The information stored in the computer is called software. Most software stays in RAM temporarily and is erased from RAM when you no longer need it. But some software stays in the computer’s circuits permanently: it hides in the ROM and is called firmware.

To feed firmware to the computer, put extra ROM chips on the motherboard or insert a ROM cartridge. To feed other kinds of software to the computer, use the keyboard, disk, or tape: type the info on the keyboard, or insert a disk or tape containing the info.

You can feed the computer four kinds of software: an operating system, a language, application programs, and data. Let’s look at them.…

 

An operating system (OS) is a set of instructions that explains to the CPU how to handle the keyboard, the screen, printer, disk drives, and mouse.

BIOS versus DOS

In a standard IBM-compatible PC, the operating system is divided into two parts.

The operating system’s fundamental part is in the motherboard’s ROM chips and called the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS, pronounced “buy oss” or “buy us”). The operating system’s advanced part is on a disk and is called the disk operating system (or DOS, which is pronounced “doss”).

From MS-DOS to Windows

The first DOS for the IBM PC was invented by IBM and a company called Microsoft (MS). That DOS was called IBM PC-DOS or MS-DOS. It came on a floppy disk.

Windows’ first version (Windows 1) and its early improvements (Windows 2 and Windows 3) were just supplements to MS-DOS. To use them, you had to buy MS-DOS first. They were supplements (called shells) that tried to hide MS-DOS’s ugliness (just like a clamshell hides an ugly clam); they made MS-DOS look prettier. People bought the ugly operating system (MS-DOS) plus the operating-system shell (Windows) to create a new operating environment.

In 1995, Microsoft invented a better version of Windows, called Windows 95, which performed more tricks and was a complete operating system: it did not require you to buy MS-DOS first; it was not just a shell.

Windows 95 came on a floppy disk plus a CD-ROM disk. To use Windows 95, you (or the dealer) had to copy the floppy disk and CD-ROM disk to the hard disk.

After Windows 95, Microsoft invented further improvements. Here are the years:

Most computer programs require Windows XP or later. Such programs refuse to run if you bought just earlier Windows or MS-DOS.

Corporate Windows Big corporations running big networks used a fancy “corporate” version of Windows called Windows New Technology (Windows NT), invented in 1993. The year 2000 brought an improved version, called
Windows 2000. In 2001, Windows XP replaced them and made them obsolete, but later Microsoft invented another corporate version, called Windows Server.

Unix

AT&T’s Bell Laboratories invented an operating system called Unix.

“Unix” is an abbreviation for “UNICS”, which stands for “UNified Information & Computing System”.

The original version of Unix ran just on DEC minicomputers used by just one person at a time. Newer versions of Unix can handle any manufacturer’s maxi, mini, or micro and even handle networks of people sharing computers simultaneously.

Linux A Finnish programmer named Linus Torvalds (whose first name is pronounced “lee nuss”) invented a Unix imitation called “Linus Unix” or Linux (pronounced “lee nucks”). It’s free!

It runs on 386, 486, and Pentium computers and also on Atari and Commodore Amiga computers. The most popular way to get it is as part of a distribution (which includes Linux plus extras), published by Ubuntu (pronounced “oo-BOON-too”) or Mandrake or SuSE or Red Hat.

Most tablets and smartphones run Android, which is a souped-up version of Linux. Amazon’s Kindle is an e-reader that runs a modified version of Android.

Solaris Sun Microsystems (which was recently bought by Oracle) makes Sparc minicomputers, which are used as graphics/engineering workstations and Internet servers. Sparc minicomputers use the Solaris operating system, which is a souped-up version of Unix. Though Solaris is intended for Sparc minicomputers, you can get a version of Solaris that runs on microcomputers containing an Intel CPU.

Unix versus Windows Though many programmers adore Unix, it won’t outsell Windows, since Unix is harder to learn and had its main features stolen by MS-DOS & Windows. But Unix networks are more reliable than Window networks and form the basis of the Internet.

From Mac OS to macOS

Apple’s Mac computers have used its own operating system, called Mac OS.

To invent Windows, Microsoft copied many features from Mac OS, so Windows is very similar to Mac OS.

Recently, Apple changed the name from Mac OS X to just OS X and now macOS.

iOS

Apple’s tablet (the iPad), smartphone (the iPhone), and modern music player (the iPod Touch) use an operating system called iOS, which is based on Mac OS but has this advantage: it can handle touchscreens.

Old computers

Old computers used old operating systems:

 

Languages that humans normally speak — such as English, Spanish, French, Russian, and Chinese — are called
natural languages. They’re too complicated for computers to understand easily.

To communicate with computers, programmers use
computer languages instead. The most popular computer languages are Basic, Visual Basic, Python, Java, JavaScript, C, C++, C#, Perl, and PHP.

Each is a tiny part of English — a part small enough for the computer to master. To teach the computer one of those tiny languages, you feed the computer a disk (or ROM chips or copy software from the Internet) containing definitions of that tiny language’s words.

Of those computer languages, Basic is the easiest to learn. Python resembles Basic but tries to be more modern. JavaScript is the best for creating small programs on the Internet. The other languages are harder to learn but can perform different tricks.

Although those languages have become the most popular, many others were invented.

This book discusses many languages, so you become a virtuoso!

