did. A computer-literate lawyer or accountant can also make certain that
the software is reasonably crook-proof.
Follow the same rule as with hardware. Find someone already using the program you want to buy. Is he happy with it?
The nearer his work is to yours, the better. The best authority on accounting software, for instance, isn’t a computer guru: it’s an accountant. But beware. Some people may have chosen their programs without considering the alternatives, and they might have done better using a different system. Ideally, your fellow accountant, lawyer, doctor, whatever, did plenty of shopping before making up his mind.
Also, remember how subjective software is. Even if someone is in your field, he may think differently and do his job differently.
Of course you might read reviews in computer magazines, but be careful. I recall how glowingly some of them described early versions of Select; how they said it was superb for heavy-duty writing, even though, quite clearly, it was a bona fide kludge.
“How could the reviewers be so wrong?” I asked a computer salesman, a good one, who had sold a number of copies of the Spellbinder program to Kaypro buyers unhappy with the early Select.
He replied, “Advertising. They did a lot of advertising in the magazines. That’s probably why.”
Well, maybe. More likely, however, the reviewers simply were writers unfamiliar with alternatives like WordStar or computer experts unfamiliar with the needs of most writers. Your best bet is to read the magazine reviews, and this book, knowing that the ultimate authority on your software needs is _you_.
BACKUP VI ❑ “Easy” Data Bases: Another View (Mensa Member Versus InfoStar)
Charlie Bowie, one of the stars in Chapter 6, “Three Software Stories,” breezed through the dBASE II program. But not everyone will find all data bases so easy. Mary Matthews didn’t. And you can’t call her stupid. She is, after all, a Perfect Writer guru/Sibyl. Also—I’m sneaking this in behind her back—her IQ is high enough for her to belong to the Mensa group for bright people. She’s a Smith College alumna, a human dictionary, now working as publications director at a prestigious prep school. I thought that InfoStar—well reviewed in a major micro magazine—would be a cinch for her to learn and use in listing the traits of a good data base.
Well, back comes this essay telling me that she banged her head against InfoStar for a week and almost committed hara-kiri. You can interpret that as a failing either of Mary or of the program. I’ll blame the software and documentation.
(Of course she’s full of bilge in her Perfect Writer review when she knocks my beloved WordStar.)
Mary, please note, has nice things to say about InfoStar’s power; she says it might even be worth the torture. And a consultant can simplify the program for you. Still, if _Mary_ is having trouble befriending InfoStar, what about average people who must master powerful data-base software?
They’ll succeed only if they have time and buckle down. They mustn’t swallow the manufacturers’ cant that the programs are “simple”—at least not if the software’s like InfoStar. Oh, well, at least they can console themselves that their business competitors may also be suffering.
And once learned, programs like InfoStar (as Mary’s essay shows) can indeed make life easier.
Her observations:
There are a number of data-base programs on the market for personal computers, with new entries coming in daily. The MicroPro people—parents of the famous (or infamous) WordStar—have come out with a dandy of their own: InfoStar, which can sit up, roll over, and whistle Dixie.
What does one look for in a data-base program? To a certain extent, of course, it depends on what one wants. Someone who wants to put a Rolodex file on to the computer is going to need a lot less by way of power and versatility than is the owner of a small business who wants to use the data base to keep track of clients, orders, and inventory.
The first thing to think about is how much data the program can handle without going off its nut or slowing down so much that you could walk to Waukeegan and back while your program is processing any entry. Here are some terms and ideas to keep in mind:
◻ The =data base=, or =data file=, contains all your entries. InfoStar allows any number of data files per diskette; others allow only one. Score one for InfoStar.
◻ The =data record= covers _all_ the information you store for each entry into your data base. How big will your program allow each data record to be? How many data records will your program allow before it seizes up and refuses to accept any more? Will the program warn you that as of X moment its files are full and it won’t accept any more records? (I once spent two days trying to figure out why Perfect Filer was giving me back nothing but garbage before I thought to check and see whether my diskette was full.)
InfoStar will allow you a maximum of 65,535 data records per file. By way of comparison, Perfect Filer will accept as many data records as the diskette will hold—about a thousand if your diskettes will hold 200K of memory and you’ve filled up your data entry screen with lots and lots of data fields; probably a skillion if you only have one one-character data field and a lot of disk capacity. The new program dBASE III will allow over a billion records or _two_ billion characters in a file—again, up to the limit of your disk space.
◻ The =data fields= are the building blocks to your data record. Some obvious attributes a data field may have are that it is alphabetic (letters only); numeric (numbers only); or alphanumeric
(okay, you guessed it). That’s about all the simplest data base programs allow—but here’s where InfoStar is an absolute champ. Some of the attributes InfoStar will allow:
1. The field may only contain certain numbers and/or letters—for example, if you’re typing in a state abbreviation and type “IT” when you mean “IN,” InfoStar will stop you and tell you that’s not acceptable. (It does this by checking what is called an authority file and comparing the authority’s contents with your input. Handy-dandy!)
2. The field will _enter itself_ based on your previous entries. For example, you can enter that your customer wants 47 of your code number W889AA (widgets), two entries; and InfoStar can look up the price of widgets, multiply that by 47, look up the sales tax for the state you inputted earlier, multiply your subtotal by the amount of sales tax, and all by itself enter the name of the product, the subtotal, the amount of the sales tax, and the total—zip-zip-zip-zip, four entries, all done by the computer rather than by you and all done in a flash. The first time I tried it, I was startled into yelling, “Wa-hoo!”
3. The field can be a constant. For example, if your data record contains years, you can tell InfoStar to enter “198” automatically, and you only have to enter “4,” “5,” or whatever.
4. The field can automatically shift cases for you. For example, you can type in “new york, ny,” and InfoStar will insert into the data record “New York, NY.”
5. The field can insist that whatever you type in is identical two times in a row or it won’t save the data record—useful if you deal with complex numbers that _have_ to be right.
6. The field can be required—something that you _have_ to enter, or InfoStar won’t let you go on.
Oh, and these are only examples! I guess I’m just a simple country girl, but I was amazed and thrilled by all that InfoStar could do with its data fields.
◻ How big are your data fields allowed to be? How many fields are you allowed to have? InfoStar allows you a maximum of 245 fields per record, and a maximum of 255 characters per field—it comes out to a maximum of 62,475 characters per data record. (Perfect Filer, again by way of comparison, theoretically allows 70 fields with a combined total of 1,024 characters. On the other hand, the one time I tried to test this limit with Perfect Filer, the program went comatose on me.) I do wonder whether an InfoStar data record that was 61K in size might mean you would get fewer than 64K data records into your data base. On the other hand, who could imagine a 61K data record on a personal computer? It is, after all, about the same size as a 60-page letter to your Aunt Millie, and how often do you write 60-page letters to your Aunt Millie?
◻ Once you have data in your data base, the =sort keys= determine how you can get the data out again. Do you want to get the information out in alphabetical order by name? Numerical order by ZIP code or phone number? Some combination of the two? (For example, you might, if the information is in your data records, want to sort your friends by who is left-handed, who gave you a Christmas card last year, when their birthdays are, or all of the above.) How many sort keys will the data base allow? What kinds? How long does it take the program to do a sort?
To take a primitive example, Perfect Filer allows you up to five sort keys (alphabetical order by sister’s name, for example; numerical order by ZIP code; both; numeric order by phone number; all three; and so on). Perfect Filer will also generate up to twenty subsets from which to sort. (Left-handed Republicans, female plumbers, all those who owe you more than three dollars—you name it.) And it will also let you have up to 40 list format fields—that is, it will allow you to generate up to 40 different kinds of list (all left-handed female plumbers who live on the West Coast). InfoStar, on the other hand, will allow you 32 sort fields, which is a few more than 5; but it doesn’t have any subsets per se and doesn’t seem to allow you more than one list format. On the other hand, the range of “logical expressions” it allows is amazing, and provided you understand BASIC (InfoStar’s data are written in CBASIC) fairly well, you can attain heights of efficiency Perfect Filer couldn’t even dream of (more on this immediately).
◻ What kinds of =calculations= will your program do, and when does it do them? Some programs will allow you to add, subtract, multiply, divide, and other even more abstruse calculations, and all at the data entry stage. The best of these allow serial calculations. For example, take A and multiply it by B; then divide the result by C; then add it to D. A program known as DB Master allows calculations for only two fields at a time: A plus B equals C. D plus E equals F. C plus F equals G. Other programs will only allow you to specify that certain relations between data exist, and then only at the report-generating stage. Perfect Filer, for example, will allow you to specify that you only want your report to contain the people whose ZIP codes are between 20815 and 21903—but it won’t do any arithmetic at all. InfoStar, on the other hand, can do algebraic and numeric calculations and impose such logical conditions as “include this record if it meets X criterion”; “do this calculation unless the data field is Y”; “do this if conditions X _and_ Y _OR_ conditions P _or_ Q exist.” Zowie!
◻ What sort of “=overhead=” does the program demand? That is, what do you need to be stored on your diskette in addition to your data records? One trade-off might be that the more sort keys, subsets, list formats, and/or logical expressions you have, the less space you have for your data records. Unlike Perfect Filer, InfoStar creates an index file for every data file that you create. An InfoStar index file contains only the field values of your sort key(s) and addresses for each of your data records, but even so, with a lot of sort keys and with a nice, big data base, the index file is not going to be tiny.
Playing with InfoStar—after a week hunched over the keyboard, I still can’t say I’ve learned it—was, in order, daunting, boring, thrilling, mystifying, frustrating, and annoying. The program comes with four (count em, _four_) diskettes and three instructional tomes of a size and heaviness guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of a neophyte. We’re talking half again as big as the compact edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. We’re talking three three-ring binders crammed to capacity with information. Daunting.
The program comes complete with three on-line tutorials—one introductory tutorial that assumes that the person using it has never been near a computer before, one tutorial for data entry, and one tutorial for generating “quick reports.” All three are pretty to look at, slow as molasses to try to go through, and simpleminded in the extreme. The first one, for example, draws you a picture of a computer terminal on its screen just in case you’re suffering from selective blindness and can’t see the terminal you’re running the program on. My advice to those who buy InfoStar and who’ve ever even _seen_ a computer before is not to bother with the tutorials—certainly not with the first one!—but to go straight to the training manual and start plowing your way through. It shouldn’t take more than a hundred years.
When I started playing with some of the data bases that InfoStar provides for its customers, I was excited. No, I was _thrilled_. I’ve never seen anything like some of the things InfoStar can do, and watching six fields fill up all by themselves after Id inputted one number made me chortle with glee.
InfoStar uses most of the same commands that WordStar does, which is convenient if you happen to _like_ control commands. I first began to get annoyed when I discovered that InfoStar does not use arrow keys. If you want to move your cursor, it’s =CTRL-D=, =CTRL-S=, =CTRL-E=, =CTRL-X=—the same commands WordStar uses and a major-league annoyance. Nor have any Function keys been assigned any values. And every single, solitary time you use InfoStar you have to go through at least four help screens—like it or not. Grrr!
I first ran into trouble when I began trying to define my own data record. Drawing the screen is easy; but what does one do when one is trying to assign attributes and runs up against prompts like, “Field derived? Processing order? Copy attributes of field? Pad field? Batch verify? Range check? Edit mask? Entry/content control character codes?” I’ll tell you what I did: I read the training manual. I read the reference manual. I tried native cunning. I tried pounding my fist through the keyboard. I tried crying. InfoStar’s hype says, “On-screen menus give you options in plain English ... while a series of help screens guides you through each procedure.” Yeah; and I am Marie of Romania.
The same sort of thing happened when I started fiddling with the generation of reports. As promised, InfoStar “enables you to create and print a report in sixty seconds.” The report prints all the data in the given file. Here’s what the report for the file I’d tried to construct looked like:
B:MMPLAY REPORT B:MMPLAY REPORT B:MMPLAY REPORT
10/21/84 10/21/84 10/21/84
FIELD #001 FIELD #002 FIELD #003 FIELD #004 FIELD #005 FIELD #006 FIELD #007 FIELD #008 ____ ____ ____ ____ _____ _____ _____ _____ ____ ____ ____ _____ ____ ____ _______ ____ mwm Mary W. Matthews 4823 Willett Parkway Chevy Chase MD 20815 ec Ed Corrigan Pirmasens American School New York NY 09189
I hope you get the idea. I’m too depressed to go on. So much for the “quick report” that you can create in only sixty seconds.
