Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!pucc!FTWILSON
From: FTWILSON@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Frederick Todd Wilson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: WingZ
Message-ID: <8012@pucc.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 21 Apr 89 14:32:41 GMT
References: <598@eutrc3.UUCP>
Reply-To: FTWILSON@pucc.Princeton.EDU
Organization: Princeton University, NJ
Lines: 45
Disclaimer: Author bears full responsibility for contents of this article

In article <598@eutrc3.UUCP>, rcbamw@eutrc3.UUCP (m.waucomont) writes:

>To whom it may concern...
>
>Recently I received my long-awaited copy of the 'test flight' of WingZ.
>WingZ is a product of Informix. It is a spreadsheet, enhanced with...
>In their ads they stressed things like impressive graphics, high speed
>calculations etc. Well, the demo contained a 3D graph, a grid in the
>shape of a hat (well, it actually looked like something else, but I
>do not want to be called sexist). Anyhow, it took about 2 minutes to
>generate the 3D 'hat'. Speedy graphics???
>
>The calculation speed wasn't very impressive either. Must be the way
>they index cells... sparse matrices... revolutionary... yeah, but
>slow!
>
>M. Waucomont
>
I just recently received the real thing and I'm extremely impressed. I must
admit that I don't do a lot of calculating and that I haven't done much with
WingZ' actual calculating capability. But this article stressed the slowness
of the graphing: I'd like to comment briefly on that and a couple of other
things.

I have a std. Mac SE HD20. The graphing feature that I like the most is the
3-D bar capability. BEAUTIFUL! True, not the fastest thing in the world
(about 30 sec.), but well done and EXTREMELY adjustable (viewing angles,etc.).
Hell, I'd buy WingZ if only because it blows Cricket Graph out of the water.
As for the hat ('sombrero?'), if I understand properly, those are very
complicated drawings. Only Mac IIs or 030 machines should be able to draw
them with any real speed (math coprocessor).

Otherwise, the program seems to be generally well done. I think that many
people would agree that one measure of this is a program's Help facility.
WingZ has the most extensive, practical, and functional help facility I've
seen in any application except HyperCard (not an app., I know).

I haven't had the thing for long, but Excel AND Cricket Graph are definitly
out the door. WingZ will be my spreadsheet for me for a while, I think.

Todd Wilson
Apple Computer Student Rep
Princeton University

"Obviously, it's my opinion [and mine only]. Else, I wouldn't have said it!"