library package. Itis similar to the CLI-shell programs available in the public domain, andsimilar to the classic "CLI-Mate" program from Progressive Peripherals. Itis quite functional and quick, and only takes about 27K. It allows for theuse of both physical and logical drives, and has standardcopy/delete/rename/create directory functions. It will also multitask, andis equipped with the famous "shrink gadget" (as are all Library products)so it can be tucked away until needed. One neat feature is that the "look"function for ASCII files will go backwards (not just start at the beginningbut page backwards).Calendar: Calendar is the strongest part of the Library package. It hasan on screen calendar (of course!) with arrows to flip through the yearsand months. For each day of the month there can be appointments entered,memos, and a "to-do" list that can be renumbered. There is a "calculatedays" feature that will calculate days between dates. It will archiveappointments that are past, and will copy standard appointments across theweek or month. Calendar uses an alarm program separately so that Calendar(a much larger program) does not have to be booted to warn of appointments. This separate Alarm program can use any digitized sound as the alarm savedin the standard digitized file format. (Someone please tell me what thatis! I'm a bit in the dark on that - but in other words you can download a"standard" sound from GEnie or CIS and use it as the alarm, whether it's ayell, breaking dishes, or a human belch.) Alarm comes with a standardringing sound. Calendar is very impressive.PEdit is a text editor that is based around WordPerfect but stripped down. It will load in any file, and features some additional programmer'sfunctions like Hex Edit and multiple block functions. It has an improvedscroll bar over WordPerfect.All Library programs use the standard Print program from WordPerfect,though the one on the Library disk is currently a later release. Theproducts all carry the same appropriate keystrokes to keep similarinterfaces, and all use the powerful "list files" feature available fromF5.WordPerfect Library is not the fiasco that WordPerfect Amiga was on itsfirst release. I'm not saying it's bug-free (I don't know of a bug, butI'm sure there's one somewhere) but it isn't the fiasco that WordPerfectwas.More information next issue!----------------------------------------------------------- WORD PERFECT CONFERENCE OF 05/31/88 DELPHI ==========================================Editor's Note: The following is a very tiny part of a WordPerfectconference held on Delphi with the head of Atari ST programming forWordPerfect, Jeff Wilson. Only those parts of interest to Amiga owners areincluded here. The entire transcript is available on Delphi. Thanks toDelphi, Analog magazine and ST-Report for this part of the transcript.Attendees:----------ANALOG2 - Moderator JEFFWILSON - Jeff Wilson of WPCorp.MORTIMER GORDYRDOCTORP CFJPIOTR REXREADEHCALLESIS MARVRRDGRABLE STARWALKERGRG MADMODIFIERBRG -------------------------------------------------PIOTR> Is WP Corp. doing anything with CD-ROM technology?JEFFWILSON> We're really not approaching the new hardwareyet.PIOTR> What steps has WP taken to combat pirate boards? (I have a few youmight be interested in.).JEFFWILSON> We are in the process, with other developers, of trackingdown these offensive BBS systems. Things are still in the works, but I really think something's going to happen this time.PIOTR> Where do I send the information I have?ANALOG2> Is that under the auspices of the SPA?JEFFWILSON> Our legal counsel is in charge of the SPA's anti-piracy board,and our executive VP is chairman of the SPA. It's almost difficult not tohave them involved with what we do.GORDYR> Have you considered a Military discount like the school one?JEFFWILSON> I really don't have any say in those matters, but I will bring it up to our marketing department. There has been a lot ofinterest in military and user group discounts, and so it is possible that something is already in the works. I'll make sure the words gets where it needs to be.REXREADE> About piracy, how do you feel about the business of renting software and will we see some real action in the enforcement of law in that direction?JEFFWILSON> I hope so. Just because piracy is conducted from what you would expect is a legitimate business is no reason to turn our backs. In fact, we are already looking into several cases of software rental. Just reading a copyright should make a dealer afraid to rent..... (anyone's copyright!)REXREADE> We have a dealer in town, who allows trade-in software, what about that?JEFFWILSON> That's a little trickier. If they return all copies of the program, it could potentially be ok. If they keep copies, it's just piracy in another guise.REXREADE> I would NEVER believe they would turn in ALL copies.ANALOG2> Pete, you're on.PIOTR> Just out of curiosity, how is WP's Amiga market doing compared to the ST?JEFFWILSON> The Amiga version of WP has consistently outsold the Atari WPby a fairly good margin.