The biggest software news of 1986 took place in 1985 or will take place in 1987, depending on how one looks at it. The year was auspicious only in its absences–there were no Lotus 1-2-3s released, no WordStars, no VisiCalcs to take the microcomputer world by storm.
The biggest news in the software world for 1986, in fact, was PageMaker, Aldus Corp.`s desktop publishing program. It was introduced for the Apple Macintosh in 1985 and scheduled for introduction on the IBM PC and compatibles in 1987. PageMaker galvanized a soft software market with visions of perfectly designed pages, printed on one of the new low-cost laser printers that is practically de riguer on any executive`s desk these days.
Desktop publishing–using micros and laser printers to create ”near-typeset”-quality documents–swept through the software industry last year like prairie fire, until all the major players had released, or at least announced, a product for that field. Word processors, such as Lotus Development Corp.`s new Manuscript and Microsoft Corp.`s Word, are offering more and more desktop publishing features, such as the limited ability to mix text and graphics.
The page design programs, though, are where the action is.
In the Macintosh environment, PageMaker is the acknowledged leader in the field. Extremely well-designed and easy-to-use, it is one of those rare programs that seem more like play than work, causing more than one graphic artist to ruefully note huge chunks of (non-billable) time spent doodling with it.
On the other side of the operating environment fence, the race is between International Business Machines Corp.`s version of PageMaker and Xerox Corp.`s Ventura Publisher, a publishing package that one-ups the unreleased version of PageMaker by running on a plain vanilla personal computer instead of the more- powerful PC AT. The major push has been to expand desktop publishing into the already-established PC market, taking advantage of the computer most likely to be found in business.
Dataquest Inc., a San Jose, Calif.-based market research and consulting firm, projects that IBM desktop publishing applications will outstrip the Mac by the end of this year. Ventura and PageMaker have been joined by Harvard Professional Publisher, PFS:ClickArt Personal Publisher, FrontPage and a slew of similar programs in all price ranges.
Actually, the desktop publishing gold rush points out a series of trends at work within the software industry. The first, and perhaps the most-important for users, is that even complex programs are getting easier to use. ”The biggest progress we`ve seen to date,” said Bill Machrone, editor of PC Magazine and a longtime observer of the personal-computing scene, ”is in user interfaces. Software developers are putting a lot more thought and effort into what users need.”
”User interface” is computer talk for what users see when they turn on the computer.
In the dark days of a couple of years back, it wasn`t unusual to face a screen blank but for a single period (dBaseII) or the IBM operating system`s cryptic A(GT) (usually referred to as ”A prompt”). Each new program presented a new and, at times, nightmarish challenge of new commands to learn and operations to fathom before the hapless user could make the machine function as something other than a high-tech bookend.
The Apple Macintosh changed that. The Mac user interface, which uses icons, pull-down menus and a mouse, is extremely easy to use; more
importantly, it`s easy to learn to use, an important factor in a business environment. Because the Mac`s graphic interface was consistent from program to program, users weren`t constantly forced to learn new tricks: If you learned to use one, you had the idea of how to use all.
In recent months, more and more IBM programs have begun adopting a Mac-like interface. This is most noticeable in desktop publishing.
Even where software developers have chosen not to use the Macintosh graphic representation of a desktop, they`ve turned from bizarre command syntax to a semblance of English. Ashton-Tate`s benchmark database program, dBaseII, has grown into dBaseIII Plus, when features pop-down menus and a very-civilized structure–people interested in using dBase no longer have to go to a monastery to learn the secrets of the masters.
Other new database programs such as Q&A and Paradox have English language interfaces that allow both new and experienced users access to tremendously powerful features previously available only by programming.
Even the venerable Lotus 1-2-3, the most successful microcomputer program written, has added HAL, a ”natural language” interface that allows users to request what they want in English.
One of the other trends is most visible in the word-processing arena, where the move has been to what one critic dubbed ”disposable” software.
There has always been cheap software around, especially public domain software available on bulletin boards or ”shareware,” an interesting concept where you first obtain the software, then, if you like it, you pay the developer. This odd system has produced one classic, PC-Talk, a communications package now in its fourth incarnation, and an excellent word processor (PC-Write) and database (PC-File).
Now, though, software merchandisers are actively working the low end. Led by such companies as Paperback Software (headed by the unsinkable Adam Osborne, creator of the first portable computer, the Osborne) and Software Publishing Corp. (creators of the venerable PFS series), it is now possible to get a full-featured word processor, spreadsheet or database for under $100.
In some cases, the cheaper program is a ”clone” of a more-famous and more-expensive program. Some of the clones have made an impressive name for themselves. Alpha Software`s Alpha/Three, similar to dBaseIII, adds menu features that even dBaseIII Plus doesn`t have. There are clones for Lotus, dBase and WordStar, to name a few. Others are new products. One word processor, Textra, weighs in at a just-short-of astounding $19.95 for a full- featured word processor.
The questions of clones may still be up in the ether. Lotus recently filed copyright infringement suits against two 1-2-3 clone-makers, Paperback Software and Mosaic Software. Earlier this month, however, the U.S. Copyright Office rejected Lotus` application to copyright the ”look and feel” of Lotus 1-2-3, because the copyright office contended the 1-2-3 screens weren`t unique, since they were composed mostly of text.
The situation is likely to get stickier with the introduction of software with ”cameleon” user interfaces. Some upcoming programs, such as Borland International`s announced $99.95 word processor Sprint, come with a number of user interfaces, including WordStar, PFS:Write and Microsoft Word.
In other words, you can get the software you want without having to give up the interface you`re most comfortable with. Look for this to be an increasingly popular solution for software developers who feel their products have real merit, but don`t want to try and wean busy executives away from commands they`re used to.
A second trend is what might be loosely called ”productivity aids.”
The first of these was Sidekick, from Borland International. Sidekick is a desktop utility. It provides on the computer all the amenities of an average desktop–a calculator, a notepad, a calendar and the like–sans clutter. Because the program stayed in the computer`s memory, it could be accessed while running another program. Sidekick worked amazingly like people worked.
Its overwhelming success triggered a flood of other memory-resident programs, including spell-checkers, thesauruses, programs to control printers, even specialized programs like North Edge`s Timeslips, a program designed to keep tabs on time for people and companies who base their billings on hours.
For writers, productivity tools such as Grammatik II, from Reference Software, and Rightwriter, from Decisionware, analyze grammar and writing style, going beyond the spell-checker and thesaurus; power users of spreadsheets have What`s Best, a program that, true to its name, goes beyond a spreadsheet`s ability to answer ”what if.”
A look in the crystal ball reveals that the next software wars will be fought over operating systems, the programs that, essentially, tell the computer how to operate.
In 1986, the PC-AT (and clones), based on the faster 80286 microchip, replaced the older PC-XT, based on the 8088 chip, as the machine of choice for American business. Operating systems tend to be designed around specific hardware, and Microsoft`s DOS, one of the leaders, was designed around the 8088. But before Microsoft could write a new system for the 80286, Compaq Computer Corp. released a machine built on the 80386 chip.
So the race is on to produce an operating system to take advantage of the 386`s expanded power. Both the 286 and 386 chips hold out the promise of true multitasking–working one, two or more programs simultaneously–something that`s possible, but unwieldy, with today`s software.
Since the issue of operating systems is far from settled, and since the powers of the operating system are crucial to whatever new programs are developed, new super-applications, maybe the next Lotus 1-2-3, will be in the wings for a while, waiting for the dust to settle.
In the meantime, smaller companies will continue to fill in the software blanks, wherever they can find them.
