jib@prism.TMC.COM (10/06/89)
Another significant Apple II (GS) program has been discontinued by its
publisher. Softview, Inc. publishes MacInTax (for the Mac, of course) and
TaxView (similar program for IBM and IIGS) tax preparation software. It
uses the standard desktop interface, shows reasonable facsimilies of the
act IRS forms and produces IRS-acceptable output (on an Imagewriter II or
Laserwriter) that looks just like the actual forms.
TaxView was intended for personal preparers (rather than accountants) and
is easy to use. If you want to see the official IRS instruction for any
line of any form -- just double click on the line. You can itemized any
amount you are entering by double-clicking the box on the form.
TaxView has been published for the last 2 years for the GS. It had a few
bugs and was somewhat slow (especially printing), but it got faster under
system disk 4.0 last year and could have been about as fast as MacInTax
this year with system disk 5.0 and available TWGS.
Softview has decided not to do a IIGS version this year because of low
sales in preceding years. I think the low sales are mostly due to lack of
advertising the IIGS version, and the fact that it was finished fairly
late in the tax season (because they finished the Mac & IBM versions
before the GS version). It listed for about $120, although programs plus
sold it for about $75. I certainly felt that I got my money's worth
(annual updates from Softview were even cheaper).
I'm writing this in the hope that Softview may be pursuaded to produce the
GS version for another year if enough people (especially people who did
not know of the product last year) tell them they are interested in buying
it this year.
Softview can be reached at:
SoftView, Inc.
4820 Adohr Lane,
Suite F
Camarillo, CA 93010
Phone: (800) 622-6829 or (805) 388-2626
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Disclaimer: The opinions in this note are my personal opinion and do not
reflect those of my employer.
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Jim Block jib@prism.TMC.COM
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