paulb@cbnewsk.att.com (paul.l.bidwell) (02/26/91)
I'm interested in getting a word processor and spreadsheet for my 3000. The Home Office program (from Gold Disk), which contains several applications bundled together, looks interesting (and got a good review in AC). Does anyone have this program? or heard anything about it? It includes a word processor, spreadsheet, scaled down ProPage, weak DB processor, and a graphics package. My alternatives are to piece something together (e.g. Excellence/ProWrite, Analyze,etc.). Paul Bidwell p.l.bidwell@att.com
rich@documail.UUCP (Rich McCallister) (03/09/91)
In article <1991Feb25.215417.25572@cbnewsk.att.com>, cbnewsk.att.com!paulb (Paul Bidwell) says: > The Home Office program (from Gold Disk), which contains several applications > bundled together, looks interesting (and got a good review in AC). > Does anyone have this program? or heard anything about it? I bought Home Office about 1 month ago. My main purpose for buying it was to use the AREXX interface for the spread sheet. I'd read the Amazing Computing review, which said it was a very complete interface. I wanted to write a talking interface that would hook up to it via AREXX, so that my wife, who is blind, would be able to use the spreadsheet. I was disappointed to find that the AREXX interface was pretty much limited to setting or reading the formulas/values of the cells. Many normal spreadsheet functions, such as "insert column" or "load spreadsheet from a file", just can't be done from AREXX. Maybe I was spoiled by the excellent AREXX interface that Cygnus ED has. So, that pretty much put the kabosh on using it for my original purpose. Worse than that (much worse for the average user) was the fact that the spreadsheet, when given a formula such as "=a1+a2", would do the calculation and display the result, but would print "Unknown Function in formula" or some such nonesense when you wanted to look at or edit the formula. That made using the spreadsheet very inconvenient, to say the least. (AREXX also returned the same message in a string when it asked what the formula in such a cell was.) Calling up Gold Disk, their friendly user support guy said they knew about the problem, and had a fix for it. He took my name & address, and I received the update altho I hadn't sent in my registration card yet. (It was about 3 weeks before I got the update.) He said they hadn't heard of a bug I found: giving a negative parameter to the YEAR function (e.g., "=YEAR(-12)") makes the program hang or crash. (This bug impressed me, as it was only the second function in Calc that I tried.) I also told him I was very disappointed in the AREXX interface. 'Page', the DTP-like program, seemed difficult for me to work with compared to PageStream 2.0. I must confess that I haven't read most of the documentation for 'Page', which may explain a lot of the difficulty. It did provide a few fonts that you can use in your FONTS: directory, which was kind of interesting. 'File', the database program, seemed to be very basic; not a lot of bells and whistles. The lack of some fancy features, plus the fact that others occasionally did strange things, makes me think of the package as being hard to use, a little buggy, and surely not slick (for 1991). I had no spreadsheet (other than a talking one that I wrote for my wife), and the 'File' is better than the database stuff in AmigaVision, so I decided to keep the package. For the price, it is OK; it is not the best available, tho.
sbeagle@kennels.actrix.gen.nz (Sleeping Beagle) (03/11/91)
> In article <1991Feb25.215417.25572@cbnewsk.att.com>, cbnewsk.att.com!paulb > (Paul Bidwell) says: > > The Home Office program (from Gold Disk), which contains several applicatio > > bundled together, looks interesting (and got a good review in AC). > > Does anyone have this program? or heard anything about it? Well, I just got a copy for review and I'm not wildly impressed yet.. (This is only an intial impression.) Basically, it's just a collection of old versions of their software. Although it does work on Workbench 2.0 and isn't copy protected. There are no links between any of the applications (it's not a Symphony/Jazz package) and no help for installing it on a hard drive. Check it out carefully before you buy... -- Sleeping Beagle (aka Thomas Farmer) sbeagle@kennels.actrix.gen.nz The Kennels Ph. +64-4-796306 (voice) 25 Awarua St, Ngaio, Wellington, New Zealand. "You ain't nothin' but a Hound Dog."
rev30@track29.lonestar.org (Reverend 3.0) (03/12/91)
>> (Paul Bidwell) says: >> > The Home Office program (from Gold Disk), which contains several applicatio >> > bundled together, looks interesting (and got a good review in AC). >> > Does anyone have this program? or heard anything about it? > >There are no links between any of the applications (it's not a Symphony/Jazz >package) and no help for installing it on a hard drive. Is Home Office different from just plain Gold Disk Office? I bought Gold Disk Office a couple of months ago. It bundles: Office Write (text editor) Office Page (wysiwyg page layout) Office Calc (basic spreadsheet) Office File (basic database) Office Graph (basic chart program) I don't know if the trendy buzzword "Hot Link" applies, but the programs *do* work together very well. Hard disk installation was handled by clicking on an Installation Program icon. Nothing snazzy about this package, but the price is right. Furthermore, I can't really gripe about anything. It promises basic functionality and it delivers. It should really come in a white box with stenciled lettering that says,"Amiga Office Software." I've worked mainly with Office Page and it is pretty good for doing pamphlets and newsletters -- which is what I do, usually. If Home Office is a different package with less to offer, I'd question its value, but Gold Disk Office is pretty decent. The Right Reverend 3.0 Covert Church of "Bob", Survivalist rev30@track29.lonestar.org -->Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt. Qui annus est?<--