timothym@tekigm2.UUCP (Timothy D Margeson) (06/06/86)
Hi net.landians,
What follows is a short review, rather discussion of my impressions of the
program Framework II, from Ashton-Tate. I have no affiliations with Ashton-
Tate, or any firms representing or selling their products. This is in reply
to a query that was posted.
------------------------------- - - - - - - ------------------------------------
Ashton-Tate Framework II
Integrated Computer Software
For anyone needing a good wordprocessor or spreadsheet, and want to get
the most value for dollar spent, I would recommend that you definitly
buy Ashton-Tates FRAMEWORK II package. You'll have all the software you
will ever need as far as work goes. It contains a good wordprocessor, a
great spreadsheet, and a fair database. It also throughs in a good tele-
comm program.
All of the above work inimately with each other to make your life easier.
You can have a spreadsheet showing, copy data from a wordframe also on
screen directly into the spreadsheet. Or move data captured while using
the telecomm directly into a spreadsheet.
Best of all, the same command set is used throughout FRAMEWORK ! So you
won't be groping for the right command all the time.
I do computer support on the side, and of all of the people I have intro-
duced Framework to, none has been sorry of their investment ($368). Most
wish that they had it to work with over Lotus, Symphony or Multimate.
The wordprocessor is not quite as powerfull as say MS Word, but comes real
close. It has a full (80,000 word) dictionary, will do full justification,
all sorts of headers and footers, bold, underline, and italics attributes
for words, letters, or entire documents (you highlight what you want to be
affected by pressing one key, then moving the cursor).
The spreadsheet has all of the capabilities of Lotus 123, and then some.
The only limitation that Framework has that I know of is that the maximun
spreadsheet size is > 32,000 cells, or 32000 by 2000 or some ungodly high
number of cells in any case (typical spreadsheets that I use are 14 by 55,
and for customers the largest I've used is 115 by 300. You can even spell
check things you've typed into a spreadsheet. Only Framework lets you do
that!
That database is not as good as dBase II or dBase III, but does quite a lot
for you, if you take the time to learn Fred ( a Pascal like language that
is included with Framework, that allows full access to all Framework func-
tions). Fred formluas can be included into any frame or cell, and can do
an amazing amount of work. An example? How about stripping all of the hard
<CR>'s out of a text file so that you can do soft formatting. And easy but
time consuming job if done by hand, but can be done with Fred. It's not
as fast as a compiled job, but it does work. And all without leaving the
Framework environment.
The telecommunications is good as well. Not as convienent to use as say
Crosstalk, but does all the same functions, at a much lower cost. Frame-
work does allow Crosstalk protocal transfers, as well as Xmodem and a few
other protocals. There is VT100 emulation (better than Crosstalks I might
add), and again, things captured in a telecomm frame can be directly moved
into a wordframe or spreadsheet. And, you can have a telecomm frame open,
move into a wordframe or spreadsheet, take data from there, and send it to
the remote site. An awfully powerful tool.
In all, Framework will be the only large package you'll ever need to buy! I
bought Framework when I got my computer two years ago, and in three weeks of
serious work, finished a 108 page service manual for a test system I had just
designed. That was Framework I, which didn't have all the neat features of
Framework II. That was my first experience with Framework and DOS. Framework
made it unnecessary for me to learn DOS at first, and let me get on with my
important work. I latter became more familiar with DOS, got Turbo Pascal, a
C compiler, and the MS MASM 4.0 to do programming. I also have Crosstalk XVI
because my job bought it for me, and I use it to do Kermit protocal transfers
from work to home, and home to work (actually to a GOULD running UNIX 4.2).
Again, you can buy Framework II for as little as $350 dollars at most of the
discount outfits.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, if you aren't convinced that you need Framework, get someone who is
familiar with it to give you a demo. That should sell you in a minute or two.
P.S. I do not have any affiliation with Ashton-Tate, just a satisfied user
of Framework II, and like pushing GOOD products when I see them. I neither
sell nor am affiliated with anyone selling Ashton-Tate products. If you want
to buy their products don't come to me!
Bye....
Framework, Framework II, dBase, dBase II, and dBase III are copyrights of
Ashton-Tate, Inc. Crosstalk, and Crosstalk XVI are copyrights of Microstuff,
Inc. Symphony, Lotus, and Lotus 123 are copyrights of Lotus Development, Inc.
