MiniOffice  Review


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   Recent articles in most Amiga magazines have tended to concentrate on the
  higher spec/more expensive machines, rather than the 500/600 base machines.
  Being overworked and definitely underpaid (like 90% of the workforce).

   I have a Bog Standard A600HD and of course not much will run under 1 meg,
  so I wish to lead the way with reviews of software that will run on these
  base platforms... Here goes.



   This review package was kindly supplied by:

   Garth Watson of VIDEO & AUDIO - Scarborough St, SOUTHPORT ( Thanks )

   Minioffice is an integrated package distributed in Aust by our old friends
  Pactronics (Hello, Ewen, John Burke) and comes originally from Europress in
  the U.K.  The program contains the following modules:

     WORDPROCESSOR
     SPREADSHEET
     DATABASE
     GRAPHICS
     DISC UTILITIES

   It comes on 4 floppies and does not have a Hard Disk Install routine,
  instead it requires you to use the disk utilities module to copy all the
  necessary files across, very good for practice but horribly time
  consuming... also the manual says to copy all files in the set window...
  doing this will include the disk.info and .info files for each module!
  Shame for 1st time users (which I believe the package is aimed at).

   In operation (At least on my machine) the program is slow to load, has the
  annoying habit of revealing the workbench screen when loading a module or
  returning to the Main Menu.

   I have had heaps of problems with the WP module, it requires you to enter
  at least 1 carriage return at the beginning of the document or else it will
  not allow the cursor to go to another line it just locks up and requires a
  reboot to start again..

   (Also with the Caps Lock on the ENTER and BACKSPACE keys are disabled...
  The manual mentions this is normal in the Database module, but makes no
  mention of the WP. Bad programming, Fellas)

   Also with the prompt for backup option selected, when the prompt appears
  (Timed Backup). I get a system crash with a error in AMOS xxxxxx etc
  suspend or reboot.

   Trouble is AMOS is not running at the time, matter of fact I havent used
  it for weeks.  Try to import graphics, sure it will if you restrict them to
  640x256, up to 16 colours, any other and it spits the dummy.





   As well, you cannot crop a graphic, only alter height which cuts the
  graphic by that much, totally unacceptable in a package costing $245.00

   The Graphics module is useful for graphs, having facilities to enter your
  own data directly and drawing from the standard types of graphs.




   Problem is this is a memory hungry exercise, 2 graphs and you run out of
  memory, this is because the graphs are displayed as full page and not
  scalable as per Maxilplan etc.

   The speadsheet has a good range of functions and works o.k.  The database
  is of the Flat File type and is adequate for home use, But I think small
  business would find it a bit restrictive.

   The disk utilities are of the SID variety, and offer most functions,
  however it is really only minimal, no file reader or editor are included,
  perhaps v2 may address this and the horrible fact that the program ignores
  my keymap selection and uses whatever, I cannot use quotes as I get this
  symbol @ , apostrophe #, What gives Guys?

   The spell checker requires you to load the dictfile into mem first, and
  strangely enough it doesnt recognise, in, Wordprocessor, Spreadsheet, etc.

   The program is slow to print to screen (WP module) I can outype the screen
  with two finger typing!!  Overall the idea of a integrated package is good,
  however the program fails to deliver and is bug ridden, at least on my
  machine, also the manual says you can use any font on your computer, I
  couldnt, topaz 8 is all the program recognises, even though I have the std
  WB 2.05 fonts & Outline fonts... interesting eh!

   Have I been too hard?  Too critical, Maybe, but I look at this program
  from a first time users perspective; who having paid $200 plus for this
  program finds it faulty, Shades of Pen Pal in its early days, hey Ewen?


   My recommendations:

   Try it on your own type of machine first, just in case the listed
  criticisms are only relevant to the A600 or my particular setup.

   Wait for the next version of the program.




   Until next time


   Shannon Nash
   7 The Locale
   NERANG.QLD.4211



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