joeba@mindcraft.com (Joe Barello) (03/06/91)
>from: joeba@mindcraft.com (Joe Barello)
BANG Meeting Summary
20-Feb-91
Dick Benster, La Honda Software
BANG director Rick Reynolds began our meeting at 7pm with an agenda that
featured an in depth look at Improv, and introduction to the new NeXT distributor
Computer Attic, and a look at HSD's new color scanner. A good turnout of
approximately 60 people enjoyed the evenings proceedings.
After a brief question and answer session (a great reason to join BANG is that
you usually get your questions answered on the spot!) , NeXT employee Dave
Grady, who is involved with third-party software, presented a more detailed demo
of the new Lotus spreadsheet for the NeXT, Improv.
Improv leads the Charge into the Brave New World of Spreadsheets
Dave began by contrasting approaching a problem with a traditional spreadsheet
(s/s) versus Improv. With the traditional s/s both the formula and data belong to
cells - an example would be setting one cell to the sum of a group of other cells.
Since you specify the actual geographic relationships of all the cells, it
immediately becomes inflexible. If you want to physically relayout your s/s, all
your formulas must be redone to reflect the new spatial relationships.
Improv, in contrast, allows relationships to be expressed algebraically with
english formulas.
While simple in concept, this is a huge improvement. Not only is it more flexible
when you wish to revise your s/s, it is also facilitates working with a particular s/s
over time. Who knows what
"A3 = A2 - A1"
means four weeks after setup on a traditional s/s. The formulas and cell
relationships are not directly evident, and the s/s must be queried before it can be
understood by even the person who programmed it. With Improv
profit = sales - cost
is very clear. No steps backward to investigate are required to continue
development weeks later.
A very important aspect of Improv is its ability to handle "categories." An
example of the use of categories power can be found in simple financial planning,
where you could create three categories: plan, actual, and variance. As the
names imply, the plan category would be your forecast s/s, the actual would be
the true data, and the variance would be the difference. By first setting up a
single spreadsheet, and then creating the three categories, the simple formula of
variance = plan - actual
would compute the entire variance category with no other formulas needed (as
always you have to enter the data for the plan and actual cells). Older s/s would
require tedious cell-by-cell formulas.
Another useful feature of Improv is the explicit way it resolves equation conflicts.
Often times, a "row" formula and a "column" formula may intersect - old s/s would
simply have the most currently defined formula for that cell take precedence. In
Improv, all such conflicts are graphically flagged, and the user explicitly chooses
the desired formula. This avoids a very nasty class of errors where you're not
computing what you think you expect.
The categories concept was implemented in a way that grants the user great
flexibility in viewing the data. For instance, you may wish to change the axis for
a category that currently is organized to display in the X-axis. Rather than
redoing the whole s/s, you just drag it graphically to the Y-axis and you get a
whole new view of your data with no programming! You can have up to 4
categories per axis, for a total of 12 categories maximum.
Another nice ability of Improv is to collapse groups for summary purposes. You
may take a detailed break-down of expenses (simply organized as a group), and
with no programming, merely request Improv to collapse that group into its
summary totals just with a mouse click.
Dave went through many other capabilities of the spreadsheet beyond the scope
of this review, including the use of different views, worksheets, and models.
Briefly, models can contain multiple worksheets and views. You can link
worksheets within a model, but not across models. The whole point of Improv is
to allow a capturing of many views of a world with your s/s, giving maximum
flexibility as to how you view this data without requiring constant reprogramming.
In the limitations world, Improv does support Lotus 1,2,3 data, but Improv has no
macro capability (but note that many things that macros are used for are
supported by Improv directly), nor an undo command. A macro capability is
anticipated in fall '91.
In retrospect, it is interesting to ask why Lotus put Improv on the NeXT.