Next I tried to design a “custom report.” The prompts didn’t start out to be quite so confusing—“Is the file going to be used for Input or Output?” and “How large should the disk buffer be?” But by the time I got to “Edit mask,” “Copy attributes to field,” and “Enter algebraic expression,” I was thinking seriously about hara-kiri. We are _not_ talking quick and easy here. We are talking call in the professionals or resign yourself to a lot of long, hard work. Considering that I don’t even get to keep the copy of InfoStar—I only own a 64K CP/M machine, and InfoStar requires a PC DOS and at least 96K of RAM and recommends that you use a hard disk (but will put up with two floppy drives provided that you can get 320K of memory on each disk)—I eventually just threw my hands into the air and gave up. There is no doubt in my mind that InfoStar is a terrifically powerful program that will allow you to do just about anything you want in the world of data bases. The doubt in my mind is whether I’m an ordinarily intelligent person who was thrown by some big-league complexity or whether I’m an absolute moron because I didn’t find the program “simple” and “easy to use.” (Variations of the words “simple” and “easy” appear seventeen times in the InfoStar hype booklet; for example, “InfoStar is ... easy-to-use ... goes well beyond the capabilities of a simple data base system. InfoStar eases the job of managers.... It’s really quite simple. The whole process is really quite simple.... And it’s easy....” All this on one page, mind you.)
To sum it all up in a nutshell, InfoStar offers some _wonderful_ features, particularly in the area of making things easy for the clerk typist/secretary who’s doing data entry. And it is, as advertised, lightning fast at calculations and sorting. Its use of WordStar commands is a drawback, and its refusal to allow the arrow keys to function, along with its insistence on making you plod through help screen after help screen that you’re really not interested in, can be infuriating; but I suppose the clerk typist who is forced to use WordStar—at only five years old the dinosaur of word-processing programs—might find it convenient.
But if you, the doctor or lawyer or small business owner, want a custom-designed form or a custom-designed report, you’re not going to be able to delegate the job to a clerk typist/secretary/assistant. You’ll have to either hire a consultant to do it for you or resign yourself to spending days or even weeks mastering ideas and language that, to me, range from the arcane to the dumbfounding.
It’s really quite simple?
BACKUP VII ❑❑ Graphics Tips
No matter how you’re using a graphics program, remember the RDHP—the Rough-Draft Hierarchical Principle. It also may help at times when you word-process memos.
The principle: create the basic pictures or prose yourself. But if pressed for time? Then farm out the details. Just as a secretary might put your memos in the right format on paper, he or she might also smooth your drawings. Or your art department might.
Here are other tips for graphics users:
KNOW YOUR CHARTS AND OTHER BASIC TOOLS
A =line chart=—a graph with the outlines of hills and valleys—is great when broad trends count more than the numbers themselves.
One glance at a good line chart can tell you if wok sales are up or down.
And for even better effect, you might try a =curve chart=, or =area chart=, filling in the area below the curves that the lines make.
“Instead of looking like a wriggly line,” explains Carl Herrman,[103] an award-winning graphics expert, “it looks like a mountain. It’s much easier to follow.”
Footnote 103:
Carl Herrman is communications director at MITRE Corporation, a nonprofit research and consulting firm in McLean, Virginia. His address there is W 160, 1820 Dolley Madison Blvd., McLean, Virginia 22102.
And if you want to show sales trends in three wok categories? Well, you can still use a filled-in chart.
“You might fill in the bottom one solid black,” says Herrman. “You might do a =cross-hatch=—parallel intersecting lines—on the middle one. And on the top one, you might have a straight-line effect or a lot of lines running close to each other.
“That way, you can readily see the difference between the three It’s more effective than three graph lines on top of each other.”
Another tool is a =bar chart=, with bars of different sizes—horizontal or vertical.
=NAME THAT CHART= With Apple’s Macintosh and the Microsoft chart graphics package from Microsoft, you can whip up charts like the ones below. Chart will even pick up numbers from a sister spreadsheet program, Multiplan. My thanks to artist Jo Steele, who works for the Dartmouth College Computer Center and is a partner in Northtronics Associates. Oh, and don’t blame Jo for the use of those over-mentioned woks. My mistake. Next time I’ll use dishwashers or watermelons.
Use a bar chart to compare sizes or emphasize differences, including those over time. With the bar chart, you might contrast 1979 wok sales with 1984’s.
Don’t normally use the bar chart, however, to illustrate trends. For that, it’s usually back to the old line or curve chart.
Just the same, Mike Slade, a product manager at Microsoft, says: “There are times when you can illustrate trends successfully using overlapping bar charts—with bars of different colors or patterns.
“You might have a vertical bar for 1979 wok sales slightly overlapping with one for 1979 widget sales and continue these twin bars for the next five years.
“Use overlapping bar charts when you’re showing trends for a number of different products or categories.”
Yet another tool, the =pie chart=, just like a pie, with slices, nicely shows relations of complete parts.
Use the pie chart to show the percentage of sales that came from four or five regions.
On the other hand, suppose you have many, many small components in your pie—say, you’re interested in the percentages of domestic sales in each of the fifty states. Then a map with percentages on it might be better.
I’ll stop here—this is a computer book, not a graphics guide. For more detailed information, Herrman recommends _Designer’s Guide to Creating Charts and Diagrams_ by Nigel Holmes (from Watson-Guptill, New York).
KEEP IT SIMPLE—WHETHER ITS A CHART OR MEMO
Don’t make your charts look like puzzles. “If you clutter up your chart with too many facts, you’ll lose the very simplicity that graphics can offer,” says Herrman. Home in on your main point. “If need be,” he says, “use a short narrative under the chart to back it up.
“In fact, you might be able to say something in words more simply than with a chart. If you’re trying to compare the cost of widget imports in the last fifty years and it’s doubled each year, then why not just say so in prose?”
Also, avoid other forms of visual clutter. Don’t make people’s eyes spin with special effects and too many colors.
=Grid lines=—a series of little squares like those on engineering graph paper—often confuse chart readers. “Don’t put them in if you can help it,” says Herrman.
“Definitely not,” agrees my friend Hard-core bureaucrat.
In memos, don’t confuse your readers with a barrage of different typefaces. A little variety is good. But make sure you have a decent excuse, such as special points to stress or different categories of information.
“If you show off your fancy typefaces,” says my friend the Hard-Core-Bureaucrat, “it’s just a plague that’ll make your eyes ache. That’s one reason I’m down on fancy graphics for routine stuff. Some Macintosh users are going to produce memos that look like samplers from printing salesmen.”
Even on a thousand-word memo, use three of four typefaces at the most. Also, don’t stint on white space. Apple’s manuals for the Macintosh and its more expensive sister, the Lisa, are models of wise use of white space.
AT THE SAME TIME, KEEP IT LIVELY!
If you can get away with it, why not try a little flair in your graphics and your points will be more memorable.
A good model in many cases is the newspaper _USA Today_, which sports some of the liveliest graphics in the country.
It regularly publishes charts with such sexy facts as amount expected to go for health care in 1990 or the percentage of women who received haircuts and other beauty-shop treatments in 1983.
To jazz up the chart titled “Only Their Hairdressers Know,” an artist drew the face of a woman with her hair blowing out. The lengths of the bunched-up strands varied according to the percentages of women receiving different kinds of treatments. “Haircut” (76 percent) was three times longer than “Coloring” (a mere 24 percent). Today the average micro user may not be able to produce such “hairy” graphics, but the future may be different.
Snazzy graphics is like colorful writing. Humanize your work. The “Only Their Hairdressers Know” chart wasn’t in the fanciest of color—just black and white and blue—but it was more eye-catching than most eight-color ones might have been.
And if you yourself can’t draw too well even with a computer? Well, what a chance to liven up the workday of a young, talented aide who’d like a break from the typewriter, er, word processor!
Besides, on occasion, you can at least do what an editor may have done with the hairdresser chart—think up the basic idea.
KEEP THOSE CAPTIONS LIVELY, TOO
Imagine you’re writing captions for a hybrid of the _New York Times_ and _The National Enquirer_.
Try to be accurate, clear, and interesting.
Snare the skimmers! Give them no choice but to read your report.
I’ll qualify that. Alas, many report writers, especially the government species, don’t _want_ to be clear with words or charts.
Maybe they can scrutinize this section to know what to do in reverse.
KNOW YOUR COLORS—WHEN AND HOW TO USE THEM
There _is_ life without color.
Just look at the nifty things you can do with high-resolution black and white, with its many different shades.
If your picture offers widely varied shapes and sizes, color just might not help that much.
Think, too, about costs. If Mac had had color, the $2,500 introductory price would have been several times higher. So Apple concentrated instead on resolution. And very likely, some makers of similar machines will do the same. There’s a technical trade-off: color capability often comes at the cost of sharpness. Even black-and-white graphics today—at least the affordable kinds—normally are a far cry from the sharpness required in an annual report or the slickest sales brochure.
Still, to a generation weaned on color tv and movies, a 100 percent monochromatic life would be like a monastic life.
And color could be just the ticket for enlivening graphs that visually drone on and on with statistics.
What’s more, it can help separate elements of charts. Just don’t overuse or abuse the technique. Don’t use color to slice a pie chart too thin.
In working with color, you should know the best combinations. Often you’ll want to alternate weak, cool colors with strong, warm, “advancing” ones that leap out from the screen. The strongest colors usually are bright red first, then orange, then perhaps yellow—it depends on your machine and other variables.
“Your weakest colors,” says Herrman, “could be blue, green and brown. If you try blue and bright red, your chart will be much more readable than if it has green with blue. You might also use green and orange.”
Try, too, to avoid adjacent colors that “vibrate” together in an irksome way. “Red and green is worst,” Herrman says. Another loser: red and blue.
Other advice? Match colors to what they stand for. If you’re comparing oil and gas production, the oil might be black and the gas a light blue. Oil sometimes _is_ black. And gas often bums blue.
Remember, also, that dark colors often can better represent large numbers. Say your company has its biggest, best year ever in sales. And now you’re bragging with a multiyear bar chart? Well, you use a dark blue or black bar to represent your recent, gigantic revenues. The leaner years, by comparison, might be a very light color or maybe faint grays or perhaps just white inside gray lines.
Yet another tip is to be consistent if possible. “If you’re comparing oil and gas through twenty charts,” says Herrman, “stick with oil in black and gas in blue in all the charts.”
“But,” you say, “how do I choose my graphics programs in the first place?”
Here are the questions you should ask, among others:
1. Does the program help you come up with pies, bars, or whatever kind of chart or drawing will be most useful to _you_?
2. Can it do so as quickly as possible?
Here programs using a mouse—the pointer on your desk—have a real advantage.
3. Does the program fit in well with your other software?
That’s one advantage of Lisa- and Mac-type systems. You can more easily stick a chart inside a page of text—perhaps sparing your readers a distracting flip to the back.
Another advantage of a “good fit” is that it may save you hours of typing and drawing. Look for programs that will let you select trends from spreadsheets, then more or less automatically whip up charts based on the numbers. This way, too, you don’t have to waste time typing in the numbers from the spreadsheets. Microsoft Chart can do that with the right software for the Mac, Lisa II, and IBM computers. Are you shopping for a program that changes charts automatically along with the numbers? Then see if you can do this without having to clear the chart from your screen and replace it with a special menu.
4. How much memory space does the program—and the electronic files of the resultant drawings—take up?
You want enough space on your disk for spreadsheets, word processing, and other programs _if_ you change your tasks often. But you don’t change often? Then don’t worry as much about this.
Frugal use of space, of course, is one advantage of integrated programs combining graphics with word processing and spreadsheets or communications.
You might also worry about the lengths of the files. One chart can take up the equivalent of page after page in disk space if you’re storing the image of the chart rather than the instructions for creating it.
5. What about the program’s color capabilities—both on screen and on paper? How many colors offered? And if the program has preset color combinations, do they work well together?
6. Does the program coexist okay with the printer or plotter you own or are about to buy?
7. How easy is the program to learn? What about the other general traits of good software mentioned in Backup III, The Lucky 13?
Whatever your graphics program, don’t stint on the hardware. A good, sharp, high-resolution screen is just as important—more so, in fact—as it is in word processing.
BACKUP VIII ❑ Consultant Contracts: Some Who-How Questions
Charles Harris, a lawyer who is expert in computer negotiations, ticks off a list of contract questions very similar to the Who-How from the newspaper world.
His list:
1. “Who?” Who from the contracting firm is doing the work? A junior member? If so, you might ask, “Can he perform? Will the consulting firm still bill me the full rate?” Find out the track record not only of the firm but also of the people actually doing the work. Write their names into the contract if you can. Spell out the qualifications of substitutes you’ll use if the original people leave the consulting firm before finishing the assignment.
2. “What?” Describe the task as clearly and precisely as possible. And in my opinion you might consolidate the “What?” and the “How?” here. Is there a right way and a wrong way of accomplishing the “What?”? Find out the right way before signing the contract.
3. “When?” Can you negotiate a penalty if the firm misses a deadline? And how about a bonus if it comes in early?
4. “Where?” Will the consultants do the work in your office? Theirs? On your computer? On someone else’s?
5. “How much?” Obvious.
In my opinion, you’d also do well to keep asking the “Why?”—to make the consultants justify whatever they have in mind for you. Why not? You’re the one spending the money.