 

The Internet is an international network of computers that share info. You can make your computer become part of the Internet too!

Web The most popular part of the Internet is the World Wide Web (WWW), where people publish Web pages that everybody using the Internet can view. To view Web pages and browse through them, you need a program called a Web browser. The most popular Web browsers are Microsoft’s Edge, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), Google’s Chrome, Apple’s Safari, and Mozilla’s Firefox. They’re all free.

Some Web pages let you copy software from the Internet to your own computer’s hard disk. Copying from the Internet is called “downloading from the Internet.” Copying to the Internet is called “uploading to the Internet.”

E-mail If you attach your computer to the Internet, you can send electronic mail (email) to another computer on the Internet, if you have an email program.

The most popular email programs are Gmail (by Google), Yahoo Mail, and several by Microsoft (Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, Outlook, and Outlook Express).

 

The computer will do whatever you wish — if you tell it how. To tell the computer how to do what you wish, you feed it a program, which is a list of instructions written in a computer language. To feed the computer a program, type the program on the keyboard, or buy a disk containing the program and put that disk into the drive, or download the program from the Internet, or buy ROM chips containing the program.

Before buying a program, make sure it will work with your computer. For example, if a disk says “for Windows”, it will work with a modern IBM-compatible PC but not with the typical Apple Mac computer.

A person who invents a program is called a programmer.

You can buy two kinds of programs. The most popular kind is called an application program (app): it handles a specific application, such as payroll or psychotherapy or chess. The other kind of program is called a system program: it teaches the computer how to handle various kinds of hardware and various computer languages. An operating system (such as Windows or Unix) is mainly a collection of system programs, bundled together to form a nice package. Application programs are usually purchased separately, though a few apps are included in the operating system’s price.

You’ll want several kinds of apps. Here are the most popular.…

Word processing

A word-processing program helps you write and edit sentences and paragraphs, to create memos, letters, reports, research papers, articles, and books. It also helps you edit what you wrote. What you wrote is called the document.

Most operating systems include a simple word-processing program.

Those simple word-processing programs are very limited. For example, those word-processing programs for Windows & Mac aren’t smart enough to correct your spelling.

Most businesses use a fancier word-processing program instead, called Microsoft Word. It can correct your spelling and perform many other tricks. Versions are available for Windows & Mac. Its main competitor is WordPerfect, which costs less and is published by a company called Corel.

Instead of saying “word-processing program”, it’s shorter to say just “word processor”, but beware: “word processor” can mean a program, a person, or a machine. Yes, “word processor” can mean 3 things:

How word processing began Back in the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s, computers were used mainly to manipulate lists of numbers, names, and addresses. Those manipulations were called data processing (DP), so the typical computing center was called a data-processing center (DP center), run by a team of programmers and administrators called the data-processing department (DP department).

Those old computer systems were complex, expensive, and unreliable, run by big staffs that had to do continuous repairs, reprogramming, and supervision. They were bureaucratic & technological nightmares. The term “data-processing” got a bad reputation. Secretaries who wanted to write and edit reports preferred to use simple typewriters rather than deal with the dreaded “data-processing department”.

When easy-to-use word-processing programs were finally invented for computers, secretaries were afraid to try them because computers had developed a scary reputation. The last thing a secretary wanted was a desktop computer, which the secretary figured would mean “desktop trouble”.

That’s why the term “word processing” was invented. IBM, Wang, and other manufacturers told the secretaries, “The machines we’ll put on your desks are not dreadful computers but rather souped-up typewriters. You like typewriters, right? Then you’ll love these cute little machines too!. We call them
 word processors. Don’t worry: they’re not data-processing equipment; they’re not computers.”

The manufacturers were lying: their desktop machines were computers. To pretend they weren’t computers, the manufacturers called them word processors and omitted any software dealing with numbers or lists. The trick worked: secretaries acquired word processors, especially the IBM Displaywriter and
Wang Word Processor. Today’s secretaries are unafraid of computers, understand Windows and Macs, and run word-processing programs on them.

Historic word-proccessing programs During the early 1980’s, these word-processing programs were popular:

But by 1991, most users had switched to WordPerfect 5.1, which ran on the IBM PC (and several other computers) and could perform many fancy tricks.

All those word-processing programs were awkward to learn and use. Beginners preferred these simpler word-processing programs:

But those word-processing programs couldn’t perform as many tricks as WordPerfect 5.1, which remained the business standard that secretaries were required to learn and use.

In 1992, Microsoft invented Windows 3.1 (the first version of Windows good enough to become popular). Companies and consumers began switching from DOS to Windows and wanted a good word-processing program for Windows. Unfortunately, WordPerfect 5.1 used DOS, not Windows. Windows 3.1 included a word-processing program called Write, but it was stripped down.

The first good word-processing programs for Windows were Ami (which is the French word for “friend”) and an improved version (Ami Pro), both published by a company called Samna, which got bought by Lotus, which got bought by IBM, which eventually changed the name to Word Pro.

Microsoft invented a word-processing program called Microsoft Word. Its DOS version was awkward, but its Mac & Windows versions improved and eventually became even better than Ami Pro and Word Pro.

A good Windows version of WordPerfect became available but too late (because Microsoft prevented WordPerfect’s developers from learning how write good Windows programs). By then, most companies had already decided to switch to the Windows version of Microsoft Word, though WordPerfect remained popular among lawyers and their secretaries.