=====================================================================Other WordPerfect News - Important!--Henry Colonna It appears that a few more bugs have been found in the Amiga version ofWordPerfect. 1) There's a guru when spell-checking a letters and numberscombination. When the spell-checker stops, one of the options is 4) nextscreen. Selecting this option will Guru the computer. 2) According to one reliable member on CompuServe, WordPerfectoccasionally makes his hard drive unreadable (invalidatable) with the "NEW"command. Fortunately many other members on CompuServe, GEnie, and otherpeople I'm in contact with have used this command on big text files with notroubles, and many times. This bug-report remains unconfirmed and -may-not be accurate. I do not want to cause hysteria and panic especially whenI know of dozens of people experiencing no problems. I wish to stressthat. However, do to the nature/severity of the problem, and thereliability of the source, I think it's important to post a "warning" andadvise users to backup hard drives regularly. That's standard good advicefor anyone with a hard drive. 3) Table of Contents will only use arabic page-numbering. 4) Amiga Preferences printer driver (to bypass the WordPerfect printerdrivers) evidently does not function properly under certain circumstances. 5) The PRINT program still locks up occasionally. According to twoWordPerfect Corp. representatives, the problem lies with WorkBench'sprinter.device, which Commodore has fixed with release 1.3. WordPerfect Corp. is aware of these problems and is working on anotherrelease soon. If anyone is having any problems with WordPerfect currently(and the current version is 4/15/88, obtainable free with a telephone calland your registration number) please come forth with them. Everyone(including the company) wants this release to be 99.99% solid. It'sgetting there. The toll-free number is located in the installation sectionof the manual. There may be some difficulty reaching WordPerfectCorporation at this time since a new and vastly redone version of IBMWordPerfect has been released and the telephone lines going to Utah areovertaxed according to several reports. New CompuServe Forum Software ============================= SIG Software Version 4D(7)Compiled by Ron KovacsThe result of the Forum Product redesign is improved menus andnavigational commands, yet the overall functionality of the forums remainsthe same. The new Forum Product will highlight the message board,conferencing and libraries. Ambiguous commands have been eliminated andglobal commands with consistent meanings have been implemented. Userattention is now focused on the information content and less on thesoftware product. Terminology Changes ------------------- o Leaving a message has been changed to COMPOSING a message. o Storing a message has been changed to POSTING a message. o Message Subtopics have been changed to Message Sections. o Data Library has been changed to Library. o Bulletin has been changed to Announcement o The Short Bulletin has been renamed to the News Flash Announcement. o The Regular Bulletin as been renamed to the General Announcement. o Read Marked has been changed to Read Waiting. The number of waiting messages will be displayed in paranthesis next to the menu option. Function Menu Changes --------------------- o This menu has been reorganized. Now, Instructions is the first item on the menu. When instructions is selected, you can now get a summary of the various options in a Forum by selecting the item from the Instructions Menu. Help and Instruction Changes ---------------------------- o A member can also obtain the complete HELP facility, a Forum Reference Card and the Forum Users Guide from the Instructions Menu. Message Changes --------------- o Leaving and Reading Messages has been combined into one option, MESSAGES, off the Functions Menu. o The CHANGE age selection menu has been added to the MESSAGES menu. This allows a member to change the way they read messages. o A member now has the ability to read messages starting from a particular date, which they specify. o A member can now read messages by SELECTing a message section and then by selecting the subjects which they want to read in that particular message section. The number of subjects and messages available in each section are displayed next to each section name. Library Changes --------------- o DEScription has been removed from the Library menu, but is still available. Conferencing Changes -------------------- o The number of forum members participating in a Conference is now displayed next to the menu option. Options Changes --------------- o The OPTIONS menu has been divided into 2 different