Also, at least consider the following:
1. Thinking small. Don’t bargain over the Who-How simply for the whole project; break it up into parts. “You say, ‘For this much money we expect to at least get a machine in the door,’” Harris suggests. “‘For this much money we expect to get the following diskettes for the following programs.’ ‘For this much money perhaps we’ll talk about customizing software.‘” If a consultant flubs an early part of the work or specifies the wrong programs or equipment, then you can more easily send him packing. “But,” you worry, “can a rival consultant pick up the pieces?” Well, you simply insist that the original consultant do his work in as standardized a way as possible. See if he can use a program like dBASE II or III—software with which thousands of other consultants are familiar.
2. Making the consultant give you the source code of the new software. That’s another pick-up-the-pieces kind of protection.
3. Insisting that any manuals for his software be complete and in plain English. If your consultant can write only computerese, in fact, you might not even want to bother with negotiations.
4. Bargaining if possible for a software warranty. Then, if you discover glitches in the software after it’s in use, the consultant won’t charge you to correct his own mistakes. You might not succeed here. But try.
5. Possibly requiring the consultant to give you a discount on modifications or expansion of your system.
6. Negotiating for full or part ownership of the software he may develop for you. But don’t count on getting rich from the sale of the programs. Adam Green, a software training expert, tells of a computer-store salesmen who, in that way, would appeal to customers’ greed. A taxidermist, for instance, might hear this pitch: buy from me, use the right consultant, and you’ll make a killing in specialty software for taxidermists. “The consultants would usually intend to finish a job writing this specialty software,” Green said, “but it would drag on, and the customers would run out of money, and the things usually didn’t get finished.” Very likely you _won‘t_ want full ownership, because it would reduce the consultant’s interest in perfecting his brainchild.
7. Forbidding the consultant from selling the new software to your competitors. Antitrust complications might arise if you don’t bear the financial risks of software development. If you do, however, you’re within your rights to demand exclusivity, just as the consultant is within his rights to charge you more for it. “Trade secret” is a key phrase both here and on the issue of ownership. “I recommend to clients that they go for trade-secret protection because copyright law protects the information only in the way it’s presented,” says William Wewer, a Washington lawyer who specializes, among other things, in intellectual-property law. In other words, an unscrupulous consultant might bypass the copyright law by using a different programming code to duplicate your new software’s functions.
8. Making the consultant pledge that he won’t violate any trade-secret laws or copyrights. You don’t want to suffer because someone else has plagiarized or pirated software. Be certain you’ll own the _master_ copies and instruction manuals that the consultant buys. Try to register immediately with the software company as the buyer or user of the disk. You want to know about updates of the product and about debuggings, which you won’t find out about with a pirated copy. A shady Massachusetts consultant has resold the same dBASE II program ten or fifteen times. The buyers think he is purchasing it for them and that he’s going to supply a version modified for their needs. “But halfway through the work,” Green says, “he just walks off.”
9. Hammering out a confidentiality agreement, if necessary, to protect company secrets. You don’t want an outsider blabbing to competitors.
10. Making the consultant agree in writing that he is working as your independent contractor, not your employee. Protect yourself against unfair Workmen’s Compensation claims and in similar ways.
11. Trying to write into the contract your right to a full explanation whenever you want one. Make the consultant justify his recommendation for a certain computer or a certain program; he owes you at least oral explanation and perhaps a written one. How much experience has he himself had with the product? Is he going by someone else’s word? Whose? How certain is he that the software-hardware combo that worked for the other person will work for you? Can he arrange a demonstration of the combo so you can see for yourself how the software runs?
12. Remembering that there’s only so much protection the law can give, especially at the micro level. Trade-secret and copyright laws can be vague and expensive to enforce—a major stumbling block to a small business. Your best protection is simply to deal with a reputable consultant whose credentials you have checked.
13. Choosing the right lawyer, if you can afford one, for the contract. He needn’t call himself a “computer lawyer.” A good contracts lawyer or intellectual-property expert, if conversant with computers, might also work out.
If the job is simple enough, don’t negotiate in the same detail that GM does when installing a $10-million mainframe. Again, even with small tasks, do sign a contract or write a letter similar to the sample one on page 114. And if you can afford it and the job’s important enough, think about still-another contract—for a second consultant to check up on the first.
BACKUP IX ❑ Window Shopping
The ad men and writers have had fun with the inevitable: “Microsoft Does Windows.”
You read the headline and envision some programmers with buckets and rags, bravely scaling Manhattan skyscrapers to help executives get a clear view when they’re looking up from their computer screens.
=Windows=, however, actually are _within_ computer screens.
You can split your screen into parts: one window showing a chart, for instance, while the other displays the report into which you’re inserting it.
Of course you need a screen big and sharp enough to get good views of many windows.
And the software problems could be hairy. Microsoft as of late 1984 was months and months behind in releasing its windows-type product. Other companies were behind on theirs, too. Someone once coined a term for much-talked-about-but-late software—“vaporware”—and it is sure described windows.[104]
Footnote 104:
I asked John Butler, a Microsoft products manager, why windows would hit the market months late. “We don’t like to announce products too far ahead of time when they’re not fully developed” he said, “but with Windows we had to tell other software companies about its existence early on—so they could write programs taking full advantage of ours.”
Well, now that the miracle windows are theoretically here, are they worth gazing at?
Depends.
_Don‘t_ buy windows if you’re just writing short letters and you needn’t blend anything else into them or regularly don’t consult other material.
But consider them if, say, you want to look at many spreadsheets quickly while writing reports.
Think what this means to executives with cluttered disks, er, desks. They can stash their material away electronically and not have to print hard copies as often in the future.
“I can imagine people having as many as twenty or thirty windows ready to call up with notes or working papers,” says John Butler, a product manager with Microsoft.
Also, windows software may let you switch noticeably faster from one program to another. And with a RAM (temporary computer memory) above 500K, you may even be able to do so instantly.
The plus of this? You won’t need to return as often to your computer’s operating system and feed the programs one by one into the RAM.
So the machine may seem to impose itself less between you and your work.
When “windows shopping,” however, you should ask these questions and more:[105]
1. Is the convenience worth the extra several hundred dollars you’ll be paying for the window software alone if it doesn’t come with your computer?
2. Up to how many windows can you see on your screen at once?
3. How do the windows look alongside each other? Do they =overlap=, just like papers atop each other? Or do they =tile=? That is, if you select more windows, the existing ones shrink, and you view less from them.
4. How about =data transfer=? If you move information from one electronic file to another, will important details remain? For instance, the way rows and columns coexist with each other on a spreadsheet? Can you cut a graph out of a chart and insert it in the text of a report without it shrinking or ending up distorted? Will it reproduce in as much detail as it would without your reaching it through a window?
5. What kind of graphics—=bit mapped= or =character based=? The bit mapping means sharper images. Your computer keeps track of each little dot, each pixel, on the screen. That hogs memory and may rule out color. =Character-based= systems, though, don’t let you make your lines and curves as smooth as bit mapping does. They must work with already-shaped letters, numbers, and other visual forms.
6. Will the window program work with ordinary software or just products written for it? And how many of the windows’ special features will do work when you use regular programs?
7. Will the windows at least slightly slow down some programs? A word processor may take longer for you to get from one part of your report to another.
8. Is the program picky about the computers it’ll work with? A window system _may_ need over half a million bytes of RAM and a hard-disk drive storing 5 megabytes. Also, as of this writing, windows seemed geared more to the IBM-style MS-DOS computers than to the older but cheaper CP/M ones. Besides, some companies may not sell windows programs directly to ordinary buyers. Microsoft got various micro manufacturers to bundle the program with their products.
9. Does the program require a mouse—the gadget you roll on your disk to move the cursor? How easily can you control the program without a mouse?
Footnote 105:
I’m basing the “windows-shopping” questions on points raised by various micro publications, especially _Popular Computing_, May 1984, p. 96.
BACKUP X ❑ Of Mice and Men—and Touch Pads, Touch Screens, Etc.[106]
“If you’re a trained, high-volume production typist,” asked Seymour Rubinstein, the WordStar developer, “what are you going to do with a mouse except feed it cheese?”[107]
Footnote 106:
For background in researching this appendix—but not for the opinions, strictly mine—I’m grateful to Forrest M. Mims’s excellent article “A Few Quick Pointers.” It appeared in May 1984 _Computers and Electronics_.
Footnote 107:
Rubinstein’s “cheese” quote is from _InfoWorld_, May 14, 1984, p. 57.
Score one for Rubinstein. He says mice are great—if you have three hands.
Doing graphics? A mouse, maybe. But damned if I’m going to take my hands off the keyboard to push the cursor from one spot on the screen to the next.
It’s simply too much wasted motion. I instead just press the cursor keys right above the main keyboard. Or I use WordStar’s cursor-moving commands. And even if I hadn’t learned touch typing a quarter century ago, I’d still wonder if a mouse for word processing wasn’t the Silicon Valley version of _The Emperor’s New Clothes_. Next time you’re in California, maybe you’ll see Apple execs naked in the streets as well as their hot tubs. Well, maybe not. The mouse could be a great marketing tool for sales reps peddling Macs or Apple IIc’s to people hoping to do word processing. But experienced typists? Many would probably groan over all the excursions that the mouse forced them to take from the main keyboard.
Some enemies of mice—cats?—also wonder if jockeying the cursor this way couldn’t be a little tiring for people writing or typing. Think of the hand-eye coordination required. You’re rolling a palm-sized gizmo on your desk to position the cursor on a single letter at times, and that might not wear too well if you‘re working for hours on end.
Mind you, the rodents have their friends, especially at Apple, where, inconsiderately, the hardware wizards didn’t even favor the Macintosh with cursor keys.
Joe Shelton, the Apple products manager mentioned in Chapter 7, says he does most of his writing with a mouse. He suggests the mouse-equipped Macintosh for “naïve users.” Your term, Joe. Now I’ll slightly water down my jeremiads. Macintosh-style computers offer nifty graphics and nice offbeat typefaces. So some trendy writers may want one—rodent or not.
And if you’re an executive or someone else not doing heavy word processing? Then maybe, just maybe, a mouse is for you. Perhaps you’re working with spreadsheets, a number of programs in fact, and you write only a small fraction of the time.
Richard Webb—a partner at Peat, Marwick and Mitchell, the big accounting firm that advised Apple during development of the Macintosh and ordered thousands of them—swears by the mouse for spreadsheets. He says that alone would justify the mouse.
I’m not a spreadsheet artist and will take a pro’s word. But at least for heavy-duty writing and typing, the old cursor keys are my best bet.
Graphics is different. There, the cursor keys are more cumbersome.
One artist, however, wanted not a mouse but an electronic “pad and a stylus”; he might be happy with a =digitizing tablet=—also known as a =graphics tablet=—like the well-known KoalaPad. You can write on this surface with a stylus or your finger and the computer will display the lines on its screen.
A =touch-sensitive screen= is still another possibility—for some people—both in word processing and graphics. You point your finger at a spot on the screen. Bingo! You can start moving a paragraph or perform graphics magic. But touch typists may face the same problem as with the mouse—wasted motion—and some people may tire of reaching up to the screen again and again. Also, touch-sensitive screens may not be precise enough for you to pick out just one number or letter.
Hugh Hunt raised an interesting issue.
“What happens if a fly lands on the Hewlett-Packard screen?” he asked someone about a computer with a touch screen.
Well, I hear, the HP 150’s screen uses infrared touch sensors that are more than fly length from the glass. “Debugging” the 150, Hewlett-Packard must have thought of _everything_.
Yet other pointing devices are:
● The =joystick=. Moving the stick around, you move the cursor. A neat idea. But it’s more fit for video games than word processing and many other business programs—you just can’t point exactly.
● The =trackball=. You move the cursor by rotating a ball inside an enclosure. Want the cursor to go faster? Then rotate the ball more energetically. The trackball is found most often in arcade-style systems. It’s great for chasing aliens and may have uses in spreadsheets and data-base management, but some people say it’s an abomination for word processing.
● The =light pen=, with which you could electronically “draw” on the screen. _Draw?_ Okay. _Write?_ Well, it’s “wasted motion” time again here, as with the other items on this list.
As computers climb the executive ladders—as more nontypists use them—these alternatives may grow in importance. And what about people on the factory floor? They may use such gizmos to make new inventory entries or machine adjustments. Partly the world is learning to type, and partly the computer is learning to understand devices other than the keyboard.
What cursor-control gizmos are ahead? I’ll keep reading the _National Enquirer_ articles about people moving objects with their minds. Maybe, the hard-core hackers are thinking, the next gimmick will feature some user-friendly ESP.
BACKUP XI ❑ The Micro Connection: Some Critical Explanations
When John Fuller hooked up his Heath micro over the phone lines to the Wang at his office, he had a head start on many other do-it-yourself telecommuters.
He wasn’t a computer or electronics rookie. For years he had worked around big IBM’s and Honeywells, and while telecommuting, he was a computer and management consultant with the navy. He even soldered together his H-89—a kit. And, anyway, he was communicating with another smaller computer, a Wang word processor.
Does that mean you should give up on do-it-yourself telecommuting because of the technical complexities?
No. Not at all. Before hiring a consultant, you might consider two possible sources of free advice: (1) your corporate data-processing department, if you have one, and (2) users groups, whose phone numbers you can get through dealers.