What to buy The best word-processing program is Microsoft Word, which is part of Microsoft Office (for Windows & the Mac) and also part of Microsoft 365.

To pay less, some people use Microsoft Works (which crudely imitates Microsoft Office for Windows) or iWork (which crudely imitates Microsoft Office for the Mac). To pay nothing, you can use WordPad (which is part of modern Windows) or TextEdit (which is part of the Mac) or OpenOffice (a free Internet download that imitates an outdated version of Microsoft Office) or LibreOffice (an improvement over OpenOffice).

Spreadsheets

To analyze a company, accountants examine the company’s financial data (each month’s expenses and revenues) and arrange all those numbers to form a huge “table of numbers”, spread across a big sheet of paper. That’s called a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet is a table of numbers, spread across either a sheet of paper or the computer’s screen. For example, this spreadsheet deals with money:

A spreadsheet can show how many dollars you earned (or spent or plan to spend), how many goods you have in stock, how people scored in a test (or survey or scientific experiment), or any other numbers you wish!

A spreadsheet program lets you create a spreadsheet on the computer screen. Type any numbers you wish. For example, you can type amounts of money (for accounting), scores (from sports or student exams), measurements (from science-lab experiments or sociology surveys), or your ratings of members of the opposite sex. The spreadsheet program lets you type those numbers, edit them, and analyze them.

The typical spreadsheet program can automatically do these things:

It’s great for analyzing budgets, scientific experiments, statistics, and you!

Best spreadsheet programs Most businesses use a spreadsheet program called Microsoft Excel. It requires Windows or a Mac. Its main competitor is Corel’s Quattro Pro, which requires Windows.

Historic spreadsheet programs The first spreadsheet program was invented in 1979. It was designed by Dan Bricklin and coded by Bob Frankston. (That means Dan decided what features & menus the program should have, and Bob wrote the program.) They called the program VisiCalc because it was a “visible calculator”. VisiCalc’s first version ran on the Apple 2 computer; later versions ran on the Radio Shack TRS-80 and IBM PC.

The second spreadsheet program was called SuperCalc because it was superior to VisiCalc. It was invented by a company called Sorcim (which is “micros” spelled backwards). It ran on computers using the CP/M operating system. The most popular CP/M computer — the Osborne 1 — came with a free copy of SuperCalc. Later versions of SuperCalc ran on the Apple 2 and IBM PC.

Multiplan was the first spreadsheet program that could handle multiple spreadsheets simultaneously — and the relationships among them. Invented by Microsoft, it ran on a greater variety of computers than any other spreadsheet program.

Context MBA was the first spreadsheet program that had extras: besides handling spreadsheets, it also handled graphs, databases, word processing, and telecommunications. But it ran slowly, its word processing was limited (it couldn’t center and wouldn’t let you set tab stops), and it required a strange operating system (the Pascal P System). It was invented in 1981 by Context Management Systems, which later invented an MS-DOS version called Corporate MBA.

All those spreadsheet programs became irrelevant in 1983, when a much better spreadsheet program was invented. It was designed by Mitch Kapor and coded by Jonathan Sachs for the IBM PC. They called the program 1-2-3, because it ran fast and was supposed to handle 3 things: spreadsheets, graphs, and word processing. But when Jonathan examined Context MBA, he realized that putting a good word processor into 1-2-3 would consume too much RAM and make the program run too slowly, so he omitted the word processor and replaced it with a stripped-down database processor instead. Mitch and Jonathan called their company Lotus Development Corporation, because Mitch was a transcendental-meditation instructor who contemplated lotus flowers.

After inventing 1-2-3, Jonathan Sachs tried to invent a program called “1-2-3-4-5,” to handle the same 5 tasks as Context MBA: spreadsheets, graphs, databases, word processing, and telecommunications. But while developing it, he realized it was becoming too big and confusing, so he stopped developing it and quit the company. Other Lotus employees finished that program and renamed it Symphony; but as he feared, it was a big confusing mess whose word processor was awful. Most businesses bought just 1-2-3 instead.

Other companies invented cheap imitations of 1-2-3. The imitations were called 1-2-3 twins. The first 1-2-3 twins were The Twin (published by Mosaic Software) and VP-Planner (published by Paperback Software). Lotus sued both of those publishers and put them out of business.

In 1983 — the same year that Lotus invented 1-2-3 — Apple invented Lisa Calc. It was the first spreadsheet program to use a mouse. It ran just on the Lisa computer, which was expensive ($8,000). When Apple began selling the Mac computer the next year (1984), Microsoft began selling Multiplan for the Mac, which ran on the Mac and combined the best features of Multiplan and Lisa Calc. The next year (1985), Microsoft invented a further improvement, called Excel because it’s excellent. Like 1-2-3, Excel handles spreadsheets, graphs, and databases.

Apple wanted to sue Microsoft for inventing the Windows operating system (which makes the IBM PC resemble a Mac). To avoid the suit, Microsoft agreed to put Excel on just the Mac for a year. Exactly one year later, Microsoft put Excel on the IBM PC, so now Excel runs on both the Mac and the IBM PC. It’s the best spreadsheet program.