sections, the Forum Options and the Messages Options. o Under the OPTIONS menu, a choice of INITIAL menu/prompt has been added. This option will give a member the ability to choose which area of the Forum they would like to access when they first enter the Forum. You have the option of choosing Functions, Messages, Libraries, or Conferencing. Announcement Changes -------------------- o The Messages Announcement has been added to the Announcements Menu. The Announcement should contain Hot Topics being discussed on the Message Board. Description Changes ------------------- o A descriptions menu will now be available form the Functions, Messages, Conferencing, and Libraries Menu. This will give a member the ability to obtain a description of each of the available sections of messages, libraries, and conference rooms. Miscellaneous Changes --------------------- o All capitalized menu options can be abbreviated to the first 3 letters. o The miscellaneous commands of WHO, UST, and SEND can be entered at any menu prompt in the forum. CBX Version 4D(40) ------------------ o A member is now required to enter the Conference room number they wish to enter to conference. Public and special access to the Conference rooms will be determined by the Sysop. FORUM PRODUCT REDESIGN ----------------------INTRODUCTION------------The forum product has been one of the most successful products we have,yet it receives a lot of criticism. It has been considered hard to learn,filled with confusing commands, and overall one of the most intimidatingproducts available for subscribers. The forum software product contains agreat deal of power and functionality, attainable by cryptic and lessthan intuitive commands.The success of forums is largely attributed to the information content. Subscribers and Sysops are responsible for adding valuable content. Thusit is our intent to highlight the content of the forums and push thesoftware and its interface into the background.This will require change and change is never easy. We have not, nor willwe, take a cavalier attitude toward the experienced user. However wemust also consider the next generation of users and cannot risk thegrowth and future of the Service on an intimidating, puzzling, andhard-to-learn product. We cannot hold on to the current interface justfor some who have fought and struggled to gain expertise while we turnaway large numbers of subscribers due to confusion and intimidation. Itneither benefits us nor you. With these thoughts in mind, we establishedthe goals. OUR GOALS --------- 1. To reduce ambiguity and confusing command syntax. 2. To reduce repetitious menus and focus on content, not commands. 3. To reduce the number of characters transmitted. 4. To become more consistent with other CIS product command structures. BASIS FOR CHANGE ----------------We base our changes on a year of research. This research is ongoingand will continue to shape the Forum product in years to come. Theresearch includes feedback from subscriber and non-subscriber focusgroups, subscriber comments to customer service, comments from forumsysops and others. THE IMPROVED PRODUCT --------------------The new Forum Product will highlight the message board, conferencing anddata libraries. Ambiguous commands will be eliminated and global commandswith consistant meanings will be implemented. User attention will focuson the information content and less on the software product. ONGOING SUPPORT ---------------The new Forum product will be available automatically, but the old Forumproduct can be called up by appending an account id of "OLDF" when loggingin, (ie., Userid: 70006,256;OLDF), or by issuing the command "OF" fromwithin the forum. The old forum product will be available forapproximately one year to aid experienced subscribers in learning newcommands. Command Conversion Table ------------------------Updated: 04/07/88by: Mike Schoenbach [76703,4363] Old Forum New Forum Commands Commands Full Command Command Explanation -------- -------- ------------ ------------------- RF REA FOR READ FORWARD Read msgs in forward numerical order RR REA REV READ REVERSE Read messages in reverse order RI REA NUM READ NUMBER Read individual message number only RTN REA NEW READ NEW Read new msgs in thread order RN REA FOR NEW Read new msgs in forward numerical order RS;F REA FRO: READ FROM: Read msgs from name/User ID RS;T REA TO: READ TO: Read msgs to name/User ID RS;S REA SUB: READ SUBJECT: Read msgs with specified subj RM REA WAI READ WAITING Read "waiting" messages RE;### REP ### REPLY ### Reply to message ####. L COM COMPOSE Compose new message B ANN ANNOUNCEMENT Announcement Files CO CON CONFERENCE Enter Conference area DL LIB LIBRARY Enter Library area R MES MESSAGE Enter Message area MD or V MEM MEMBER Enter Member Directory area IN INS INSTRUCTION Enter Instructions area OP OPT OPTION Enter Options area SB NAM NAME