Before approaching anyone, though, learn the basics of the technology. A =modem= converts the _0_s from your computer into one pitch and the _1_s into another, and that whine, you’ll recall, goes out over the phone lines. The “mo” in “modem” stands for “modulator”; the “dem,” for “demodulator.” And a “dem” springs into action at the other end—demodulating the whine back into the _1_s and _0_s.
Modems come in two varieties, =direct connect= and =acoustically coupled=.
The direct-connect modem hooks between the phone line and your phone, or between your phone and the handset. Its whine transmits better over static-ridden lines than do acoustic couplers, but it’s normally a little more expensive, and hard to install if your phone lacks =modular plugs=, the tiny plastic ones that unsnap.
Using an acoustic coupler, you cradle your handset in rubber “earmuffs.” A small speaker whines into the phone transmitter; a little microphone picks up the sound from the handset’s receiver. Acoustic couplers don’t need phones with modular plugs, obviously—a boon to traveling executives—but they might not work if the handset is oddly shaped, as it is with some of the new-style phones. Also, loud noises in the room can confuse them.
A direct-connect modem, for that reason and others, would probably be better for your regular office. Also, consider a =full-duplex= modem in most cases.
No, it isn’t a modem for two-family houses. “Full duplex” is just jargon for computers jabbering back and forth, both ways, at once. Like two people on the phone. A =half-duplex= modem would allow just one-way communications without switching; it’s somewhat comparable to a radio with an unwieldy send-receive control. There are times, however, when half duplex would be best. Normal phone lines, =voice grade= ones in telephone company language, can’t handle computers jabbering at too high a speed, and half duplex may work better than full.
Like most modems for personal computers in the early 1980s, Fuller’s gizmo transmitted information at 300 baud—equivalent to 300 bits a second, 30 characters per second, or 360 words per minute at 5 letters a word. When telecommuting, however, you may be better off with a modem going 1,200 baud. After all, it can zip material over the phone lines at four times the speed, and that means you’re tying up your modem less on long documents. You might not be tying up _yourself_ if you run an operating system like Concurrent CP/M, which lets your computer handle electronic mail while you’re using it for other purposes; but a 1,200-baud modem is still a good investment if you can afford it. You may well be able to. Soon 1,200-baud modems with auto-answer features will commonly sell for well under $300.
Sent through a modem, the =data bits= are those conveying the information itself. And the =start bits= and =stop bits= keep track of the beginnings and ends of your micros’ characters. The most common setting is a =word length= of 8 data bits and 1 stop bit.
=Parity bits= may help the computers check for errors caused by static and other electronic noise. Parity is said to be “even,” “odd,” or “none.” This =error-checking= method has its drawbacks. It may fail if the mistakes cancel each other out—and it’s slow since it checks every character. Some =communications programs= (the ones allowing computers to talk) lack this feature. The most common parity setting is “none”—when you tell your software not to do parity checks.
A few other wrinkles in such programs are:
FILE TRANSFER
That’s the ability to send whole files of text or data—including programs, too.
CAPTURE ABILITY
With =capture ability= you can keep a record of each end of a keyboard conversation with both people typing away. You tell your computer to open up a =buffer= in its RAM—the temporary memory. The buffer captures the conversation. And if it fills up, some software will automatically “write” to your floppy disk, then reopen the buffer. Some programs won’t write to the disk at the ends of your conversations unless you command them to, meaning that the absentminded will see their bits and bytes vanish.
PROTOCOL FLEXIBILITY
Beyond changing bit numbers, etc., you may want software that can handle different kinds of protocols—sets of rules telling how computers transmit different sets of information.
One possible protocol for you to use—at least in conversations with other micros—would be the =XMODEM Protocol= or =Ward Christensen Protocol=. The receiving computer tallies up the number of bits and bytes transmitted from =blocks=—tiny parts of material—and compares this =check sum= to the number that the originating machine says it sent. And if there’s a mismatch? The receiving computer asks for the block again.
You might also use no protocol at all. It’s as if you’re sending material simply by tapping away on the keyboard without any elaborate rules for the other person’s machine. You two should still, however, agree on basics like baud rate, data bits, stop bits, and parity.
Protocols use =handshaking= as part of their bags of tricks. Handshaking, computers swap bits and bytes to verify that they’re on speaking terms. A common form is =XON/XOFF=.
Some mainframes use XON/XOFF to talk to micros and vice versa. The receiving computer gives an XOFF signal, telling the transmitting one to pause while the receiving machine “writes” to its disk. XON means, “Okay, my buffer’s almost empty. Send more!” Without this =flow control=, you might overwhelm the buffer and lose information.
AUTOMATIC DIALING AND OTHER TRIMMINGS
Some modems will let the communications software dial for you or at least let you feed the number in from your keyboard. Some also have =automatic log-on=. That lets you check onto a network or bulletin-board system without typing out your ID or password. Many =intelligent modems=, by the way, even without special software, can remember and dial phone numbers automatically and spit out log-on sequences and passwords.
VERSATILITY
Want to speak to a number of computers? Then buy software allowing you to set:
◼ Baud rate (speed of transmission).
◼ Data bits.
◼ Stop bits.
◼ Parity.
◼ Terminal emulation. It means making the micro imitate popular brands of terminals.
◼ Half or full duplex. Full is most common in micro communications.
◼ The type of handshaking protocol.
Ideally, the software will also:
◼ Accommodate a variety of modem types.
◼ Designate the host—which computer will manage the =echo back= (which makes the typed conversation appear on both screens).
◼ Let you choose different protocols.
All those features, of course, might still not let you communicate easily with your corporate computer. It may not use the =ASCII= code, for instance, which most micros do.
“Since you ASCII’d, anyway,” as _PC Magazine_ once punned, “those five letters are an acronym for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange.” With ASCII, an “A” is one combination of _1_s and _0_s, “B” is another, “,” is another, and so on.
When communicating with a mainframe capable of ASCII, it may not matter what brand of micro you’re running. So don’t reflexively think Big Blue for telecommuting.
The proud IBM mainframes, however, like aloof mandarins of old China, jabber away in a dialect of their own, =EBCDIC=—it’s similar to ASCII but different enough to cause serious problems. Now that doesn’t mean your home computer won’t work with an IBM mainframe. But it may require special programming that will translate from one set of codes to another.
Of course your corporate mainframe may also need a string of =control characters= to open or close an electronic file, and here your word-processing software may matter more than your communications program.
The control characters normally are just letters tapped out in combination with the control key to give commands to your computer. They generally don’t print out on paper; they may or may not show on the screen. In this case, controls characters pass the commands on to another machine over the wires. And so you may have to =embed= the control characters in your electronic files. If your word processor won’t let you embed control characters, you may not be able to communicate with some kinds of mainframes. WordStar lets you do this.
An issue more basic than control characters is whether you’re using =synchronous= or =asynchronous communications=. The former is a staple among the big mainframes; the latter, among micros.
In synchronous communications, the two computers or modems employ timing signals to separate characters sent in one stream.
Synchronous has a big advantage. You can send at 4,800 baud over regular phone lines; you can’t with the asynchronous method, or at least not with late 1984 technology.
But “synch” is more expensive—the needed modems typically cost well over $1,000. Asynchronous, moreover, doesn’t require timing signals. It’s the simplest form of communications between computers; and more and more data-processing departments have added asynchronous ports for micros to dial up.
John Fuller himself was communicating not with a giant computer but a dedicated word processor in his office, which, like most, talked ASCII asynchronously. He solved other problems on his own. You may need a consultant to do what Fuller did. But take heart. It could well be worth it, what with the time and money your telecommuting may spare you and your employer.
“I’m saving gas, dressing in comfortable grubbies when I write,” Fuller said in an article about his experiences, “and with the direct connection I can _prove_ that I’m working. I turn out my reports faster. My computer is really paying off. Now,” said the self-deprecating Fuller, “if you’ll excuse me, I have to repel invaders from space.”
BACKUP XII ❑ MODEM7: An Almost-Free and Fairly Easy Way to Talk to Other Computers
MODEM7 may be free, but it _works_. With it you can talk to computers thousands of miles away _if_ they’re running MODEM7 or compatible software. Normally, your only real expense is for the modem and maybe cables; you might spend as little as $100.
Using MODEM7, you can send letters, reports, or programs already on your computer disk. Or you can receive them.
You can also:
1. Communicate teletype-fashion with the other person. You can keep electronic records of what you both type and later print them out using WordStar or another word processor.
2. Call up electronic bulletin-board systems (BBSs) or plug into The Source and many other information utilities. In this case, too, you can store material on your disk and later print it out.
3. Get copies of other programs that altruistic computer buffs have placed in the public domain; you do this after you log on the BBS.
MODEM7 is a good example of free software that fills a niche; experts say it’s better than some $150 products. Most free programs are losers for the typical business. They’re either (1) games, useless except for training, (2) unreliable lemons with bugs in them, the software kind, (3) programs that might work but don’t do anything useful, or (4) fiendishly difficult challenges because the instructions are confusing and no one handy knows how to use them. But wonderful exceptions exist. Never thumb your nose at something just because it’s free. In MODEM7’s case you’ll find more happy, knowledgeable users than you will in the cases of many commercial programs.
MODEM7-style protocols have become an industry standard. Even big businesses and government agencies, including the IRS, have used MODEM7 for some purposes. It’s influenced the designs of commercial micro programs, which employ similar techniques to facilitate linkups between different brands of communications software. MODEM7 will also get along beautifully with the popular PC-TALK III “freeware” program for IBM micros and some clones. Freeware is low-cost software distributed in many cases by the users themselves; the author may request a “donation”.
Granted, MODEM7 isn’t the ultimate. The instructions included on the disk are confusing to the novice—a problem I’ll try to overcome here—and ready-to-run versions aren’t available for every computer system.
Some commercial communications software, moreover, is easier to run and can help you talk to more machines. And it may also make better use of the “smart” modems and their software so that your computer can dial up others automatically at 11:00 p.m., when the phone rates go down. You can’t do this with your cheapie modem and the plain vanilla MODEM7 described here.
But for the average computer user, MODEM7 is a good communications program to start out with. After reading the instructions that follow, you needn’t be a micro whiz to use it.
Also, you _may_ find that MODEM7 is as convenient as some commercial software for simple tasks, such as quickly checking your electronic mailboxes on The Source or CompuServe.
Don’t forget: you shouldn’t pay a cent for the basic MODEM7 program itself except for the cost of a copied disk or another token fee. It’s public-domain software. So you can legally make copies for all your friends and business contacts who have modems and the same machine that you do.
But how to track down your own copy? Through CP/M user groups, you can locate versions of MODEM7 set up for different computers and disk drives, or you might find an organization of IBM owners, Kaypro fanatics, or others. The better computer stores can steer you to the right people. Incidentally, if you distrust your store, you might not want to say exactly why you’re trying to catch up with a user group. Bear in mind that the computer store isn’t going to make a profit off a free program. Some organizations, however, are selling MODEM7 at next to nothing through the mail. For instance, the Public Domain Software Copying Company says it has versions for the IBM PC and clones, all the Kaypro machines, the Morrow micros and Osborne, among others. The cost as of late 1984 was $10. The address is 33 Gold St. cl3, New York, N.Y. 10038; the telephone number, (212) 732-2565. The company also offers separate programs that will adjust stop bits and other settings, eliminating the need for programming. These programs aren’t universal. Like MODEM7 itself, they might not work for your particular machine. The Public Domain Software Copying Company also says it offers a low-cost program for the Apple II that lets it communicate with computers using MODEM7.
In addition, you might also investigate PC-TALK III, commonly available through IBM user groups. If they’re ethical, they’ll encourage you to send a small “donation” to PC-Talk’s originator, Andrew Fluegelman, who wanted to save distribution expenses through this “freeware” approach. You needn’t feel obligated to pay until you’ve tried the program. Probably, however, you’ll find PC-TALK to be worth the $35 or $45 it may cost; this software is more sophisticated than MODEM7, which I’m focusing on because of its simplicity.
Another excellent MODEM7 alternative—_for experienced computer-users_—is MEX. CP/M versions are available free through users groups and work on many machines, including Kaypros; and NightOwl Software (telephone 800/648-3695 or NITEOWL) expects to sell it for $59.95 in an IBM version. Most of MEX’s send-and-receive commands overlap with MODEM7’s.
MODEM7 as of 12/18/80 Originally Written by Ward Christensen Revisions by Mark M. Zeiger, Jim Mills
WRT —Write file to disk (from terminal mode) DEL —Erase present file (from terminal mode) RET —Return to terminal mode with no loss of data XPR —Toggle expert mode (Menu on/off) DIR —List directory (may specify drive) CPM —Exit to CP/M S —Send CP/M file R —Receive CP/M file T —Terminal mode (optional file name) E —Terminal mode with echo
DEFAULT DRIVE:
Command:
IBM PC owners, fear not! This Kaypro version of MODEM7 shows the same menu that the IBM version, dated Oct. 15, 1982, does. The only real difference is the IBM adaptation’s use of the =DOS= command instead of the =CPM= one to return to the computer’s operating system.
