199 lines
8.8 KiB
HTML
199 lines
8.8 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<TITLE>Product Review: Applixware</TITLE>
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<META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Gary Moore">
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<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Mozilla/3.0Gold (Win95; I) [Netscape]">
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</HEAD>
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#0020F0"
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ALINK="#FF0000" >
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<!--endcut ============================================================-->
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P><I>[A reader requested this article by Gary Moore from the <A HREF="http://www.ssc.com/lj/issue36/index.html">April
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'97</A> issue of <A HREF="http://www.ssc.com/lj/index.html">Linux
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Journal</A>. --Editor]</I>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<center>
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<H1>Product Review: Applixware</H1>
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<H4>by Gary Moore</H4>
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</center>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<ul>
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<li>Product: Applixware 4.2 For Linux
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<li>Publisher: Red Hat Software, Inc.
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<li>Phone: 800 454-5502
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<li>Fax: 203 454-2582
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<li>WWW: http://www.redhat.com/
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<li>Price: USD $495, student price USD $79.95
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</ul>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<P>Applixware is is an excellent "office suite"
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that may open doors to wider use of Linux.
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<P>Applixware features a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentation
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graphics tool, a drawing tool, an e-mail client, database
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connectivity and an object-oriented application builder. For some
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time, this professional set of programs has been available for other
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Unix platforms, including HP-UX, Solaris, AIX and Digital Unix,
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and now Applixware is available for Intel-compatible Linux machines and Microsoft
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Windows; at the time of this writing, the NT version is out and the 95
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version is in beta testing.
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<P><CENTER><IMG SRC="./gx/moore/0202f1.gif"></CENTER>
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<P><CENTER><B>An Applixware On-Line Book</B></CENTER>
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<P>If you install Applixware on your system, you'll notice an impact
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on system resources. A complete installation with the included Red Hat
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RPM files requires 210MB--if that's more than you have available,
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you can make a partial installation from a live,
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"unpacked" directory on the CD-ROM. In fact, Applixware
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can be launched and used directly from the CD-ROM, though this
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makes program operation a little leisurely. I was
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using Red Hat Linux 4.0 when I reviewed Applixware,
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but the software should work fine on other
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distributions, and installation instructions are
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included.
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<P>The CD speed may not seem bad if you're using a 486DX25, on which
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Applixware is fast enough to be usable, but probably too slow for a
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production environment; I found my meager CPU power to be a real
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problem only when I started using the graphics tools.
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<P>This is not an application for low-memory systems. As
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cheap as RAM is today, this shouldn't be too painful a state to
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rectify. With 16MB of RAM, the word processor was snappy enough with
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X and the Afterstep window manager running, but having much else
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loaded caused so much paging of virtual memory I needed something to
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read while waiting.
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<P><CENTER><IMG SRC="./gx/moore/0202f2.gif"></CENTER>
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<P><CENTER><B>Applix Words</B></CENTER>
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<P>Not much reading material comes with Applix--at least, not on
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paper. Back when it was known as Asterix and also in version 3.x of
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Applix, there was a manual for each module, but either with the Linux
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version or with the later releases, virtually all documentation is in
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the "On-Line Books". Use the on-line tutorials if you're
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new to the system, or the on-line help if you just need a reference.
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<P><I>Applix Words</I> is a full-featured word processor with
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everything you'd expect to find in a modern product. That is, unless
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you're looking to do something which really should be done
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using desktop publishing software. By the way, one thing you
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never want to do with it is embed, oh, 80 or so large,
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256-color GIFs in a single document--at somewhere around 8MB,
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application behavior gets a bit wacky. Linking is much,
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much better.
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<P><I>Words</I> gives you tables, borders, shading, embedded equations and
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calculations, conditional text and cross-referencing, international
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dictionaries, thesauri and a multi-font, multi-size WYSIWYG
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display. You can rely on multiple undo and redo, and when you're done,
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you can save PostScript and PCL printer files or send them directly to
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a networked printer.