Another fine spreadsheet program is called Quattro, because it’s what came after 1-2-3. It was invented by Borland, which later invented an improved version, Quattro Pro. In 1994, Borland sold Quattro Pro to another company (Novell), which later sold it to Corel, so now Quattro Pro is published by Corel.

What to do Get a spreadsheet program! The best spreadsheet program, Excel, requires you to buy Windows or a Mac (though stripped-down versions of Excel are available for other platforms).

To pay less, you can use the stripped-down spreadsheet programs that are part of Microsoft Works (for Windows) or AppleWorks (which has sometimes been called Claris Works and is available for the Apple 2, Mac, and Windows).

Danger: compulsive perfectionism

The most successful business programs make work be fun, by turning work into a video game. That’s why word-processing programs and spreadsheet programs are so successful — they let you move letters & numbers around the screen, edit the errors by “zapping” them, and let you press a button that makes the screen explode with totals, subtotals, counts, and other info.

Sometimes, word processing can be too much fun. Since it’s so much fun to edit on a word processor, people using word processors edit more thoroughly than people using typewriters or pens. Word processing fosters compulsive perfectionism.

Danger: intimidation

Word-processing and spreadsheet programs can become weapons that mesmerize people into believing everything you say — even if what you’re saying is wrong.

Pictures

A graphics program helps you create pictures that are pretty or bizarre or whatever else you want! You’ll want to get several types of graphics programs.

One type is called a paint program. It lets you draw pictures easily. These paint programs are the most famous:

Another type is called a drawing program. It resembles a paint program but specializes in drawing straight lines instead of squiggles. It’s best for drawing pictures of things that have straight lines, such as buildings, machines, and charts for technical illustrations. These drawing programs are the most famous:

Another type is called a computer-aided drafting & design program
(CAD program). It resembles a draw program but does more math.

The most famous CAD program is AutoCAD, which is extremely expensive ($1400 per year, after your free 30-day trial). AutoCAD LT is a “light” version that costs less ($360 per year). TurboCAD Deluxe is much cheaper (just $130 total, not per year).

A photo editor lets you put a photo into the computer (by using a digital camera or scanner) and see the photo on the computer’s screen. Then it lets you edit the photo: it lets you crop out the irrelevant parts, cover scratches and embarrassing details, improve the contrast and brightness and colors, remove red-eye (caused when eyes become accidentally red from the flashbulb), and add special dramatic effects. On smartphones, tablets, and other modern computers, the Camera app includes a photo editor. For fancier editing of photos, professionals use Photoshop (for Windows & Mac) or a stripped-down version called Photoshop Elements.

A video editor lets you edit the home movies a camcorder creates. On smartphones, tablets, and other modern computers, the Camera app includes a video editor. For fancier editing of photos, professionals use Adobe Premiere (for Windows & Mac) or a stripped-down version called Adobe Premiere Elements or Pinnacle Studio (which is easier). Windows XP & Vista (which are no longer marketed) included Windows Movie Maker, which is even easier.

If you give a speech, you can make it more interesting by using a presentation program, which lets the audience watch “slides” while they listen to you. Each slide can include photos, charts, and notes. The most famous presentation program is PowerPoint, by Microsoft.

Desktop publishing

To write and print a simple document, you can use a word-processing program. But to print a fancier document, use a desktop-publishing program instead, such as
Microsoft Publisher, which is part of Microsoft Office (and part of Microsoft 365). A desktop-publishing program resembles a word-processing program but lets you more easily create newsletters, newspapers, magazines, posters, and signs, by letting you more easily include pictures, captions, multiple columns, and jumps (such as “continued on page 5”).

Famous programs These desktop-publishing programs are the most famous:

PageMaker The first popular desktop-publishing program was PageMaker, invented in 1985 by Paul Brainerd, who’d been a newspaper executive. PageMaker let you combine words and graphics to form a newspaper page that includes a mix of headlines, columns of articles, photographs, diagrams, captions, and ads. PageMaker let you see the page on your computer’s screen and move words & graphics by using a mouse. PageMaker’s first version ran on the Mac and used Apple’s laser printer (the LaserWriter).

Such a program could have been called a “page-layout”, “page-composition”, or “computer-aided publishing” program. But to sell the program, he coined a new term: a desktop-publishing program, because it used the Mac’s “desktop” screen to help publishing, and because it let you run your own publishing company from a desktop in your home without hiring graphic artists, typesetters, and other outside help.

The PageMaker program and the term “desktop publishing” became instant hits. Many novice authors, publishers, and designers bought Macs just to run PageMaker. They used PageMaker to create newspapers, newsletters, reports, books, flyers, posters, and ads. Most ad agencies bought Macs & PageMaker to create ads. Even today, most ad agencies use Macs, not IBM-compatibles.

The IBM PC couldn’t handle desktop publishing at all, until Windows (and a competitor called Gem) improved enough so the IBM PC’s screen could look Mac-like. Finally, a Windows version of PageMaker became available.

PageMaker’s competitors Competitors to PageMaker arose. Now your main choices are PageMaker, Quark XPress, and InDesign.

Here’s how they compare:

Merger PageMaker was published by Paul Brainerd’s company, Aldus. In 1994, Aldus merged into a company called Adobe, which had invented many other desktop-publishing tools, including Postscript (the font system used in Apple’s Laserwriter), Illustrator (a draw program), and Photoshop (a photo-manipulation program).