View message section names LN NAM NAME View library section names At "Messages !" prompt/menu: ---------------------------- SF SCA FOR SCAN FORWARD Scan msgs in numerical order SR SCA REV SCAN REVERSE Scan msgs in reverse order ST DIS SCA THR PRO SCAN THREAD PROMPT Scan msgs and prompt for disposition QS SCA QUI SCAN QUICK Scan message subjects only QSN SCA QUI NEW SCAN QUICK NEW Scan new msg subjects only At "User Options" prompt/menu: ------------------------------ UM MOD MODE Forum mode (command, menu) SM PAU PAUSE Pause after reading msgs (always, never, to you) CN NAM NAME Change name in Forum PC CHA CHARACTER Specify prompt character ED EDI EDITOR Default message editor (EDIT, LINEDIT) SU SEC SECTION Default message sections to read RE REP REPLIES Reply info (list, count, none) After reading a message: ------------------------ UA COM COMPOSE Compose new message to current msg author RA RER REREAD Re-read current message RE REP REPLY Reply to current message MA MAR MARK Mark current msg for later retrieval RP PAR PARENT Read "Parent" (previous) message RR REA REP READ REPLY Read replies to current msg SK NEX NEXT Read next branch of thread SKALL NEX SUB NEXT SUBJECT Read next thread (skip current) NS SCR SCROLL Do not prompt for read action After composing a message: -------------------------- S POS POST Post message on message board S# POS SEC:# POST SECTION: Post message in specified section SU POS UNF POST UNFORMATTED Post msg the way it currently appears -- do not reformat SU# POS UNF SEC:# Post unformatted in specified section SP POS PRI POST PRIVATE Post message privately C EDI EDIT Edit message MA MAI MAIL Mail message via EasyPlex MU MAI UNF MAIL UNFORMATTED Mail msg via EasyPlex unformatted P PRE PREVIEW Preview current message. P# PRE WID:# PREVIEW WIDTH:# Preview message with specified line width. A CAN CANCEL Cancel current message RA RER REREAD Reread message you are replying to (*) Posts reply as part of same thread. Note: CompuServe will continue to support many of the commands that appear in the left column.Following is a list of the old commands not supported (Grandfathered) inthe new menus version:A. Functions Menu B, R, S, STONLY, STDISONL, STONLDIS, QSALL, QSONLY Note: RM = READ WAITING L = COMPOSEB. Read Actions Prompt R, A, SM, C Note: N = NEXT replyC. Post Menu C, P, L, R, I, D, RA CAN I USE THE OLD FORUM SOFTWARE IN FORUMS?The old Forum software can be invoked in any of the Forumsby logging on with an ;OLDF appended to your User ID(i.e. User ID: 76703,4363;OLDF) or by typing "OF" at the main "Forum !"prompt. MICROSOFT UPGRADES ITS APPLE SOFTWARE =====================================SAN FRANCISCO (JUNE 1) UPI - Microsoft Corp. has announced major upgradesof its software for Apple Macintosh computers, aimed at attracting more business customers to the Apple line. "For many years, corporate customers have benefitted from the range ofMicrosoft business products," Charles Boesenburg, senior vice president of Apple USA, said Tuesday. "Today's products reflect that continued effort to enhance the Macintosh computer's appeal to the business customer." Traditionally, most businesses have chosen IBM and compatible personalcomputers, but Apple - which uses a different operating system - has beenmaking inroads into IBM's arena. Upgrades for the Apple line included Microsoft Word 4.0, designed to run on any Macintosh and offering new power. The new features of Word 4.0 include capabilities that resemble those offered in page format programs, including Page View, a "WYSIWYG" (what you see is what you get).Editing Environment: Power tables for easy positioning of side-by-side paragraphs, numbers or graphics. Automatic repagination and the ability to move text around anchored or fixed-position objects. Microsoft also announced File 2.0, a faster and easier-to-use version of its popular database program. A set of more than 120 templates has been included to make Microsoft File easier to use with pre-printed forms. Enhanced capability with the Microsoft Word merge facility makes iteasier for users to create form letters, mass mailing and mailing labels. The new version of File also supports the color capabilities of the Macintosh II, bringing color to business labels, forms and reports. The company also announced shipment of PowerPoint 2.0 and Microsoft Excel 1.5.-------------------------------------------------------------------------AMY REPORT Issue #1 JUNE 13, 1988 (c)'88 Henry T. ColonnaAll Rights Reserved. Reprint permission granted except where noted inthe article. Any reprint must include AMY Report and the author in thecredits. Views Presented here are not necessarily those of AMY Report orof the Staff.------------------------------------------------------------------------- Press RETURN - ul macro abilities of WordPerfect for automating repetitive tasks. A discussion recently arose on one of