Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!keith
From: keith@Apple.COM (Keith Rollin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Symantec's 'Think Reference' (Inside Mac HyperText)
Message-ID: <53813@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 10 Jun 91 01:27:21 GMT
References: <55825@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA
Lines: 42

In article <55825@nigel.ee.udel.edu> johnston@minnie.me.udel.edu writes:
>In a recent comp.sys.mac.announce'ment, Symantec describes a new
>hypertext-like guide to volumes 1-5 of Inside Macintosh.  Among
>many nice features is the ability to cut and paste code examples.
>
>Has anyone seen this yet?  Opinions?  List price was given as $99.

I had the pleasure of seeing while it was beta tested. I feel that it
has some good and bad aspects.

The neatest thing about it is that it's practically a rewrite of I.M.
They couldn't do what Apple did with SpInside Mac and simply dump the
I.M. text into a HyperCard stack; they had to start from scratch.
Learning from some mistakes I.M. made, and incorporating 8 years of
programming experience, they loaded the THINK Reference with lots of
"lore" and "tips" that you can't find elsewhere.

Also, it's very fast, especially considering that their database is
over 2 Meg -- and compacted at that! The hyperlinks make cross-
searching easy.

However, there are two drawbacks.

First, the interface is a little goofy. I'm used to the simplicity of
MPW's 411 or the Online Companion. The THINK Reference has several
different modes you have to go into depending on the type of
information you want. As another example of goofiness, they use
Cmd-Z for "Go Back"!

Second, after 1/2 hour of reviewing, I jotted down over two pages of
inaccuracies, out-dated information, and missing information.  I told
Symantec about them, and I hope they got fixed in the final version,
but I only browsed through about 1% of the database. I don't know what
the quality of the final version is.


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