Here now is a plain-English guide to MODEM7’s version of December 18, 1980, as adapted in 1982 for the Kaypro, IBM, and many other machines.
TO GET READY
MODEM7 has two basic modes for Teletype-like communications, “Terminal” and “Echo.” For both parties to see both ends of the conversation, one must be in “terminal” and the other in “echo” if they are communicating directly. Just the “terminal” person will be able to record on his or her disk. The one in echo mode can’t save the material electronically.
Beginning, you should read your computer’s instructions for information on how many stop bits and data bits your machine normally runs with. And does it use odd, even, or no parity? You might also get this information from your dealer or users group.
Don’t worry right now about knowing about the full meanings of the terms. Just find out what the settings are.
MODEM7 doesn’t provide for changing the settings. If the person at the other end can’t adjust them, either, and if those for his machine are different from yours, you’re out of luck if you don’t know how to fix the program code. You two may have to reach each other through an electronic mail service that mediates between machines. Often, however, micros are set for 1 stop bit, 8 data bits, and no parity, an informal standard. And just about all decent commercial programs for communications let you alter these settings. So does PC-TALK III.
In addition, even though MODEM7 itself won’t change its bit settings, your user group may have some free or low-cost programs that you can load up to do the trick—and then use MODEM7.
There’s one other little worry. Are you and the other person sending at the same speed over the phone lines? The normal speed for cheap micro modems is 300 baud or about 30 characters per second; for the deluxe ones, 1,200 baud. Don’t worry right now about what a baud is. Just make sure you and the other person are both at the same speed. MODEM7 often is set at 300. Some versions may allow for changing the software to accommodate different baud rates, but the command may not work on your particular brand of machine. By the way, remember that you must consider the baud rate not only of the software but of the hardware. Simply adjusting your software to send at 1,200 baud won’t do the trick if your modem can reach only 300 baud. Remember, too, that MODEM7’s speed command won’t necessarily govern your modem’s transmission speed, just your software’s.
You also want to find out how to operate your modem. Some use a physical switch to change from voice to data. Others—smart modems—use commands that you type out while your modem program is in the terminal mode. You can tell a smart modem to dial a number or answer the phone automatically.
TO TRANSMIT AND RECEIVE WITHOUT SAVING ANYTHING ON YOUR DISK
Just think of your computer and the other person’s as two Teletype machines connected. When hitting a key on either Teletype, you or the other person can make the two both print, right? Well, it’s the same with the computers. Here, however, the “print” is characters on your two screens.
Ready?
1. Start out with the other person’s modem set on ORIGINATE and yours on ANSWER (or vice versa) if the modems lack automatic switching.
2. Type =MODEM7= after the A> prompt of CP/M (or PC-DOS).
3. Hit your carriage-return key.
The menu listing your choices will flash onto your screen.
4. Hit the letter =T=.
5. Tap the return.
6. Assuming you’re using a manual modem, flick the switch to “data.” With a smart modem, you use the right keystrokes to awaken the gizmo or get it to answer the other computer.
Most smart modems nowadays employ commands similar to those of the Hayes models. With Hayes-style modems, if two people are switching from voice to data, one will type =ATD= and a carriage return (to start getting the modems talking), and the other will type =ATA= (to answer electronically).
If you’re talking to another micro or a little terminal hooked up to the phone at the other end, you may need to type =E= (and the return) instead of =T= (and the return).
That’s the echo mode, which you’ll recall differs from the “terminal” one. =E= lets you see your own typing. Again, normally, one micro user will be in echo, and one will use the straight terminal mode. When communicating with a bulletin board, even on a micro, use the =T= command rather than =E=.
How to switch from the regular terminal mode to the echo mode or the reverse?
You use MODEM7’s electronic gear shift. That’s =Control-E=; don’t confuse it with the =E= used in the echo mode. You tap out this command in other situations, too, whenever you want to return to MODEM7’s main menu. A =Control-E=, of course, consists of holding one finger on the =CNTRL= or control button and then hitting the letter =E=.
Here’s a warning: you may need to hit the line feed and/or the carriage return at the end of each line for your words to come out in the right places on the other person’s screen.
The terminal mode is worth using even when you and the other person only plan to exchange electronic files. If the terminal mode doesn’t work, then the others probably won’t, so use the terminal mode first to pave the way for file exchanges. By the way, the terminal mode is just the ticket to communicate with information utilities like The Source or with bulletin boards.
TO RETURN TO THE OPERATING SYSTEM OF YOUR COMPUTER
To return to CP/M—to crank up WordStar or Perfect Writer, for instance—you:
1. Type =Control-E=. 2. Tap out =CPM= from the main menu. 3. Hit your return.
Bingo! You’re back with the A>! And from there you go on to WordStar, etc.
If you’re using the IBM version of MODEM7, you use the command =DOS= instead of =CPM= (unless your menu says otherwise).
TO TRANSMIT MATERIAL ON YOUR DISK WITHOUT ERROR CHECKING—WITHOUT A MODEM7-STYLE PROGRAM AT THE OTHER END
MODEM7 uses the Ward Christensen Protocol—sometimes called the XMODEM Protocol—to help make sure the material is going from computer to computer okay.
If you don’t use error checking in transmitting files, the static on the phone lines may garble some words. Your computer, after all, is just squirting your file over the phone without bothering to find out if the other machine is receiving it right. You want error checking if you’re transmitting or receiving software; just one electronic goof, just a single messed-up “one” or “zero,” can throw the whole program out of whack.
But sometimes, when you aren’t dealing with programs, you’ll want to skip error checking. That way, the transmission will go faster. And it’ll be easier for computers with different communications programs to talk to one another.
There’s still no guarantee you’ll communicate, but with an industry standard like MODEM7 you have a good shot at it.
Here, then, is what you do to send a file to someone without a MODEM7-style program:
1. From MODEM7’s main menu, you select =T= and again hit the return a few times.
2. Find out if the other person can read words you type. (Don’t worry if you yourself can’t read your own words.)
3. Tell him (or her) to set up his computer so that, on paper or on a disk, it’ll record what it receives.
4. Once the other person is ready—while you’re still in the =T= mode—hit =T= again, but this second time your finger is on the Control key while you’re doing so.
The screen will ask you the name of the file you want sent. Normally, that file will be on your data disk, the one on drive B. B in that case contains the articles, reports, etc., for which you may lack room on the A disk containing your programs. (But if the document to be sent is on A, substitute that letter for =B= in the rest of the steps.)
5. Now you type =B:[name of file]=. Here and elsewhere don’t type the brackets surrounding the file name—and please put the file name directly after =B:= without a space in between.
6. Next hit your return. The disk should start spinning, and both you and the person at the other end should see your file flashing across the screens. Following transmission, your computer will say FILE TRANSFER COMPLETED. The other person should now have an electronic copy on his own disk.
TO RECEIVE COPY WITHOUT A MODEM7-STYLE ERROR CHECKING
1. Get the two modems talking, then return to the main menu.
2. Again, select your trusty =T= from the main menu. But don’t hit your return immediately.
3. Type a space.
4. Type =B:[the name of the file you’re creating on the data disk to receive the other person’s file]=. The name on B can be anything you want except a file that’s already on the disk.
In other words, if you want to save the other person’s file under the name MAGIC, you type: =T B:MAGIC=.
5. Hit your return once or twice.
6. Then hit the letter =Y= with your finger on the control key (=Control-Y=).
You’ll see some colons on the screen when material starts flashing across it. They won’t show up, though, in the file you’re creating. They’re merely an indication that the computer is saving material—whether it’s a file, an item from a computer network, or someone just typing away.
7. Type =Control-E= to return to MODEM7’s main menu.
8. Then, to preserve the file, “writing” to your disk, you must type out =WRT=, then hit your return.
And that’s it. You’re done!
By the way, if, while receiving material, you decide there’s a part you don’t need saved, you can leave that out of the file you’re creating. Just hit =Control-Y= again. Hit it still another time if you want to return to the “save” mode. On some successors to MODEM7 such as MDM711, a =Control-R= rather than a second =Control-Y= will tell the computer to shut off the save feature.
This save feature, alas, won’t work on a computer using the older MODEM7’s echo mode (though it will with newer versions of the program). But you can get around the shortcoming. Ask the other person in advance to make a two-way record of your conversation and send it to you! How to receive it? Well, after you’ve transmitted in the =E= or echo mode, you can shift to =T= with a file name added to save material.
Please also remember that MODEM7’s capture buffer—the feature letting it save incoming material to your disk—is small. Often the buffer can’t work safely with files bigger than 16K. That’s about eight double-spaced pages. If you’re using a Ward Christensen Protocol, however, files can normally be as long as disk space allows.
Printing the saved material, you may experience some problems because different word processors aren’t absolutely compatible with each other. You may see odd format commands, for instance, like “@”s (noticeable to WordStar buffs reading the files of their not-so-Perfect Writer friends) or “.HE” (a WordStar command that may baffle the Perfect crowd). But once you get the hang of it, you can usually “clean up” such “garbage.”
TO TRANSMIT COPY TO SOMEONE WITH A MODEM7-STYLE PROGRAM
1. Get the modems to start jabbering to each other.
2. From MODEM7’s main menu, type =S B:[name of the data disk file you want to transmit—either a program or a letter= =or other document]=. The =B:= shows the file is on the =B= disk. If it isn’t, just type =S= and the name of the file—for instance, =S MAGIC=. If =MAGIC= is on =B=, type =S B:MAGIC=.
3. Hit the return.
Soon your computer should start constantly asking the other machine if it’s getting your file okay.
If it isn’t?
Then your computer will conscientiously try again. But its patience is limited. It’ll give up eventually if the two machines and their software aren’t on speaking terms.
And if everything does work? Your computer will beep when it’s through or at least flash a message letting you know that it’s done.
_Note_: If the other person is using some versions of MODEM7, you may have to ask him to switch on the “check sum” form of error checking. This guide is for the simple old MODEM7, not newer versions. Most of the commands, however, will also work with the updated varieties, and of course all versions of MODEM7 can communicate with each other, subject to minor adjustments. _Some_ versions use the =TCC= command to turn on the check-sum mode.
TO RECEIVE FROM SOMEONE WITH A MODEM7-STYLE PROGRAM
1. Fire up your modem. 2. Type =R B:[new file name]=. 3. Hit your return.
Your computer will tell you when it’s through receiving. Remember, the material will show up on your data disk. If you want the material on the other disk, just type =R A:[file name]= instead.
TO FIND OUT IN A HURRY IF YOUR COMPUTER SAVED A FILE SENT BY MODEM (ASSUMING YOU’RE USING AN OPERATING SYSTEM LIKE CP/M OR PC-DOS)
1. Go to the =A=> prompt.
2. Type the word TYPE, then a space, then the name of the file—preceded by a =B:=, of course, if it’s on the data disk.
Immediately after the A> you should have the equivalent of =TYPE B:MAGIC=.
3. Then hit your return.
This is a CP/M and PC-DOS procedure.
TO ERASE A FILE (FROM CP/M)
Do the above, except substitute =ERA= for =TYPE=. Say you want to erase =MAGIC=. Just type =ERA B:MAGIC=.
TO ERASE A FILE (IF YOU’RE USING PC-DOS)
Use =DEL= instead of =ERA=. Type =DEL B:MAGIC=.
TO ERASE A FILE FROM WITHIN THE MODEM7 PROGRAM
Type =DEL B:MAGIC= or whatever the file name is.
TO FIND OUT WHAT’S ON YOUR DISKS WHILE YOU’RE USING MODEM7
1. Type =DIR= from the main MODEM7 menu. 2. Type a space. 3. Type =B:=. 4. Hit your return.
This will show the contents of the =B= drive, normally used for storing data.
To see =A= drive’s contents, you merely type =DIR= and hit the return.
TO USE THE DIRECTORY FEATURE WHILE YOU’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A FILE YOU USE TO SAVE
What if you want to save the other person’s message using the =T B:MAGIC= method—but in the middle of the conversation you also want to check the contents of your disk via the =DIR= command?
How do you prevent the =MAGIC= from disappearing except for the name on your file list?
After all, an electronic file is like gas inside a bottle. You must “cap” it with a =WRT= command, or the gas will leak out the top. And you can’t reenter your file by typing another =T B:MAGIC=.
But you _can_ get back to =T B:MAGIC= by typing =RET= after the =DIR= command.
TO GET THE MENU OFF THE SCREEN ONCE YOU KNOW THE ROPES
From the main menu, type =XPR=. Hit the return.
TO CHANGE THE BAUD RATE
If you’re using MODEM7 with a 300-baud modem, you don’t worry; the software normally comes set for that speed.
With a 1,200-baud modem, you may be able to accommodate the higher speed this way:
1. Enter the =T= mode of MODEM7 from the main menu.
2. Hit the return several times.
3. Tap =Control-B=.
You’ll then see a request for a new baud rate.