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<P><CENTER><IMG SRC="./gx/moore/0202f3.gif"></CENTER>
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<P><CENTER><B>Applix Graphics</B></CENTER>
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<P>HTML is easy with the Applix HTML authoring tool. Documents can be
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imported from Applix or another popular word processor using one of
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the format filters or created from scratch with the same ease as a
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word processing document. Clip art, GIFs and linked or embedded
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Applix Graphics images are converted seamlessly. <I>Applix
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Spreadsheets</I> documents and queries from the database interface
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application, <I>Data</I>, can be included, too. Tables, colors, and
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more than 25 standard HTML styles are all under your control.
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<P><I>Applix Graphics</I> is a terrific drawing and presentation graphics
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tool. At your disposal are user-definable fill patterns, various
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brush styles, shearing, drop shadows, incremental zoom, rotating,
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scaling, color pixel editing and text wrapping, to name a few. Grid
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snap, guide lines, rulers, and coordinates help create precise and
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complex drawings quickly. I found graphics as easy to
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produce with <I>Graphics</I> as with <I>Powerpoint</I>.
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<P>The good news continues with <I>Applix Spreadsheets</I> with
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calculation-based attributes, 3D charts, named views and dynamic
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links to objects in other Applixware applications. When your linked
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data from elsewhere changes, it is automatically updated in your
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spreadsheet. There are live links to a relational
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database through <I>Applix Data</I>, goal seeking, drag-and-drop,
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projection tables and background recalculation. You can import those
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old Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel spreadsheets, too.
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<P>You might not think you need another mail client, but check out
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<I>Applix Mail</I>. When you receive mail, a dialog box pops up with
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the sender name and subject, giving you the options "Read
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Now", "Read Later", and "Help". You can
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attach Applix files to your mail messages and upon receipt, launch
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the appropriate Applix tool for viewing. Mail can be marked
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"Urgent", marked with a "Reply by" date, and
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also sent by "certified" mail, giving you a receipt when the
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recipient has read the mail. Of course you can "Cc" and
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"Bcc" people. You also get shared mail folders, automatic
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conversion of messages and documents to your preferences, encryption,
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and mail filtering based on rules you specify.
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<P><I>Applix Data</I> connects Applixware applications to SQL databases
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like Informix, Oracle, Ingres, and Sybase, seamlessly querying data
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from one or more tables, selecting information with query conditions,
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and performing advanced queries and joins. Rows can be edited,
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inserted, and deleted. A live link in your document to the database
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means up-to-date data. <I>Data</I> provides a lot of capability when
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teamed with ELF and <I>Builder</I>.
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<P><CENTER><IMG SRC="./gx/moore/0202f4.gif"></CENTER>
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<P><CENTER><B>Applix Builder</B></CENTER>
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<P>The Extension Language Facility (ELF) is an interpreted language with
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which users can build and deploy applications, front-ends to
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applications, automate tasks and connect to databases and other
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external sources of data. The Applix user interfaces are built with
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ELF and ELF macros can be used to automate tasks in any of the
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Applixware applications. Some capabilities include: TCP/IP socket
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interfacing, remote procedure calls, interactive debugging, many
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built-in macros, string manipulation, and arithmetic and Boolean
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operators.
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<P><I>Builder</I> is object oriented and gives you access to external data
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sources as well as the capabilities of the Applixware application
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suite for use in your custom applications. Also, full access to ELF
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macros and functions, external objects, shared classes, RPC and shared
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library support. Plus, the applications you develop in <I>Builder</I>
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on one platform are portable to Applixware on other platforms without
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modification.
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<P>Applixware is a terrific package. When I heard it was available for
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Linux, I knew I could let go of Microsoft Office (and MS Windows) forever.
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1998, Gary Moore <BR>
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Published in Issue 24 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, January 1998</H5></center>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<A HREF="./index.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM SRC="../gx/indexnew.gif"
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ALT="[ TABLE OF CONTENTS ]"></A>
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<A HREF="../index.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM SRC="../gx/homenew.gif"
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ALT="[ FRONT PAGE ]"></A>
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ALT=" Back "></A>
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