Difficulties Desktop-publishing software can be confusing. That’s why PageMaker is often called “PageWrecker”, Quark XPress is called “Quark Distress”, and InDesign is called “UnDesign”.

Frames Like a word-processing program, a desktop-publishing program lets you type words onto the screen. But when you start using a desktop-publishing program, you must first divide your screen (and page) into boxes. Each box is called a frame.

In one frame, type a headline. In another frame, put a picture. To create the picture, use the desktop-publishing program’s draw tools or import a drawing (or painting or photo) you created using some other graphics program. In another frame, put a table of contents or an index. In another frame, put an ad. In another frame, put column 1 of an article. In another frame, put column 2.

You can link one frame to another. For example, you can link column 1 to column 2, so if you type an article that’s too long to fit in column 1, the excess will spill into column 2.

You can link a frame on page 1 to a frame on page 7, so if an article’s too long to fit on your newspaper’s front page, it will continue on page 7. (Continuing on a far-away page is called a jump. Newspapers do it frequently. I wish they didn’t!)

Master page If most pages in your newspaper resemble each other, create a master page that shows how the typical page should look. On the master page, put frames for each column, and at the page top put a header that includes the page number and your newspaper’s name & date (so when a reader rips out an article, the reader knows where it came from).

Special pages can diverge from the master.

Clutter The typical beginner makes the mistake of trying to be too fancy. Use just a few typestyles and frames per page, to avoid making your publication seem a disorganized, cluttered mess.

Put enough frames on your page to add spice; but if you add too many frames, your publication will look chopped-up, dicey, as amateurish as an oil painting by a 2-year-old kid given his first paint box.

Mozart’s music was masterfully charming because its overall structure was simple, though it had a few subtle surprises. Imitate him.

Cheaper solutions

Professional desktop-publishing programs can be expensive, $500 each.

Kiddle pub Cheaper, easier desktop-publishing programs have been invented, for kids and novices. The most famous is Print Shop, published by Broderbund.

Print Shop’s price dropped to $50 because nobody wants it anymore. Instead, folks want Microsoft Publisher.

Word processing Recently, word-processing programs have grown to include many desktop-publishing features.

The first word-processing program that let you create frames was Ami Pro. Other word-processing programs copied Ami Pro’s idea of permitting frames, so now you can create frames in WordPro (which is Ami Pro’s successor), Microsoft Word, and WordPerfect.

If what you’re writing has a simple layout, with very few frames or graphics per page, use a word-processing program instead of a desktop-publishing program.

How I published this book I wrote this book by using just Microsoft Word. I got by with Microsoft Word instead of a desktop-publishing program because I kept my layout simple, with very few frames and graphics per page.

For most of this book, I used just 8 fonts:

So here’s a summary of what I did. Typical text (like you’re reading now) is Times New Roman 10-point (with 11-point line spacing, so there’s a 1-point gap between lines).

Bigger headings have a gray background: they’re Andy Italic 125% (like this), Comic Sans MS Italic (like this), or Flaemische Kanzleischrift (like this).

To squeeze as much info as possible onto each page without clutter, I set my left and right margins at .5", top margin at .3", bottom margin at .6" (to leave space for the footer), and distance between columns at .3".

Databases

A database program helps you manipulate long lists of data, such as names addresses, phone numbers, and comments about your acquaintances (friends & enemies, students & teachers, customers & suppliers, employees & hobby buddies). It puts all that data about your life and business onto a disk, which acts as an electronic filing cabinet.

Then it lets you edit that data. For example, you can insert extra data in the middle of the list. The program lets you view the data in any order you wish (such alphabetical order, ZIP-code order, or chronological order) and print that view onto paper.

The program can search through all that data and find, in just a few seconds, the data that’s unusual. For example, it can find everybody whose birthday is today, or everybody who’s blond and under 18, or everybody who lives out-of-state and has owed you more than $100 for over a year. It can generate mailing lists, phone directories, sales reports, and any other analysis you wish.

It’s called a database program or database management system (DBMS) or information retrieval system. The terms are synonymous.

A database program is like a word processing program: it lets you type info, put it onto a disk, edit it, and copy it onto paper.

Since a database program resembles a word processor, a word processor can act as a crummy database program. But a good database program offers these extras, which the typical word processor lacks:

A database resembles a spreadsheet (which organizes info to form a table). Many people use the Excel spreadsheet program as a crummy database program.

Microsoft wants you to use a database program called Microsoft Access. It requires Windows. Unfortunately, it’s hard to master.

Jargon In an old-fashioned office without a computer, you see a filing cabinet containing several drawers:

Example Here’s a file about amazing students in the School of Life:

That file consists of 7 records: Suzy Smith’s record, Clara Bell’s record,
Buffalo Bob Smith’s record, Stanislaw Kosinski’s record, Heinz Ketchopf’s record, Tricky Dick Nixon’s record, and Russy-poo Walter’s record. Each record consists of 5 fields: Last name, First name, Age, Class, and Comments. The Age and Class fields are narrow; the Comments field is very wide.

Historic programs Many database programs have been invented. Here are the best.

PFS Most database programs are hard to use. In 1980, John Page invented the first easy database program. He called it the Personal Filing System (PFS).