4. Type the right number (300 for 300 baud, 1200 for 1,200; do not use commas—MODEM7 doesn’t like them here).
5. Hit your return.
Please note that at least on my Kaypro II the =Control-B= command doesn’t work. This may have been due simply to my machine’s quirks.
Again, don’t forget that MODEM7’s successors operate somewhat differently and may use a command such as =SET= or =TIM= to set up the baud selection.
And remember, too, that the old MODEM7’s baud command won’t control the speed of your modem (although some modems will automatically pick up the baud rate of the one at the other end).
Thanks to Jon Albers, Eric Meyer, Rick Nelson, and Pat Ehresmann for checking the accuracy and clarity of the above instructions. Blame me, however, if anything’s wrong.
My instructions are a simplification of:
=CP/M MODEM PROGRAM DOCUMENTATION by Mark M. Zeiger and James K. Mills 11/04/80=
The MODEM7-styles programs have their origins in the work of Ward Christensen, an IBM employee and public-spirited computer hobbyist.
■ ■ ■
A MODEM7 Cheat Sheet
Snip this out! It’s a handy summary of commands for the free MODEM7 program.
◾ _TO MAKE MODEM7 APPEAR ON YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN_: Type MODEM7 from the A> prompt and hit your carriage return. You’ll end up in the program’s main menu. Or if you’re using a new program, you might instead see a screen telling how to reach the menu.
◾ _TO USE THE TELETYPE-LIKE TERMINAL MODE_: Tap the letter =T= and a carriage return after the main menu appears. You can use this mode with The Source, MCI Mail, and other on-line services.
◾ _TO USE THE ECHO MODE_: Type =E= and the return. For Teletype-like use when the other machine is in “Terminal.”
◾ _TO GO FROM ONE MODE TO ANOTHER_: Use =Control-E=. This gearshift mode returns you to the main menu.
◾ _TO SEND MATERIAL ON YOUR DISK WITHOUT THE WARD CHRISTENSEN ERROR-CHECKING PROTOCOL_: Type =Control-T= after you’re in the terminal mode. Give the name of the file to transmit. Here, as in other cases, precede the name by =B:= (no space after the :) if the file is on Drive B. Hit your carriage return.
◾ _TO RECEIVE MATERIAL WITHOUT A PROTOCOL_: After typing the usual =T= in the terminal mode, you skip a space. Then specify the name of the file where you’ll collect the received data. Now hit your return several times. Use =Control-Y= to tell your computer to start saving material; also use it to turn off the save feature. (On newer versions of MODEM7, =Control-R= might be the off switch.) _IMPORTANT_: After you’ve finished talking to the other machine, you must return to the main menu and type =WRT= and return. Otherwise your computer won’t save the material on the disk.
◾ _TO SEND TO SOMEONE WITH A MODEM7-STYLE PROTOCOL_: Type =S=, skip a space, then type the name of the file that you’ll send—with the =B:= before it if necessary. Hit the carriage return.
◾ _TO RECEIVE FROM SOMEONE WITH A MODEM7-STYLE PROTOCOL_: Type =R=. Skip a space. Then type the name of the file where the material will show up, using =B:= if needed. Hit the return.
◾ _TO RETURN TO THE A> PROMPT_: From MODEM7’s main menu, type =CPM= if you’re using a CP/M version like the Kaypro one. (The IBM version substitutes =DOS= for =CPM=.) Hit your return.
■ ■ ■
BACKUP XIII ❑ Why Not an Electronic Peace Corps?
In a Chicago suburb a $50,000-a-year engineer spends countless hours twiddling with his new IBM PC. The technology engrosses him, but he lacks a sense of purpose. In Southeast Asia, meanwhile, a young man wrestles with calculations needed to build an irrigation dam. He thinks his figures are correct but isn’t certain, and thousands of people will die if the dam collapses.
Can the Chicago engineer somehow help his counterpart abroad?
There is a way if politicians for once will appeal to the better instincts of technicians. An Electronic Peace Corps (EPC) could bring these two together and offer the Third World some of the best international technical expertise via computer networks.
Useful computers sell for around a thousand dollars, and much better, cheaper, smaller computers are on the way. What’s more, thanks to satellites, international communications prices are falling; and 1,000-word messages anywhere in the world, via special packet-switching networks, could cost just $1 each.
So the EPC needn’t threaten the taxpayers with a major burden. By essentially exporting knowledge instead of people, it in fact would increase the impact of economic-aid dollars. The EPC could emphasize basics like public health, agriculture, transportation, construction, manufacturing, and communications.
In carrying out the idea, a government or international agency might keep computer files listing:
● The skills and information required in specific underdeveloped countries.
● People abroad who needed help.
● Those who might be able to offer it.
Most of the corpsmen wouldn’t even be computer experts—just people with the right technical knowhow. Some might be ex-Peace Corpsmen. Others might receive special cultural indoctrination similar to traditional Peace Corps training.
Once in the EPC, the corpsmen might regularly correspond via E-Mail at nights and on weekends or on occasion “talk” instantly to Third World counterparts. Of course, not every Third World beneficiary might use a micro. Some might submit written questions that local Peace Corps offices could pass on electronically (one way to mitigate the language problem).
E-Mail, incidentally, needn’t be the only form of computer communications available through the EPC. The organization could offer electronic bulletin boards with the names of people either needing or offering information on subjects like biological pest control or solar power. That way, the EPC’s beneficiaries would feel as if they had more of a choice.
In addition, there might be ongoing computer conferences on topics of common concern.
Obviously, the EPC wouldn’t replace foreign-aid experts in the field, and it wouldn’t aid people _directly_ at the village level. It wouldn’t hand out lap-sized portables to barefoot farmers. Rather, the EPC would help engineers, doctors, scientists, and other people engaged in development in their own countries. Corpsmen in the field would work with local governments to make certain, for instance, that a New Delhi slumlord didn’t use the EPC to automate his dunning operation.
Typical EPC beneficiaries might be Indians trying to set up a more efficient grain-storage network, millions of Third World people are starving because the food goes to the wrong places. Sometimes, incidentally, the “wrong places” include the warehouses of thieves, and computerized records could reduce the opportunities for corruption. Many problems are political or economic, of course. The EPC would limit itself to technical issues and try to be as apolitical as possible, just as the international Red Cross focuses on relief rather than ideology.
Another EPC beneficiary might be a communications specialist hoping to install a satellite link; for obvious reasons, better communications might be one of the EPC’s first priorities. The EPC might help domestic and foreign groups working toward this goal. Even countries with poor phone lines, of course, can receive some computer messages in the large cities.
Yet other beneficiaries could include:
● Colombian doctors who wanted to fight an epidemic with the latest information sped over the computer lines.
● A civil engineer in Peru working on a road or bridge for isolated villagers who hoped to sell food to cities.
● A rural-assistance administrator in Kenya. Micros could help his staffers keep abreast of the newest, best way to dig a well or treat a dysentery-stricken baby.
The EPC wouldn’t just promote the flow of information from countries like the United States to the so-called lesser-developed countries. _Among_ them, too, it would speed up the spread of practical solutions to common problems.
Learning of an efficacious home remedy, for example, a rural-assistance group in Ecuador might pass the information on for possible global dissemination. It just might save the life of a child in Peru. By keeping track of the better home remedies in the Third World, in fact, an American drug researcher might discover something that checked out scientifically—as has happened in the past.
Some Third World countries or groups of them might want to start their own EPCs. Rather than preempting these efforts, an American or international EPC could aid them, thereby multiplying the benefits of the original organization and forestalling fears of electronic imperialism.
The EPC could have a domestic version, too. Because of lower communications cost, the Home Corps (a friend’s phrase) might take more chances helping nonexperts without credentials. A gifted high school writer on Chicago’s South Side might tap out short stories on a school computer, for example, and a famous author across town might zip the files back, with comments easily inserted electronically. The two might meet a few times in person, then carry on via computer without the hassles and menace of urban travel. Likewise, an Evanston business executive might volunteer help to a businesswoman in a small town many miles away.
The most urgent need for EPC-style assistance, however, is in the Third World, where, because of technical backwardness, so many are starving. The idea isn’t so farfetched. In fact the Third World is already enjoying some similar help in a small way.
The CARINET computer network links the United States, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Long before harvest time a Jamaican farmer can learn how promising a market there’ll be for his crop in the United States—or an African potter can find out how to make a ceramic insulator for his local phone company. Jerome Glenn, an official with Partnership for Productivity International, the Washington-based group behind CARINET, says the answers often come in just a day.
“Mail takes too long and Telex is too expensive,” notes another Peace Corps alumnus, now heading a nutrition group that works to export U.S. technical savvy through more conventional means.
Many foreign aid and computer experts have similar feelings. The technicians, sure enough, are far ahead of the politicians. One of the most distinguished technicians of them all—Arthur C. Clarke, the father of the communications satellites—describes the EPC proposal as “an excellent idea.”
Reaction from Third World countries has been favorable. Naren Chitty, a Sri Lankan diplomat, says the concept is “a positive approach to technology transfer” in “these days when ‘electronic imperialism’ is a catchword.” And a Saudi Arabian communications specialist likewise advocates computer and networks for the Third World. He says: “I had a terrible argument with this Indian man who said, ‘My people are starving to death, and you talk about microcomputers.’ And I said, ‘It’s because of food distribution—the food isn’t getting there. The reason they’re starving is that they don’t have the benefits that computers could bring.’”
■ ■ ■
POSTSCRIPT:
Just as I was finishing this book I heard from my friend the Saudi Arabian communications specialist, Omar Alfarouq. Omar says EPC-style efforts are already realities in some places—not just dreams.
Via MCI Mail from California, he told me of “the creation of an Information network throughout Third World, accessible within our own cultural reference.
“It has bloomed under sponsorship Gulf Cooperation Council; data banks for farmers, medical workers in Arabic accessible by personal computer from Oman to Kuwait; anyone can access though it is most often done through local Ministry of Information office; will be tied in with university information systems. It’s moving _alhamdullilah_ [thanks to God].” Omar says the idea for this net goes back to 1981.
He continues:
“Your Electronic Peace Corps is alive and well and working wonders in Africa at present time, am surprised you are not there doing it. I just returned, am here to regroup, energy burn-out terrible. For example Sahel 84 is a French group 30, lorries w/ food/medicine, one light plane with ground station tied into INMARSAT; satellite shows ground picture where people have sunk down hopeless in endless reaches of Niger, Mali etc., guides convoy to place of need; communication link back to Paris advises of further food/medicine need, diagnostic advice, these helped while other abandonees are being located. That’s Sahel 84.
“Mobility 84 is British with land-rover as ground station with a computer, word-processing, works in west central Africa, put together by Alan Benjamin of CAP software in England, Contact him he is doing what you are brooding about.
“Medecines sans Frontreres also has sat-data link to Paris from its camp south Soudan just over border from Ethiopia for Tigre refugees; Tigre people in terrible shape. Data banks can _insha’allah_ [if God wills] save Soudan from becoming like Ethiopia—it’s getting that way fast. Contact Gordon MacRae, deputy editor of Economist in London for further up-dates, also Jim Grant of UNICEF.
“Congratulations on yr book. But the real point of data exchange is its tremendous humanitarian impact which is so desperately needed in places that will never ever see anything like a telephone. Timely forecasting can prevent Third World suffering. Or even in America. That’s your next book. See you in Addis.... _wa salaam_ [good-bye], Omar.”
Americans invented the transistor, the microchip, personal computers; now if only we’ll catch up with the British, French, and Saudis in bringing the technology to the people who most need it!
Thanks!
My Victor 9000 and Panasonic printer ideally could spew out a list of people to thank—starting with those who most deserved it.
As a mere human, however, I don’t feel up to ranking anyone other than to mention the big nine:
● Michael Canyes, a professional computer consultant who gave dozens of hours of his time in the best user-to-user tradition.
● Mack Truslow, an old friend on whom I cruelly inflicted page after page of rough drafts.
● David Fay Smith, a writer/computer expert who was the technical editor and who himself is the author of _A Computer Dictionary for Kids and Other Beginners_ (Ballantine, $9.95).
● Don Carrol, the cover artist.
● Robert B. Wyatt, editor-in-chief of Ballantine Books, who had the imagination and courage to make this a mass-market paperback.
● Richard McCoy, his assistant.
● Frank Lavena, the copyeditor.
● Pat Ehresmann of the Random House production staff, who is an innovator in the spirit of this book.
● Ruth Aley, a legendary literary agent whom writers have been thanking for decades—perhaps beginning with Irving Stone.
● Berenice Hoffman, her partner on this project. Shopping for a computer while I was writing _The Silicon Jungle_, she was a perfect test reader.
In addition I’ll thank the Fairfax County Public Library System, especially the Fairfax City branch’s business room. Thanks also to the Martha Washington, George Mason, and Sherwood branches. (Computerized databases will never do away with first-rate librarians.)
