| Friday, November
10, 2000
Hi!
I recently read a comprehensive test of office
packages in the German C't magazine, which I think is highly respected.
They tested 5 office packages on some real tasks, including DTP, long and
complex document, stock analysis and some other tests.
The packages were:
Ragtime 5.5.1 MS Office 2000 SR-1 Lotus SmartSuite
Millenium Edition 9.5 StarOffice 5.2 WordPerfect Office 2000 SP3
On DTP applikation, 4 page newsletter with specific
formatting requirements, they found:
StarOffice 5.2 and WordPro 9.5 was far best MS
Office could do the job, but not really well, and make the user insane
Ragtime achieved the best result. WordPerfect was a disaster
Standard letter and mail merge was won by Lotus,
followed by StarOffice, with Office not so distant third.
Complex document:
160 pages, 60 footnotes and 60 graphics, the
original intent was to use a significant number of OLE-objects (like
equations) but the use of OLE-object made all test candidates unstable
beyond usability.
In this category StarOffice was the winner by far,
with Wordpro clearly second, Ragtime third, MS Word fourth, and
WordPerfect unusable. With MS Word they had a major failure, so they had
to discard the document and restart. StarOffice was by far the most stable
product.
On stock analysis StarOffice was best, closely
followed by Excel, Quattro Pro was third and Lotus 1-2-3 fourth.
HTML Export didn't really work with any of the
products.
The essential finding was that StarOffice was the
most stable, and powerful of the 5 suites. It was also by far the most
stable one. The help system was awful, however. Office was found to be
powerful, but very messy and error prone.
The article is unfortunately in German, and paper
only. C't does have some english pages with selected articles: http://www.ix.de/ct/english/
Regards Erik Kaffehr
I suspect one gets different results in English,
but it's interesting. Thanks.
Dr. Pournelle,
IBM is selling a Back Office Suite for Linux
installations that is not only a serious challenge to Microsoft, but a
sweet deal for independent coders wishing access to the software in order
to upgrade their skills. Lotus Domino, WebSphere, and DB2 Universal
Database, all for $499. Here's a link to the story:
http://www.newsobserver.com/saturday/business/Story/243200p-231992c.html
Don McArthur http://www.mcarthurweb.com
************************************** "I wish I would have a tragic
love affair and get so bummed out that I'd just quit my job and become a
bum for a few years because I was thinking about doing that anyway."
Jack Handy **************************************
A milestone (gravestone?) in computing history has
been passed. The last Multics system has been shut down. I first saw this
on Dan Bricklin's web log ( http://www.danbricklin.com/log/
) and also looked for more on the Multics site ( http://www.multicians.org/general.html
).
Multics is as important as OS/360 in the history of
computing, leading directly to UNIX and other important developments for
computers large and small.
Edmund Hack echweb@ev1.net
I think I can help.
Screwtape was the Indian Guide, presumably from
Cleveland, who helped C.S. Lewis and Clark explore the Louisiana Purchase
and discovered the Latte when they reached the Pacific Northwest. Clark
later settled in Metropolis, where he founded a newspaper...
Stephen
No comment. None. None whatever...
Jerry and Roberta,
I just read your column on ADD and Dyslexia.
Normally I tend to agree with 95% of your writings (and I've read almost
all of them). However, I have personal experience which is diametrically
opposed to your comments on ADD.
First, let me list my credentials.
Age 38 National Merit Scholar in High School
Chemical Engineer, 15 years experience in polymer R&;D at various
chemical companies. Father of 5 children ... all of which are totally
different.
Both of my sons were identified as
"gifted" by the local school district in first grade. Both of my
sons noticed a dramatic drop in their GPA in 4th or 5th grade. >From
straight A's, to an eclectic mixture of A's, through F's. We filled out
some survey's on my 10 year old boy. It seemed to indicate ADD (not ADHD
... he's not hyperactive). My 14 year old looked at the surveys and said
that he has all the same symptoms also. My 13 year old daughter does not
have any of the symptoms. She makes straight A's, but doesn't seem to show
the same creative brilliance that the 14 year old does at times.