Those products (PFS, Professional Write, Professional File, and PFS First Choice) are no longer marketed. Exciting new competitors took their place. Here they are.…

Q&A Inspired by the PFS series, a company called Symantec developed a similar program, called Q&A.

Q&A uses almost the same commands and keystrokes as the first IBM version of PFS but understands many extra commands, making Q&A much more powerful than the PFS series. Q&A handles just two topics — databases and word processing — but very well! It’s easy (almost as easy as the PFS series) and powerful enough to handle the computing needs of most businesses. Q&A is the database program I use to run my own business.

Symantec has stopped selling Q&A. An improved version was sold by Professional Computer Technology, but that company stopped marketing Q&A and wants Q&A customers to switch to a newer database program using similar keystrokes: the Sesame Database Manager, by Lantica, for $79.

Reflex Reflex was the first database program that let you view your data in 5 ways: a form view (a filled-in form showing a record), a list view (a big spreadsheet showing the whole file), a graph view (a graph of all the data), a report view (a report on the entire file, with subtotals), and a crosstab view (a table of totals for statisticians).

Relational databases Reflex is a simple flat-file system, which means it manipulates just one file at a time. Q&A goes a step further: while you’re editing a file, Q&A lets you insert data from a second file.

Software that goes even further than Q&A and lets you edit 2 files simultaneously is called a relational database program (or relational database management system or
relational DBMS).

Windows wars Programmers have been trying to invent database programs for Windows. Going beyond DOS programs, Windows database programs let the screen display pretty fonts and photos.

Symantec invented a Windows version of Q&A, but Q&A’s Windows version is hated by everybody.

Though Q&A for Windows is terrible, the other Windows database programs are fine. Here’s the hierarchy:

What to buy To make your life easy, use one of the easy database programs: Q&A for DOS, Microsoft Works, or FileMaker Pro. Go beyond them just if your database needs are too complex for them to handle.

In general, the best database program to use is FileMaker Pro. It’s published by Claris, which is owned by Apple. It’s the most popular database program for Mac computers, and a Windows version is also available.

The newest version of FileMaker Pro is FileMaker Pro 19. Unfortunately, it’s expensive: it lists for $540. You can download a 45-day trial version free if you fill a form at:

Office suites

Instead of buying a word-processing program, a spreadsheet program, and other programs separately, you can buy an office suite, which includes them all!

MS Office The best and most popular office suite is Microsoft Office (MS Office). The newest version, MS Office 2016, requires Windows 7, 8, 8.1, or 10. The list price is $400 because Microsoft wants rich people & companies to pay that, but Microsoft has invented many schemes to squeeze a few bucks out of normal folks too. Here are the schemes for you to take advantage of:

If you have a Mac instead of Windows, you must use Microsoft Office’s Mac versions, which omit Publisher & Access.

WordPerfect Office The main competitor to Microsoft Office is Corel’s WordPerfect Office. The newest version is called WordPerfect Office X8; it costs $400 for the Professional edition, $250 for the Standard edition, $100 for the Home & Student edition. You can get a stripped-down version, called Corel Office, for just $50.

OpenOffice Another competitor to Microsoft Office is Apache’s OpenOffice, which is put together by volunteers who let you download it free from the Internet. It imitates an old version of Microsoft Office. It used to be called Star Office and was a commercial product, but now it’s free.

LibreOffice Similar to OpenOffice, LibreOffice is free. Recently, LibreOffice has improved faster than OpenOffice. Many people have switched from OpenOffice to LibreOffice.

Integrated programs

Instead of buying an office suite, you can pay less by getting a cute little program, called an integrated program, which does a little bit of everything!

The best integrated programs have been iWork, Microsoft Works, and Q&A.

iWork is the best integrated program for handling desktop publishing. It also handles word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentations, painting, and drawing. It’s published by Apple, which used to call it AppleWorks and Claris Works. You get it free if you buy a new Mac, iPad, or iPhone.

Microsoft Works was the best integrated program for handling word processing and spreadsheets, but Microsoft stopped making it.

Q&A was the best integrated program for handling databases. (Unfortunately, it handled word processing poorly, didn’t handle spreadsheets and all, and ran best just if you had the DOS operating system.) Symantec stopped making it, but I still use it & love it — which is why is still use DOS instead of Windows for my databases! If you’ve been using the DOS version but need to switch to Windows, try Sesame Database Manager, which imitates the database part of Q&A, runs in Windows & Linux, and can be downloaded from Lantica Software (in Pennsylvania at 800-410-6315) for $79.

Accounting

You can get a checkbook program. It helps you balance your checkbook, track your expenses (and categorize them so you can get tax deductions), manage your credit cards, track your investments (stocks, bonds, and bank accounts), and compute your net worth.

The first program to do that well was Quicken, published by Intuit. Then Microsoft invented a competing program, called Microsoft Money, which was easier, but recently Microsoft gave up trying to sell it. Quicken and Microsoft Money are fine for personal use or to run tiny businesses.

If your business has lots of employees, you’ll want a program that’s better at “paying your employees” and “billing your customers”. The easiest powerful program is Intuit’s QuickBooks, which is a souped-up version of Quicken. Other accounting programs, which are even more powerful (and slightly harder to learn how to use), are Sage 50c Accounting (formerly called Peachtree Complete Accounting) and Mind Your Own Business (which is called MYOB and was invented in Australia).