With the understanding that my list isn’t necessarily complete, here are other people to whom I’m grateful:
John Allen; Joseph Auer; Stephen Banker (will someone please locate a $1,200 hard-disk Victor 9000 for _him_?—Steve deserves it for the help he gave me); Lindsay Baird, Jr.; Rich Baker; Rob Barnaby; Richard Barry; Jane Bator of Susan Croft Associates; Nancy Beckman; Mike Bell; John Bennett; Tom Bennett (he really should be in the top six); Dan Berger; Robert Bertini, Jr.; Ed Bigelow; Janice Blood; Jay BloomBecker; Jack Bologna; Ed Boland; Kenneth Bosomworth; Charles Bowie; Mike Bradley; Barbara Brubacker; Ted Buchholz; David Bunnell; William F. Buckley, Jr.; John Butler; Robert Campbell; John Carroll; Elizabeth Carlson; Steve Caswell; “Cheshire Catalyst”; Vinton Cerf; Naren Chitty; Chris Christiansen; Ward Christensen; Ken Churbuck; Arthur C. Clarke; Joseph Coates; Jeanette Counsellor; Glenn Cowan; Chris Daly; Martin Dean; Judy-Lynn del Rey; Dick Diluciano; Kathleen Dixon; Frank Dobisky (“B.C.E.,” friend and PR man extraordinaire); David Eisen; Margaret Engel; James Fallows (my Victor guru); Guy Farley; Tom Fay; Paul Fessler; Jack Fitzgerald; Geoff Fobes; Ron Fowler; Jim Fox; Steve Frankel (author of _The Compleat Kaypro_); John Fuller; Bill Gladstone (who, while remaining loyal to his friend Andy Kay, respected my right to call the shots as I saw them and in fact nurtured this project); Jerry Glenn; Geoff Goodfellow; Gil Gordon (his new telecommuting newsletter, _TELECOMMUTING REVIEW_, offers common sense and humanity along with insight—a combination all too often missing in the computer world; you may write for subscription information to Telespan Publishing, 50 W. Palm St., Altadena, Ca. 91001); Sandy Gossman; Etienne Grandjean; Adam Green; Judy Gregory; Sue Grothoff; Tom Hacker; H. Glen Haney; Richard Harkness; Charles Harris; Patricia Hausman; James Hayhoe; William Hole (ace library researcher); Gabe Heilig; Carl Herrman; Jeremy Joan Hewes; Harold Joseph Highland; Clauda Houston; Hugh Hunt; Peter Hyams; Chris Jensen; Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz; Steve Jongeward; Phil Judkins; Mitch Kapor; R. A. Karasek; Esther King; Marc King; Carol Kaplan; Lloyd Kaufman; Andy and David Kay; Kay Keeshen; Richard Koffler; David LaGrande; Jack LaVriha; John Lewis; Bob Lucas of Trigram Systems (who let me try out his useful MicroSpell spelling-checker on this manuscript); Art Lundquist (owner of Clinton Computers); Nick Lyons; Jim Mahony; Mary Matthews; Judi McClean; Bill McDonald; Jan McGowan; Chodi McReynolds; John Madden; Rainer Malitze-Goes; Basil Malony; Glenn Marcus; Clyde Merritt; Maxine Messinger; Eric, Eugene and Rima Meyer; Greg Minjack; Rolf Moulton; Ian (“Captain Zap”) Murphy; Peter Nero; Rick Nelson; Jack Nilles; J. Michael Nye; Cliff Odendhal; Dusty Park; Donn Parker; Ann Patrick; Tom Peifer; Joseph Pelton; Margaret Phanes; Don Pierce; John O’Mara; Greg Platt of PeopleTalk Associates; Joe Policy; Michael Pond; Liz, Mitzi, David and the rest of the gang at the Computer Shoppe; Doug Rickman of The Disk Connection (who donated the copy of MITE I needed to talk to Arthur C. Clarke); Don Ramsey; Peter Ross Range; Gary Rinkerman of _The Computer Law Reporter_; Hood Roberts; Mark Robinson; Harry Rothman (research); Seymour Rubinstein; Marilynne Rudick; Bruce Rupp; Richard Russell; Gabriel Salvendy (source of invaluable perspective for the “HAL” chapter); Timothy Schabeck; Alan Scharf; Joe Schopen; Michael Scott of BCI; William Scrivo; Frank Schiff; Ezra Shapiro; Joe Shelton; Ben Shneiderman; James Schweitzer; Mike Slade; Michael Smith, David Snyder; Harry Snyder; Jo Steele; Bill Stern; Barbara Sturken; Ann Sumner; Jim Swanner (for approving the MITE donation); Geoff Sweeney; Jeff Tarter; Bonita Taylor, Jerry terHorst; Chris Torem; Murray Turoff; Terian Tyre; Stanton Umans; Bernard Urban; Holly Vail; John Verboon; Nick Vergis; Barbara Wagner; Robert Waters; James Watt; Harvey Welch; William Wewer; David Whiters; Lynn Wilson; Edward and Patricia Wright; and Kitty Yaney.
INDEX ❑
Accounting software Accounting Plus, 75-77 case example, 73-78
Acoustically coupled modem, 349–50
Alphanumeric field, 81–82
Alternate key, definition of, 47
AND, 82
APPEND command, 82
Applications programs, 23
Area chart, 331, 333
ASCII, 352
Asynchronous communications, 353
Audit trail, 168, 321
Automatic dialing, modems, 351–52
Backups avoiding crashes, 192–94 hard disks, 196–97 lap-sized portables, 198 scratch disk, 195
Bar charts, 332
Barnaby, Rob, 7, 46, 48, 50–59, 61
Baseband, 247
Bidirectional printers, 296
Bit, 20
Bit mapping, graphics, 344
Black boxes, 189
Block move, definition of, 48
Blocks, 351
Boland, Ed, 73–78
Boldface feature, 299
Bowie, Charlie, 78–86
Broadband, 247
Bubble memory, data security and, 197
Buffer, 300, 351
Bugs, 302
A bus, network lay-out, 244–45
Buying a computer key questions for, 282–92 printers, 294–301 software, 302–309 used computers, 292–93
Byte, 20
Calculations, 326
Captain Zap, 2, 163, 190–191, 193
Capture ability, modem, 351
Cataracts, VDTs and, 156
Cathode ray tube (CRT), Kaypro, 25
Cells, 85
Central processing unit (CPU), 20
Character-based systems, graphics, 344
Character field, 81
Characters, size/shape, 142
Charts, _See_ Graphics.
Check sum, 351
Clarke, Arthur, C., 2, 249–70
CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), 197
Coaxial cable, 246–47
Colors, use in graphics, 336–37
Command-driven systems, 71–72
Command files, 82
Compatibility, Kaypro and IBM, 20–21
Composite monitor, 143
Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM), 98
_Computer Classified Bluebook_, 292
Computer conferencing, 230
Computer crime, 9, 163–99 data diddling, 166–67 data leakage, 172–73 dial-up computers, protection of, 190–91 employee policy and, 179–83 impersonation, 174–76 logic bomb, 171 overwriting as protection, 191–92 passwords and, 188–89 piggybacking, 173–74 protection against, 183–86 rounding interest downward, 168–69 sample auditing, 165–66 scavenging, 172 simulation, 171–72 small businesses and, 165 superzapping, 169–70 TAP, 175–77 trapdoor/backdoor, 170–71 Trojan horse tricks, 167–68 wiretapping, 173
Computer furniture, selection of, 147–49
Computerized pacing, 133
Computers, future developments, 262–67
Conductors, 246
Consultants, 100–115 aspects of hiring decision, 101, 107–113 case examples, 101–106 contracts, guidelines for, 339–42 microcomputer field and, 105–106 qualifications of, 112–13 salesmen/consultants, 112 sample consulting contract, 114–15
Contracts, for consultants, 114–15, 339–42
Control characters, 353
Control key, definition of, 47
Correspondence quality, 297
CP/M (Control Program for Microcomputers), 20, 22–23, 285
Crashes, disk crashes, 192–93
Cross-hatch, 331
CRTs, alternatives to, 160–62
Cursor, 9, 47
Curve chart, 331, 333
Customization, source code, 77
Daisy wheel printer, 294 shortcomings of, 296–98
Data-base programs, 81, 323–30 calculations, 326–27 data fields, 324–26 dBASE II, 81–83 InfoStar, 323–30 overhead, 327 Perfect Filer, 324-27 sort keys, 327
Data bits, 350
Data diddling, 166–67
Data disk, 24
Data Encryption Standard (DES), 189
Data-entry work, 107
Data fields, 324–26
Data file, 324
Data leakage, 172–73
Data processing, micros and, 125–27
Data record, 324
Data security, 163–64 backups, 192, 194–99 protecting floppies, 193–94 scratch disk and, 195 _See also_ Computer crime.
Data transfer, windows, 344
dBASE II, 81–83 features of, 81–82 training time, 83
Dean, Martin, 66–68
Defaults, 308
_Designer’s Guide to Creating Charts and Diagrams_ (Holmes), 334
Dial-up computers, protection of, 190–91
Digital voltmeter, Kay’s, 18
Digitizing tablet, 347
Direct-connect modem, 349–50
Disk-based word processor, 305
Disk crashes, 192–93
Disk drive head of, 23 twin, 23–24
Disks, rules for protection of, 193–94
Documentation, 49, 288 evaluation of, 304
Dot matrix printer, 294–95 size of characters, 142
Double-density feature, Kaypro, 24
Draft quality, 297
Dvorak keyboard, 146
EBCDIC, 352
Echo back, 352
Echo mode, 357–58
EDIT command, 82
8088 Chip, 20
Electroluminescent screens, 161
Electronic bulletin boards, 223
Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES), 222
Electronic mail, 228–33 advantages of, 230–31 capabilities of, 228–29 computer conferencing, 230 negative aspects of, 231–32
Electropheretic screens, 161
Encryption, 189
Environmental factors, _See_ Ergonomics.
Epson, 43–44, 59
Ergonomics, 128–62 air conditioning/heat/ventilation, 152 aspects of good ergonomics, 129–30 back/muscular problems, 156–57 computerized pacing, 133–37 CRTs, 159–60 eyestrain, 158–59 furniture, selection of, 147–49 health factors, VDTs, 152–54 keyboard, selection of, 143–47 lighting, 149–51 liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), 160–62 noise reduction, printers, 151–52 participatory monitoring, 137–38 psychological problems, 157–58 radiation from VDTs, 154–56 screen, selection of, 140–43 word processing operations, 134–35
Error-checking, modem, 350
Escape key, definition of, 47
Ethernet, 236, 244, 246–47
Expansion slot, 41
Extremely low frequency radiation (ELF), 155
Eyestrain, computer use and, 158–59
Field, 81
Field names, 81
Field type, 81
Field width, 81
File data base, 81 definition of, 47
File locking, 242
File server, 244
Filters, for glare, 151
Flat screens, 160 weaknesses of, 161–62
Flow control, 351
Foot candles, 150
Full duplex modem, 351
Glare, 150–51 filters for, 151
Global search, 48
Graphics, 8, 93–99, 331–38 area charts, 331, 333 bar charts, 332 choosing a program, 337–38 colors, use of, 336–37 cross-hatch, 331 curve charts, 331, 333 graphics tablet, 347 grid lines, 335 line charts, 331 Macintosh, 93–96 PERT programs and, 98–99 pie chart, 334 professionals’ use of, 96–98 simplicity, importance of, 334–35 vertical bar charts, 333
Grid lines, 335
Ground wires, 246
Hacking, 176-77
Half-duplex modem, 351
Handshaking, 351
Hard disk backups, 196–97 disk crashes and, 196 Kaypro 10, 34–35 storage capacity, 286–87
Head, of disk drive, 23
Health factors, computerized pacing and, 137 _See also_ Ergonomics.
Heat, VDTs and, 152
Help messages, 89, 305
Highland, Harold Joseph, 164–65
Human-machine link, _See_ Ergonomics.