According to Dave, a major reason was simply that they COULD! The
combination of virtual memory, an OOP language (Objective C), and a quality
interface builder (IB) made the NeXT machine the best choice, and possibly the
only reasonable choice at the time. Interestingly, Improv had been started on
another platform, but the project was running into great difficulties before being
moved to NeXT machines.
Please note that Improv started shipping 4-Feb-91 (DB: NeXT says freebee
deliveries to recent machine purchasers should show up by end-March).
Computer Attic Begins Serving the Bay Area NeXT Community
Our next guests were from Computer Attic, which is now an official "Reseller
Partner" with NeXT. John Sykes (Business Development Manager), Michael
Dittmar (sales technical support) and Tom Crawford (sales technical support?) all
stated a great degree of enthusiasm for the NeXT systems from both a technical
and sales perspective. John pointed out that many of the Computer Attic
employees are "gear heads" and are personally committed to bringing the
machine successfully to the local market. He also stated that the move is a risky
one for Computer Attic, something that will sink or swim in the coming 12 - 18
months. John characterized the PC as "boring by 1984," the Mac as "important
but incremental," and the NeXT machines as "a quantum leap" in capabilities.
Computer Attic looks forward to serving the NeXT community with three stores -
one in Palo Alto, in Fremont, and in Cupertino.
HSD Demonstrates New Color Scanner
Dave Peter, President of HSD, demonstrated his company's new scanner, the
Scan X Color Professional . This is a three pass scanner that is very quiet. It
dithers, does gray-scale, and color at up to 300dpi, and up to 1400dpi for b/w line
art. BANG Directors Rick Reynolds and Joe Barello had set up for the
demonstration, which was well received. The quality appeared excellent.
although the NeXT color resolution of 92dpi could not confirm the quality of the
300dpi mode.
Dave confirmed that the three-pass model does not suffer from registration
problems, as has been rumored in general about three-pass scanners. (DB: A
comment offered with no warranties - One member of BANG, who had evaluated
the unit, claimed to be very satisfied with its performance and functionality).
HSD has announced the following prices for the color scanner, and its
companion black/white model:
Scan X Professional Color
$2,995. (educational price: $2,195.)
Scan X Professional (B/W)
$2,195. (educational price: $1,495.)
Another discount schedule is available to developers. Please contact HSD for
more information at 415-964-1400 / 415-964-1538(Fax).
NeXTWORLD Editor Michael Miley to Speak at Next Meeting
Please come to BANG's next meeting starting at
7pm on Wednesday 20-Feb-91
at our usual meeting place: Termin auditorium, Stanford University (note that
meetings are held the third Wednesday of every month. Make sure you allow
some time to find parking and get seated - meetings begin promptly. Our lead
speaker will be Michael Miley, Editor-in-Chief of NeXTWORLD magazine.
Among his topics will be new paradigms for computers and and computer
magazines.
Roundup for all Developers and Programmers
Also, for those of you interested in programming on the NeXT machine, don't
forget BANG's SIG for NeXT developers. Ken Fromm ably runs this group
(<ken@dartagnan.portal.com>), which has had excellent NeXT technical
speakers. Future meetings are on
Tuesday 26-Mar-91 at BMUG in Berkeley; and
Tuesday 23-Apr-91 at Termin auditorium at Stanford
(4th Tuesday of every month, 7pm starting time)
Meetings are currently alternating from East Bay to West Bay, but a permanent
site may be chosen in the future.
Be a Pal and Lend a Hand
Please remember that BANG and its related developers SIG are both volunteer
groups, and thus far a small group of people (Robert Nielson, Joe Barello, Rick
Reynolds, Ken Fromm, Eric Ly - forgive me for others I've left out) have done
most the work. We need more volunteers! Please inquire at the next BANG or
developers SIG if you'd like to help out. We need help in absolutely every
conceivable area, including planning agendas and speakers, meeting
setups/cleanups, newsletters , etc. Come get involved! BANG may be reached
at <bang-request@bang.org>, or a 415-327-BANG (answering machine).