Vertical software

Software that can be used by a wide variety of businesses is called horizontal software. Programs for word processing, spreadsheets, and databases are all examples of horizontal software.

Software targeted to a specific industry is called
vertical software. Programs specifically for doctors, lawyers, and real-estate management are all examples of vertical software.

Vertical software is expensive because it can’t be mass-marketed to the general public and isn’t available from discount dealers. The typical vertical-market program costs about $1000, whereas the typical horizontal-market program costs about $100 from discount dealers.

Until the price of vertical software declines, use horizontal software instead. With just a few hours of effort, you can customize horizontal software to fit your own specific needs.

Viruses

Nasty programmers have invented computer viruses, which are programs that purposely damage your other programs and can sneakily copy themselves onto every disk and e-mail message that you share with friends. Some viruses also try to steal your identity, especially your passwords and credit-card numbers. To avoid catching a virus, protect yourself in 5 ways:

 

The typical program comes on a CD-ROM disk. To use the program, put its CD-ROM disk into the CD-ROM drive. Then copy the program to your hard disk.

The CD-ROM disk containing the program might also contain lots of music, video, and other data. If the data is too big to fit on the hard disk, you must keep the CD-ROM disk in the drive while running the program, so the computer can access whatever part of the CD-ROM’s data is needed at the moment.

Some programs let you create your own data, by typing the data at your keyboard. The computer stores that data on the hard disk. You should occasionally copy that data onto a floppy disk, as a backup copy, to protect yourself in case the hard disk gets damaged.

 

Will your computer be pleasant to use? The answer depends on which software you buy. Software companies will influence your life more than any hardware manufacturer.

Here are famous software companies.

Microsoft

The most important software company is Microsoft, which takes in about 85 billion dollars of revenue per year. It makes the most popular operating system (Windows) and the most popular office suite (Microsoft Office).

The company’s main founder is Bill Gates.

Microsoft is the most diversified software company:

It also sells hardware (such as mice, keyboards, Surface computers, and Xbox game-playing system) and Internet services (such as the Bing search engine and MSN).

Microsoft continually develops new products because of pressure from competitors. For example, Microsoft was forced to improve Microsoft Word because of competition from WordPerfect and improve Microsoft C because of competition from Borland’s C. Those continual pressures to improve keep Microsoft a vibrant, dynamically changing company.

Novell

Novell invented Netware & Intranetware, which are programs that help create computer networks.

In 1994, Novell bought WordPerfect Corporation (which made the most popular word-processing program, WordPerfect).

In 1994, Novell also bought Quattro Pro (a top-rated spreadsheet program invented by a company called Borland). Borland sold Quattro Pro to Novell because Borland was having financial trouble competing against Microsoft.

Novell was founded by Ray Noorda. Novell’s next CEO, Robert Frankenberg, tried to make the company smaller and more manageable, so in 1996 he sold WordPerfect and Quattro Pro to a Canadian company, Corel, which was famous for inventing a graphics program called Corel Draw.

In 2004, Novell bought a German company called SuSE (which made the nicest version of Linux, SuSE Linux).

In 2011, Attachmate bought Novell. In 2014, Micro Focus bought Attachmate. In 2017, Micro Focus bought the software part of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company. In 2020, Micro Focus had 3 billion dollars in sales, 3 billion dollars in profit, and 12,000 employees.

Lotus

Lotus made the most popular spreadsheet program (which was 1-2-3). For too many years, Lotus sat on its laurels, and customers gradually began to switch to competitors such as Microsoft Excel and Quattro Pro. We expected Lotus to die.

But during the 1990’s, Lotus displayed good taste and made wise moves:

In 1995, IBM bought Lotus, so now Lotus is part of IBM.

Borland

Borland was started by Philippe Kahn, who grew up in France.

During the 1980’s, Borland bought 2 companies that invented wonderful database programs: Reflex and Paradox. Borland eventually stopped selling Reflex, but Paradox lived on longer.

Paradox’s main competitor was dBase, published by a company called Ashton-Tate. Philippe decided to win the competition against Ashton-Tate the easy way: he bought Ashton-Tate, so Borland published both Paradox and dBase.

By 1994, he was having trouble competing against Microsoft’s rapidly improving products and trouble repaying the money he’d borrowed to finance the takeover of Ashton-Tate. Financially strapped, he sold Novell his crown jewel, Quattro Pro, and gave Novell the right to make a million copies of Paradox.

Novell’s founder, Ray Noorda, said candidly he wasn’t thrilled by Quattro Pro but wanted to buy it anyway, just as an excuse to give Philippe some money, so Philippe could stay in business and scare Microsoft, so Bill Gates would devote his energy to fighting Philippe instead of fighting Novell.

In 1995, Philippe stepped down from heading Borland.

Borland changed its name to “Inprise”, then changed back to “Borland” again, then became part of Micro Focus.

Symantec

My favorite database program, Q&A, is published by Symantec.

Like Lotus, Symantec shows good taste in acquisitions: it bought 2 companies making good versions of the C programming language (Lightspeed and Zortech) and also bought 2 companies making DOS utility programs that fix DOS’s weaknesses (Peter Norton Software and Central Point Software). Now Symantec takes in 3½ billion dollars per year.

Symantec tries hard to improve all those acquired products, but I wish it would improve Q&A instead! I’m sad to see Q&A, the world’s best database program, be neglected and fall into obsolescence.

