Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!ogicse!decwrl!sgi!shinobu!odin!odin.corp.sgi.com!portuesi From: portuesi@tweezers.esd.sgi.com (Michael Portuesi) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Phasar 3.0 (was Re: Software Antics vs Amigo Times) Message-ID: Date: 20 Feb 90 11:35:39 GMT References: <564@lexicon.com> <19000034@attcc.UUCP> <570@lexicon.com> Sender: news@odin.SGI.COM Reply-To: portuesi@sgi.com (Michael Portuesi) Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mtn. View, CA Lines: 65 In-reply-to: fc@lexicon.com's message of 20 Feb 90 15:29:28 GMT >>>>> On 20 Feb 90 15:29:28 GMT, fc@lexicon.com (Frank Cunningham) said: frank> In article <19000034@attcc.UUCP> bn@attcc.UUCP writes: > You get mad when a magazine gives you a $70 accounting package, and a $50 > spelling checker???? I thought these two packages ALONE were worth the $39.95 > subscription price. frank> I already own the accounting package, the version they're 'giving frank> away' is obsolete, they're charging $20 for the manual, if they have frank> one to sell you, and I know how to spell, thank you. I dislike Antic frank> charging me for something I've already bought from them. It's the both frank> the conflict of interest and the fact that I'm paying twice for the frank> program that irritate me. Since I used to subscribe, I didn't have the frank> option to decline the losing disk. I still view the 'giveaway' as a frank> convenient way for Antic to advertise their upgrade at my expense, by frank> avoiding having to find something new or unique for the disk. (rant frank> rant) I was at the computer store this weekend, checking out software. I decided that I needed some sort of financial program. This is not because my finances are so involved that I need a computer as much as I simply need to be forced to work on a budget. My choices at the store were Desktop Budget from Gold Disk for $49, or the Phasar 3.0 program embedded in the Antic magazine. I chose the latter, because it was only $14.95. It wasn't until I got home that I found out that the manual cost another $18.45 and had limited availability (first come, first serve). Then I actually ran the program. I swear that Phasar produces the best emulation of an MS-DOS environment that the Amiga can muster. Everything is done via an text-only interface which makes the user fill-in-the-blanks, answer (y/n) to thousands of questions and select from text menus containing highlighted letters. The token attempt at Intuition support the program offers only make the interface worse, not better. At least before the program incorporated an Intuition menu at the title screen you could run the whole thing solely from the keyboard. I don't even want to talk about how they decided to employ the mouse in the fill-in-the-blank sections of the program. The help files tells you to push F1 anytime you need help. Unfortunately, this isn't always true, because pushing F1 in the data entry sections of the program produces a menu. Besides the obvious inconsistency, the authors completely overlooked the "HELP" key on the Amiga keyboard. To summarize, the program may do what I'm looking for, but the interface is simply so annoying I can't use it. I feel like I wasted $14.95 on the program. I certainly won't give Antic the $18.45 for the manual, or the $39.95 for the upgrade to Phasar 4.0. I'll probably opt for Desktop Budget or write my own program instead. Programs like Phasar make me wish I owned a Macintosh, whose software architecture doesn't permit the user to produce emulations of MS-DOS human-interface disasters. --M -- __ Michael Portuesi Silicon Graphics Computer Systems \/ portuesi@sgi.com Entry Systems Division -- Engineering "I'm still waiting"