MS Word, MS MASM, and MS-DOS are copyrights of MicroSoft, Inc. Turbo Pascal
is a copyright of Borland, Int. MultiMate is a copyright of MultiMate, Inc.
If I forgot anyone, is is my mistake, and not the responsibility of my big
employer, Tektronix, Inc. Tek does not know what I am saying (nor do I most
of the time for that matter), nor do I represent their opinions.
--
Tim Margeson (206)253-5240
tektronix!tekigm2!timothym @@ 'Who said that?'
PO Box 3500 d/s C1-937
Vancouver, WA. 98668clif@intelca.UUCP (Clif Purkiser) (06/10/86)
> Hi net.landians, > > What follows is a short review, rather discussion of my impressions of the > program Framework II, from Ashton-Tate. I have no affiliations with Ashton- > Tate, or any firms representing or selling their products. This is in reply > to a query that was posted. > > ------------------------------- - - - - - - ------------------------------------ > > Ashton-Tate Framework II > Integrated Computer Software > > > For anyone needing a good wordprocessor or spreadsheet, and want to get > the most value for dollar spent, I would recommend that you definitly > buy Ashton-Tates FRAMEWORK II package. You'll have all the software you > will ever need as far as work goes. It contains a good wordprocessor, a > great spreadsheet, and a fair database. It also throughs in a good tele- > comm program. > Tim Margeson (206)253-5240 > tektronix!tekigm2!timothym @@ 'Who said that?' > PO Box 3500 d/s C1-937 > Vancouver, WA. 98668 Another vote for Framework II. Tim's review is quite good, I only have a few areas of disagreement. I don't think the spreadsheet is not as good as Lotus 1-2-3. It is slower, (around 1/2 speed for some of my benchmarks) and it is not as easy to move around in it (the cursor keys don't terminate a cell entry). Tim didn't emphasis two of the best points of Framework II. First it uses a Mac like command structure. Namely, you select an object and perform a action on it. (In human-interface lingo it is object-verb oriented) I have always found this type of interface very intuitive and easy to use. Framework II, as Tim menitioned, very consistent changing the column width for a spreadsheet and a database are done the same way: (select the columns and then SIZE them) In addition Framework II reads and WRITES Lotus, Wordstar, DBASE, and Multimate files. Secondly, Framework II has a wonderful outliner. Each Frame is either a containing Frame, which organizes other frames, or it contains a spreadsheet, database, graph, or text. A collection of these frames can be viewed as an outline. This makes it trival to integrate spreadsheets, graphs, and words into one document. The outline also lets you generate a table of contents with one key stroke! I find that the outliner really helps my writing organization. It makes it very easy to generate and modify outlines and helps you stick to your outline. So when people say, "but I don't like the way this is organized , I can say hey you approved my outline." I think Framework II is one of the few general purpose IBM PC software packages which is superior to the comparable Macintosh application. Framework II is almost good enough to cause me to trade my Mac in for IBM. -- Clif Purkiser, Intel, Santa Clara, Ca. {pur-ee,hplabs,amd,scgvaxd,dual,idi,omsvax}!intelca!clif {Stamp Out Stupid Signatures}
garyf@mc0.UUCP (gary friedman) (06/18/86)
Now that Framework has had its justified praise, I thought I'd throw
in my 2 cents as to some of the more serious bugs I found in FWII.
The telecommunications functions (which I find *easier* to use than
XTALK (it all depends on what you're used to)) don't always allow you
to exit via cntr-BREAK keystrokes. Also, if any of the Terminal Emulation
modes is in use, your Telcomm frame will only contain 1 or 2 lines of
your session.
The word processing and outline features are so fast and so well imple-
mented its disgusting. The commands are either pull-down-menu-driven
for beginners or super-effieient control commands (a la WordStar) for
experts. The Wordstar Import/Export utilities, however, are so bug
riddin as to make them almost unusable. Boldface, Italics, and under-
lining don't always start and stop when instructed. Justified paragraphs
sometimes have lines with leading spaces, pushing the right edge out
of alignment. Centered text isn't. I have complained about this to
Ashton Tate's normally superb customer support and they have been dragging
their feet. (Not that I like WS, but one must interface with the outside
world!)
Despite these (temporary?) drawbacks, I agree wholeheartedly with previous
praise for this package. It is a fast and powerful tool, and must have
been a real pain to write!
--
Gary Friedman
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
UUCP: {sdcrdcf,ihnp4,bellcore}!psivax!mc0!garyf
ARPA: ...mc0!garyf@cit-vax.ARPA