In software as in life, small is beautiful
by Alan Zisman
(c) 1998. First
published in Computer Player, June 1998
One of our themes in this column has been how, for too
many consumers,
newer equals better equals must have. And in an industry where hardware
generations are about six months, Internet software is updated every
nine
months or so, games are updated annually, and productivity suites every
two years, trying to stay on top is expensive, too say nothing of
virtually
impossible, at least for more than a few weeks or so at a time? after
that
the bug fixes start appearing, along with the new driver versions, and
a new, faster CPU.
Clearly, Lewis Carroll was thinking of the
hundred-year-in-the-future
computer industry when his Red Queen told Alice that she would have to
run as fast as she could, just to stay in one spot?to actually get
anywhere,
she?d have to run twice as fast.
(And of course, publications like this one remain free
to the readers
due to the retailers hoping to keep us on the upgrade treadmill. And
far
be it from me to bite the hand that pays the printer?s bills).
This month, let?s take a look at software. Is newer
and bigger always
better?
If you?re getting a little tired of the Microsoft vs
Netscape browser-battle,
with the resulting versions of Internet Explorer and
Communicator/Navigator
getting more and more bloated with each release, point your browser
over
to Norway, to www.operasoftware.com.
Opera is a web browser with a difference. While it?s
packed with lots
of modern features, it?s a humble 1 meg (more or less) download. And it
includes features you won?t find in the Big Two (getting bigger all the
time). Like multiple browser windows, allowing you to read one site
while
another is downloading. Lots of user configuration options.
Because it?s about 1/10th the size of the better-known
brands, it loads
faster, and runs faster. And that makes browsing more fun. Currently,
there
are versions for 32-bit and 16-bit Windows, with the company?s Project
Magic aiming to create versions for OS/2, Linux, Mac, Amiga, and more.
Lacking the resources of Microsoft or Netscape, Opera
isn?t free? the
downloadable version works for 30-days, then shuts down. If you like
it,
pay $35 (US?or $18 for students, educational institutions, or anyone
who
can?t afford the full price) and register it.
This is not the only example of ?Small is Beautiful?
software.
If you use presentation software, for creating and
showing computer-based
?slideshows? to illustrate a talk, you probably rely on market-leader
Microsoft
PowerPoint, part of Microsoft Office (Windows or Mac). A good product.
Like the rest of the Office Suite, lots of powerful features.
I prefer, however, ASAP Word Power, a modest little
product, from Software
Publishing Corporation, (www.spco.com). Three humble floppy disks in
the
box, which between them include both Windows 95 and Win 3.1 versions of
the product. It?s a quick and dirty little presentation package, with
fewer
features than PowerPoint, but easy to learn, and easy to use. The
resulting
presentations are not bad, either, and you can print out really
good-looking
handouts. Unfortunately, the company doesn?t seem to be promoting or
selling
this fine product; instead, they?ve evolved it into something called
Active
Office ($49 US), a Microsoft Office 95/97 add-on.
While we?re on the topic of Microsoft Office (at least
sort of), I must
confess that I do use Microsoft Office. I resisted for a long time,
really
I did. In my pre-Windows days, I used a shareware word processor,
Galaxy.
And the original Borland Quattro for spreadsheets. When I moved to
Windows,
for a long time, I used Lotus (originally Samna) Ami and Ami-Pro as my
work processor, along with Microsoft Excel.
But when I moved to Windows 95, I got tired of waiting
for Lotus to
come out with a 32-bit version, and moved to Office 95. I?ve grown to
rely
on Word?s real-time spell-checking (yes, it?s available in Lotus Word
Pro
and Corel Word Perfect as well). But Office 95 is good enough for me?so
far, I haven?t found anything compelling me to upgrade to Office 97.
The
animated paper-clip help system is cute for a while, but not enough to
make me need to upgrade.
Passing on upgrades is, perhaps, the simplest way to
keep things small
and manageable.
While I was a 16-bit Lotus user, I started using Lotus
Organizer to
keep my phone numbers, calendar, to-do lists, and more. Version 1.1
shipped
on a single floppy, and still does all I need. Later versions added
features
I don?t need, like the ability to set up mutually-convenient meetings
across
a network or hook into Lotus Notes. Later versions also resulted in a
program
ten or more times as large as the svelte version I still use.
The moral: let?s change the slogan from ?Bigger is
Better? to ?Small
is Beautiful?.