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If confession is good for the soul, this is Crawford's personal revival meeting. Yes, the hardcore text maven and trailing‐edge devotee has gone GUI: most of his home computing now uses a true graphical user interface. The author says that the taste of crow has passed and that the new environment works very well, albeit not without a few frustrations. This article discusses the author's move to Windows and some of the good and bad points of that interface. The author includes some tips on Windows, as seems inevitable for any article on that topic. The author also provides some additional notes related to previous columns, on clip‐art collections and the actual construction of TrueType typefaces. As usual, the article concludes with notes on the recent PC literature.

Undertakes a comparative study of the statistical capability of three spreadsheets which are commonly used in the business sector. The spreadsheets considered are Lotus 1‐2‐3, Microsoft Excel and Quattro Pro. Considers five areas of statistical analysis regularly used by business decision makers (rather than specialist personnel). In order to obtain an objective measure of the statistical provision of each spreadsheet, comparison has also been made with dedicated statistical software regularly used by business decision makers, namely MINITAB. By making this comparison, argues that the spreadsheet is not only a tool for analysis, but also for presentation. Moreover, considers that two spreadsheets in particular, namely Excel and Quattro Pro, offer a user‐friendly statistical provision which should be sufficient for most business decision makers.

There are several new or revised software products that I want to talk about in this column. I've found them to be worth the time and expense and think you might, too. The first is Ami Pro Version 2.0 which is a graphical word processor that permits you to do sophisticated desktop publishing. The second is Quattro Pro 4.0 the latest upgrade to the now venerable Quattro spreadsheet series. The third product is Stacker, a data compression utility that can more than double your hard disk storage space. Finally, there is Windows 3 Secrets which is a book with two disks of software. (As an aside, what kind of “ware” is a book—paperware?)

Upgrading, moving to a new edition of a software program, is usually a decision based on how intensely you use a program. If you use a program a lot, you will probably upgrade unless you decide to move to a competing product. If you don't use a program often, you probably shouldn't and won't upgrade unless it is a major revision of the product and that revision has features that might make you use the program more than you now do.

Most computer users need graphics once in a while, even text‐oriented people like the author. While there have always been many different tools for manipulating and creating graphics on DOS computers (and better ones for Macs), Windows has made such tools more common, less expensive, easier to use, and much more powerful. After defining some basic terms for computer‐based graphics and discussing sources of raw material for those who aren't artists, the author summarizes varieties of graphic software for Windows (and other operating systems). He then describes examples based on personal experience and evaluates two sophisticated graphics packages that libraries can obtain for modest prices. Either package will serve users well, and both packages come with substantial collections of graphic source material (clip art). Finally, the author adds notes on the PC literature for July‐September 1993.

For many years, I have been recommending Reflex (published by Borland International) as a tool for analyzing financial and statistical data. My primary reason for this recommendation has been that Reflex allowed me to cross‐tabulate data. If you want to look at the year's financial data broken down, for example, by month‐by cost center‐by line item, you are essentially dictating that you want to do a crosstab. Reflex has a built‐in “view” that allows you to construct a two dimensional table that, with data limiting capabilities, yields a surprisingly diverse and multidimensional look at your data. In fact, I installed a financial reporting system in a library back in 1987 that was based on Reflex. In 1993 the library finally changed over to a commercial reporting system (costing thousands of dollars) that replaced Reflex. Yet, the old system provided a fairly flexible reporting and analysis system.

I'm a fairly visual person in that I can grasp the meaning of something faster when I see it than when I hear it. Since pictures stay with me longer than does print, I am intrigued by the new GUI software (meaning Graphical User Interface and pronounced “gooey”), such as Windows, and its applications. GUI software for such non‐Windows applications as Lotus 1–2–3, Releases 2.3 and 3.1, and Quattro Pro Version 3 tout their WYS‐IWYG (What You See Is What You Get and pronounced “wizzy‐wig”) graphical environment. Of course, all Macintosh fans will cry “copycat” because they've been dealing with GUI for years.

Once in a while, you should take stock of your personal computing environment. What is on your system? How did it get there? What do you actually use? How did you arrive at your hardware configuration, and does it still meet your needs? You may find that you can free up some disk space in the process; at the very least, you'll understand your situation better. The author goes through this exercise both as an example of what it can show and because full disclosure is important for this series of articles. You need to know the background for the advice that appears here. The author discloses his current computing environments, how they got that way, and what that may mean. He also points out the real limits within which he operates as a PC commentator. When you go through the software on your system, you should check to see whether it represents ethical computing. The author offers a few notes on ethical issues related to software. The author also provides notes from PC literature for January‐June 1992.

While bargains abound in the personal computing field, they must be evaluated considering your needs—and it is sometimes hard to distinguish between inexpensive and merely cheap alternatives. The author discusses low‐priced software alternatives, noting how to look for bargains and a few specific examples. The PC‐related media scene continues to change, as does the slice of it reviewed for “Notes on the Media.” In the second portion of this article, the author offers some typically opinionated notes on some current publications. The author concludes with the usual roundup of comparative reviews and other notes on the PC literature for January‐March 1995. It was a big quarter for printer reviews, with few desktop computer comparisons—and life's about to get more interesting for those who prefer the Macintosh operating system: the clones are coming!