IBM, keyboard problems, 145
Icons, 46
Impersonation, 174–76
Information services, 224–26
InfoStar, 323–30 commands, 328 documentation, 327 shortcomings of, 328–30
Ink jet printer, 295
Integrated software, Lotus 1-2-3, 88–91
Integrity, 199
Intelligent modems, 352
Interrupt driven, 241
Job design, 133–34
Joystick, 347–48
Justification, 299
K, 21
Kay, Andy, 14–19, 26–30, 36
Kay, David, 28–29, 31, 37
Kaypro, 6, 14–35, 37–44 advertising of, 30–31 competition to, 43–44 CP/M operating system, 22–23 CRT of, 25 disk drives, 23–24 flat-screen model, 42–43 growth of company, 16–20, 26–35 hard disk, 34–35, 40 Kaypro 16, 41–42 Kaypro 10, 34–35, 37 Kaypro II, 26–27, 40–41 keyboard, 24–25 metal case of, 25 monitor of, 24, 30–31 Osborne as competitor, 15–16 public relations campaign, 31–32 64K Random-Access Memory (RAM), 21–22 weaknesses of, 38–43 Z80-style microprocessor, 20–21
Keyboard detachable, 9, 128, 144 factors in selection of, 143–147 function keys, 147 Qwerty vs. Dvorak, 146 tactile feedback, 145
Kopischiansky, Frank, 17–18
Lap-sized portables backups, 198 data security, 197 static problems, 197–98
Laser printer, 295
Letter quality, 297
Lighting, 149–51 filters, types of, 151 glare problem, 150–51 solutions to problem of, 149–50
Light pen, 348
Line chart, 331
Liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), 160
LIST command, 82
Local area networks, 221, 234–48 a bus topology, 244–45 baseband/broadband capacities, 247 considerations in choice of, 237–39 ease of use, 240–41 Ethernet, 236 file locking, 242 installation factors, 243 interrupt driven, 241 multi-user-system micro, 235 protocol, 243 queuing, 241 a ring topology, 245–46 shielded wire, 246–47 speed and, 239–40 a star topology, 245 telephone style, 246 twisted pair network, 246–47 user-privilege levels, 242 WEB network, 234, 236–37, 240–41
Logical field, 82
Logic bomb, 171
Lotus 1-2-3, 88–91 graphics, 90 printing options, 90–91
Lux, 150
MacInker, 298
Macintosh, 21 graphics, 93–96 mouse, 93
Macro language, 90
Mahoney, Jim, 116, 120
Maintenance contracts for, 289–90 MTBF figures, 289–90
Mass storage, 286
“Mature” software, 302
McDonald, Bill, 18–19, 25–26
MCI Mail, 225 _See also_ Electronic mail.
Memory, random-access memory (64K), 21–22
Menu, 304–305 definition of, 48
Menu-driven software, 71
MEX, 356
Meyer, Eric, 249–55, 261, 269–70
Microprism Model 480, 294–95, 297
Microprocessor, 20 Z80, 20–21
MicroPro International, 50, 54, 56–62, 309
Modem, 300, 349–65 acoustically coupled, 349 automatic dialing, 351–52 bits, 350 capture ability, 351 communication with Sri Lanka, 249–70 direct-connect, 349–50 full duplex modem, 351 protocols, 351 synchronous/asynchronous communications, 353
MODEM7, 354–65 instructions for use of, 358–65 summary of commands, 364–65
Modular plugs, 349
Monochrome screen, 143
Mouse, 9, 93, 345–46
MS-DOS, 23, 285
MTFB figures, 289
Multiplan, 83–85
Multi-user-system micro, 235
Munytels, 5, 216–17, 219
Natural order of recalculation, 90
Near-letter quality, 297
NEC, 44
Networks, 221
NewWord, 43–44, 59
Node, 239
Noise, reduction, from printers, 151–52
Non-Linear Systems, 15–18, 26, 28, 32
Null modem, 198
Numeric field, 81
Omninet, 244
Operating systems choice in computer buying, 285–86 CP/M, 22–23 MS-DOS, 23 UNIX, 285–86
Optical character reader, 138
OR, 82
Osborne, Adam, 14–15, 32, 36–37
Osborne Computers Kaypro competition, 34–35 problems of, 6, 32–33
Overhead, 327
Overlapping, windows, 344
Overwriting, 191–92
Packet switching, 225
Paperback Software International, 36
Parallel port, 300
Participating monitoring, 137
Passwords, 188–89
Patch, 308
PC-TALK III, 356
Perfect Filer, 324–27
Perfect Writer, 310–18 improvements in, 312–15 Perfect Thesaurus, 317 pop-up commands menu, 312 weaknesses of, 312, 316–318
Pie chart, 334
Pivot, 43
Plasma panel, 161
Point-of-sales system, 75
Port, 300
Pregnancy, VDTs and, 152–53, 154
Printers, 294–301 bidirectional, 296 buffer, 300 compatibility with computer, 300 cost, 298 daisy wheel, 295 ink jet printer, 295 laser, 295 noise level, 299 noise reduction, 151–52 ports, 300 printer quality, 297 repair record, 298 ribbons, 298 special features, 299 thermal-transfer printer, 295 unidirectional, 296 volume, 298
Programmers, 125–26
Project Evaluation Review Techniques (PERT) software, 98–99
Proportional spacing, 299
Protocols local area networks, 243 modems, 351
Psychological factors, computers and, 157–58
Public key encryption system, 189
Queuing, 241
Quietwriter, 301
Qwerty keyboard, 146
Radiation, 154–56 extremely low-frequency radiation, 155 VDTs and pregnancy, 152–54 very low-frequency radiation, 155
Ragged right margins, 299
RAM-based word processor, 305
Random-Access Memory (RAM) 64K, 21–22
Read-Only Memory (ROM), 21
Real-time systems, 49
Records, data base, 81
Reverse video, 143
RGB monitor, 143
Ribbons, for printers, 298
A ring, network lay-out, 245–46
Robie, 40
Rubinstein, Seymour, 7, 45, 48–59, 63
Scavenging, 172
Scratch disk, 195
Screen color of, 141, 143 electroluminescent screens, 161 electropheretic screens, 161 factors in selection of, 140–43 flat screens, 160 plasma panel, 161 reverse video, 143
Scroll, definition of, 47
Search and replace, definition of, 48
Seequa Computer Corporation, 15
Select, 7, 65–72 training time, 67 versus WordStar, 67–68
Serial, port, 300
Simulation, 171–72
Software accounting, 73–78 buying of, 319–22 command-driven, 71–72 copying of, rationale for, 59–60 graphics, 331–38 integrated software, 88 mail-order buying of, 320–21 menu-driven, 71–72 spreadsheet programs, 83–85 windows, 344-45 word processors, 45–59, 65–72
Sorting, 82 sort keys, 326
Speech recognition, 262
Spellbinder, 69
Spelling checkers, 263
Split screens, 46
Spreadsheet programs Multiplan, 83–85 origins of, 83 requirements of, 89–90 VisiCalc, 83–84, 87
A star, network lay-out, 245
Start bits, 350–$2
Stop bits, 350–$2
Storage, hard disk, 286–87
Structure, data base, 81–$2
Synchronous communications, 353–$2
Tactile feedback, 145–$2
TAP, 175–77
Telecommuting, 4–$2, 200–227 clerical workers and, 209–210 considerations in, 203–206 data base information services, 224–26 data base requirements, 221–$2 economic benefits of, 219–$2 electronic bulletin boards, 223–$2 energy implications, 219–20 munytels, 216–17 networks, 221–$2 packet switching, 225–$2 psychological factors, 220–21 suburban versus downtown offices, 214–16
Telephone style network, 246–$2
Terminal mode, 357–58
Terminals, 287–$2
Thermal-transfer printer, 295–$2
Tile, windows, 344–$2
Token passing, 245–46
Touch-sensitive screen, 347–$2
Trackball, 348–$2
Tractor feed, 294–$2
Training, 115–24 aspects in choice of programs, 115–16, 118–20 case examples, 116–22 self-instruction, 124–$2
Trapdoor/backdoor crime, 170–71
Trojan horse tricks, 167–68
Twin disk drives, 23–24
Twisted pair network, 246–$2
Unidirectional printers, 296–$2
UNIX, 235–$2 operating system of, 285–86
Used computers, buying guidelines, 292–93
User-privilege levels, 242–$2
VDTs cataracts and, 156–$2 radiation and, 154–56
Ventilation, computers and, 152–$2
Vertical bar charts, 333–$2
Very low-frequency (VLF) radiation, 155–$2
Victor 9000, 271–76
VisiCalc, 83–84, 87–88
Voice grade lines, 350
Wangnet, 235–36, 239, 246–47
Ward Christensen Protocol, 351, 359
WEB network, 234, 236–37, 240–41
What-if tables, 89
Windows, 62–63, 343–45 buying guidelines, 344–45
Wiretapping, 173
Word length, modem, 350
Word processing operations, job design, 137–35
Word processor dedicated versus micro, 52 Perfect Writer, 310–18 Select, 65–72 Spellbinder, 69 terms used, 47–48 WordStar, 7, 44, 45–59, 285, 302–309
WordStar, 7, 44–59, 285, 302–309 accessory programs, 308–309 anti-botch-up-features, 306–307 creation of, 53–54 customization of, 308 damage limitation, 307 documentation, 304 ease of use, 302–304 error messages, 308 “Help” levels, 305 manufacturer support, 309 maturity of, 302 power of, 305–306 search-and-replace feature, 306 speed of, 305 strengths of, 46–47 training time, 67 word processing terms, 47–48 WordStar 2000, 60–62, 303, 310–11
Word wrap, 46
Work station, 239
XMODEM Protocol, 351, 359
XON/XOFF, 351
Yank-back feature, 307
Z80 microprocessor, Kaypro, 20–21
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Cover printed in USA
Footnotes
Transcriber’s Note
Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. Where the intent of the author is ambiguous, a suggested re-reading is provided here, and the text itself is merely annotated. The references are to the page and line in the original. Entries with three numbers refer to the page, the footnote (as resequenced), and the line within the footnote. The following issues should be noted, along with the resolutions.
ii.3 Published in the Uni[t]ed States Added,
12.24 Two San Francis[c]o-area authors, Added.
24.8 [“]The “B” drive is my =data disk= Removed.
24.24 floppy disk[s] drives Removed.
30.35 the very same writer who had le[a]d the Removed. cheering
31.2 was no match for some more expensive Removed. machines[’].
50.20 wanted to do.[”] Added.
50.21 and others unfamiliar with computer arcan[i]a. Removed.
52.13 Then again, your boss may ba[l/w]l you out Replaced.
52.27 m[e/o]re programmers are writing Replaced.
53.44 WordStar as a programming aid[e] to write Removed. WordStar.
56.31 to have a manual.[”] Added.
70.42 [“]The user needs to know Added.
71.25.1 account of Sele[k/c]t’s capital shortage Replaced.
88.31 have to go through unwield[l]y computer Removed. rigamarole
89.33 Symphony, for instance[,] lets you flush out Added. formulas
90.12 and it did [“]all the basic search and sorting Removed.
94.1 Turn onto Cary Avenue. Follow [M/C]ary Replaced.
101.39 the data base grew too unwield[l]y Removed.
104.9 was as badly botched as its hardware[.] Added.
117.8 said Bill Scrivo[,] an ex-managing editor. Added.
120.24 have microprocessors in them.[”] Added.
136.36 How much more can they push them[./?] Replaced.
138.20 and the same breaks [e]very hour for workers Added.
148.40 Angle between upper and low[er] arms: Added.
150.8 particularly effective on a num[b]er of Added. newspapers.
161.22 A second failing of electroluminescent Added. screen[s]
166.16 mainframes are sending electronic copies to [a Removed. ]micros
170.13 why not zap [a]way the barriers Added.
176.4 but it helps.[”] Added.
177.12 Steve Wozniak, the Apple cofounde[e]r Removed.
188.20 Your dial-up computer [should] send its name _sic_: until should not
194.38 You can’t afford to have your material stored _sic_ just [in on] your chip.
204.60.2 “Rising Trend of Computer Age: Employees Who Added. Work at Home;[”] _New York Times_
206.36 articles sent over the phone lines[?/.] Replaced.
210.16 the regular workers cost a[t] least $50.52 a Added. day
215.1 A COMPARIS[I]ON OF OFFICE EXPENSES PER WORKER Removed.
217.25 establish munytels in poorer neighbor[hood]s>. Added.
220.72.1 Nilles’s[;] three-quarters of a billion Removed.
222.6 a vivid contrast to be[ ]suited, tied scientists
222.38 The Source and a rival network, CompuServe[,] Added. each boast
223.12 “You may even want to type ‘Chuckle,’[”] Trudy Added. says,
225.32 packet-switching techniques[,] can also Removed. increase
233.25 electronic mail can go from [person] to _sic_: one another person
241.10 instead of saying you[r] wanted to reach Removed.
245.31 the computers don’t[’] mind being “it” Removed.
253.9 “Hey, don’t worry[,/.] You’ll learn it much Replaced. faster than I did,”
257.15 to work together via[ by] computer Redundant.
266.92.1 Clarke[’s] conjecture about Added.
267.95.8 with horrid results, e.g., underlin[in]g to Added. the end of the manuscript!!
272.9 from an AC ex[t]ension cord. Added.
283.2 Are you pre[p]ared to do your homework? Added.
259.24 I hoped that benefic[i]ent HALs Removed.
267.22 _that_ will be in an attaché case.[’]” Removed.
290.27 will pro[b]ably quit then Added.
292.29 are damaged by [a sloppy drive in machine] _sic_: a floppy drive in the machine (?)
295.19 so thermal printers were also out of the Added. run[n]ing for me.
347.5 the mouse-equipped Macintosh for “na[i/ï]ve Replaced. users.”
348.6 is found most often in arcade-style [styles]. _sic_
350.20 transmitted information at 300 baud[s] Removed.
353.14 An issue more basic than control characters Replaced. i[n/s] whether
353.19 You can send at 4,800 baud[s] Removed.
379.1 Perfect Fil[l]er, 324-27 Added.