Specialized companies

Oracle and CA make software that runs on computers of all sizes: maxicomputers, minicomputers, and microcomputers.

Intuit makes programs that handle accounting on microcomputers. Intuit’s programs are cheap: under $100.

Adobe makes Postscript software (used in many laser printers), Photoshop (which edits photographs), and Acrobat (which does desktop publishing and lets you easily transmit the results by Internet). In 1994, Adobe bought Aldus (the company that invented the first desktop-publishing program, PageMaker). Adobe takes in 4 billion dollars per year.

Autodesk publishes AutoCAD, which is the fanciest program for handling computer-aided design (CAD). Autodesk takes in 2 billion dollars per year.

Electronic Arts (EA) makes excellent educational games and low-cost tools for budding young artists and musicians. It’s also the world’s biggest producer and distributor of video games for computers and for video-game machines (such as Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox). It takes in 4 billion dollars per year.

 

You’ll want 4 kinds of software:

When shopping for a computer, beware: its advertised price usually does not include all 4 kinds of software. Check which software is included.

The typical program has a high list price, which is called the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP). But the typical computer store will charge often charge a lower price (the street price), and mail-order dealers charge an even lower price, the mail-order price. Another way to get a low price is to visit a discount store, such as Best Buy or Staples or Sam’s Club, when that item is on sale, or check their Websites.

Version upgrades

If you already own an older version of the program, you can switch to the new version cheaply, by asking for the
version upgrade, which costs less than the full price. You can order the version upgrade at your local computer store, or from mail-order dealers, or directly from the program’s publisher.

To qualify for the version upgrade, you must prove that you already own an older version of the program. You can do that in several ways:

If you bought the old version shortly before the new version came out, you can get the new version free! Just phone the publisher and ask for the free version upgrade.

Competitive upgrades

If you don’t own an older version of the program, you can’t get the version-upgrade price. Here’s the best you can do:

Copying software

If you buy a program on disks, you should make backup copies of the disks. Use the backup copies in case the original disks get damaged.

You’re not allowed to give copies of the disks to your friends. That’s against the law! If your friends want to use the program, they must buy it from the software publisher or a dealer, so the programmer receives royalties.

If you give copies to your friends and become a lawbreaker, you’re called a pirate; making the copies is called piracy; the copies are called pirated software or hot software. Don’t be a pirate! Don’t distribute hot software!

Some software publishers use tricks that make the computer refuse to copy the program. Those tricks are called
copy protection; the software is copy protected. But even if the software publisher doesn’t use such tricks, it’s still against the law to make copies of the program for other people, since the program is still copyrighted.

Trial versions

Besides sitting at a friend’s computer, another way to “try before you buy” is to phone the program’s publisher and ask for a free demo disk.

Although some demo disks are just useless animated ads, the best publishers provide useful demo disks (called trial-size versions) that closely imitate the full versions. For example, the typical trial-size version of a word-processing program has nearly all the features of the full version but refuses to print memos that are more than a page long and refuses to copy your writing onto a disk. Trial-size versions are nicknamed crippled software, because each trial-size version has one or two abilities cut off. Playing with crippled software is a great way to give yourself a free education!

Another type of trial version is the limited-time version, which is free for the first month or two then requires you to pay if you want to continue using it afterwards.

Freeware

Software you’re allowed to copy and use freely is called freeware. For example, most demo disks and trial-size versions are freeware.

Most software invented by schools, government agencies, and computer clubs is freeware. Ask!

Shareware

Shareware is software that comes with a plea: although the author lets you copy the software and try it, you’re encouraged to mail the author a contribution if you like what you tried.

The suggested contribution, typically $25, is called a registration fee. It makes you a registered user and puts you on the author’s mailing list, so the author can mail you a printed manual and newer versions of the software.

Though most shareware authors merely “ask” for contributions, other shareware authors “demand” that you send a contribution if you use the software for longer than a month. Software for which a contribution is “demanded” is called guiltware — because if you don’t send the contribution, the author says you’re guilty of breaking the law.

To get shareware, copy it from a friend or download it from the Internet.

Beta versions

After inventing a program, its publisher must test it, to make sure it works on many kinds of computer equipment and in many situations. At first, the publisher’s employees test the program on their own computers: that’s called alpha testing. Next, the publishing company lets outsiders try the still-not-quite-perfected program: that’s called beta testing.

The outsiders who try it are called beta testers; the version being tested by outsiders is called a beta version. Beta versions are sometimes distributed for free or at a reduced price; but if you use a beta version, don’t rely on it, since it hasn’t been perfected yet; and it might be programmed to automatically stop working when the final version is invented.

Special deals

If your office wants many employees to use a program, ask the publisher for a site license, which permits your company to make copies for all employees in the office. Typically the employees are not allowed to take the copies home: the copies must all be used at the same site.

If you’re in a school and trying to teach kids how to use a program, ask the publisher for a trial-size version or academic version or educational site license.

If you own 2 computers and want to put the same program on both, you must typically buy 2 copies of the program. For example, if you want to put Windows on 2 computers, you must buy 2 copies of Windows (to avoid piracy), unless both computers are on the same site and you have a site license. Microsoft and some other major software publishers permit this exception, called the portable-computer rule: