AlphaWorks - Six Productivity Applications Copyright 1989 David W. Batterson Taking a look at AlphaWorks was like seeing an old friend who bought a nice new suit, had cosmetic surgery, and had gone back to college for advanced courses. In other words, you recognize the old and familiar, but are glad to see the improvements! AlphaWorks is an updated version of Electric Desk, the integrated package that is bundled with the Hyundai, Cordata and probably some other PCs too. Electric Desk is a respectable software product that I have been using for awhile. The package includes word processing, spreadsheet, database, spellchecker and thesaurus, graphics, and communications. I never used the database or spreadsheet in Electric Desk, nor will I use them in Alphaworks. That's not because they aren't worth using, either. From what I can judge, they have some high quality features. I just don't use databases/spreadsheets at all. The database is compatible with dBASE III and dBASE III PLUS, and uses .DBF, .NDX and .DBT files. Likewise, the spreadsheet is compatible with Lotus 1-2-3 .WK1 files. As for the communications module, it works the sames as usual stand alone low-end modem programs. It has most of what you want, including script files, but no frills. However, I'll stick with my old reliable Mirror III. I used Electric Desk for word processing only, so I'll spend most of the review looking at changes made in the AlphaWorks word processing module. There are lots of new shortcut keys, such as -I for inserting a text block, -R to search and replace a text string, and -U for underlining. If you prefer, press the appropriate F keys instead. For example, to select Replace, press , then move the cursor bar to Replace, press , then enter your search/replace strings. A third way is to press . It's the same thing. Pressing / again or removes the menu. One problem with having the / key as a command key is that you have to type it twice (/ /) if you want to use the / in a sentence, such as "search/replace." It's a bit of an irritation. The / default menu display key can be changed using the configure program, however. AlphaWorks has wisely added case-sensitivity, forward/backward, and format symbols to the search/replace choices. In Electric Desk, you could not have multiple formats in a document, such as single spacing for the top section, and then double spacing in the body of the document. Now you can insert multiple rulers, to define left/right margins, line spacing and tabs. During printing, you can now print to disk, printer or screen. Printouts can be in normal, quality or compressed style. Another useful feature is the ability to strip hard returns from imported ASCII text files. There's also a word counting feature which I like. I currently use a stand alone public domain program to count words in an article or review. This one works a lot faster. Just press ,W, or you can press /, MW. Cursor movement keys have been improved. In Electric Desk you had to type and down arrow to go to the end of a document. AlphaWorks uses the more common - command. The dictionary has an ample 100,000 word list, while the thesaurus has 120,000 synonyms. Those starting off in an office setting couldn't go wrong by purchasing AlphaWorks. It's polished enough for more experienced users too. It has support for EMS memory too. Suggested list is $195; both 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" disks are supplied. For more information, contact Alpha Software Corp., One North Ave., Burlington, MA 01803; 800-451-1018 or 617-229-2924. David Batterson is an independent writer in Palm Springs, a pleasant environment for writing, no matter what word processing software you use. Contact him via MCI MAIL: DBATTERSON.