We talked to a psychiatrist, and obtained a
prescription to Ritalin for my 10 year old boy. The results were nothing
short of dramatic. He is now making straight A's and normally finishes his
work in class. Before Ritalin he always had what seemed to be an excessive
amount of homework.
Based on this success, we obtained a prescription
for my 14 year old (sophomore in high school). We noticed the same
dramatic results. He made straight A's while taking mostly Advanced
Placement classes. This is the first time he's made straight A's since 4th
grade. We noticed the same decrease in school work which had to be done at
home ... he's completing many assignments in class. One a more important
note, we no longer fight about grades and homework.
One the day of his first pill, Matt noticed that he
had been reading a book for 3 straight hours. He's never done that before.
He also commented that he feels more focused and he went ahead and cleaned
his room without being told to.
Obviously this is not a statistically valid sample
set. However, I note the following data.
Before Ritalin homework grades were a mixture of A's
and zeros. The zeros were usually due to forgetting to turn in the work,
or forgetting to do the work. This forgetfulness was especially vexing
when they would find the perfectly completed paper crumpled in their
backpack. In many cases they would only complete the front page, and
forget to do the problems on the back. After Ritalin the
"forgetfulness" seems to have ceased.
Test grades do not seem to have changed much. They
were typically A's and B's before Ritalin.
If there is a personality change I don't see it. Of
course, I see the boys in the evening when the short acting drug has worn
off.
All of their teachers have commented that they tend
to pay attention and focus better.
The dramatic drop in GPA in the 4th grade may
coincide with the switch from verbal to written instruction and response.
They responded well to verbal, highly interactive teaching environments.
They don't do so well when the teacher tells them to turn to page 15 and
work problems 1-25. Fourth grade is also the time in which teachers refuse
to take late assignments.
OTHER DATA
I am working in technical service. My job requires
the ability to handle constant interruptions... customers call and expect
me to quickly diagnose and suggest solutions to their problem. I may be
just as ADD as my sons but I've gravitated to a career where the ability
to switch tasks quickly is a benefit.
Most of our sales reps (another job which is very
non-linear) have children who are ADD.
The most obvious ADHD child I've met is the son of
an obviously ADHD father. He prefers the term, "high bandwidth."
He's a double diamond Amway dealer ... highly successful financially. He
commented that at a recent Amway Diamond dealers meeting ... everyone's
son was on Ritalin. 100% is significantly higher than the 25% of students
who seem to be on medication. Amway seems to be a career path which
doesn't require focus, and instead rewards those who can jump from task to
task each time the phone rings.
CONCLUSION
Ritalin has been a wonder drug for my two sons. It
is helping them cope with the public school system.
NEXT STEP
Can you think of a way to test the effect of Ritalin
on creativity? Being able to focus is a great way to finish your calculus
homework, but are you losing the ability to do creative design work?
Jim Coffey jim.coffey@solvay.com
"Destiny is my choice, not by chance"
Check out our new web site; http://www.solvaypolymers.com
I have never supposed that no one is helped by
Ritalin; I do think that the number of kids being given that stuff is far
higher than the number who need it. I also wonder if a better education
system might produce different results.
Dear Dr. Pournelle,
I checked the link on violent reading. Since I
taught myself to read, starting with Chic Young's _Blondie_ comic strip
and Mother's help, I must be a terribly violent citizen. I am addicted to
Dagwood sandwiches, and indebted to the _Blondie_ radio show for pointing
out that the sides were to be sewn up with spaghetti and the sandwich
cemented with peanut butter to keep the ingredients from falling out. As a
violent subversive, my avocation is selling genuine imitation snake oil to
people that believe presentations like the one described in the link.
regards,
William L. Jones wljones@dallas.net
I'm in the process of completing a paper that shows
bats use predictive modeling in their flight planning. That has some
interesting implications for autonomous vehicle design. Most artificial
systems drink from the fire-hose of sensory input and try to make sense of
it in real-time. On the other hand, advanced invertebrates and most
vertebrates seem to live in a world model that they use to plan things,
and they update that model using carefully selected and filtered input,
almost like scientists conducting experiments. That means their world
models have to be either 4-dimensional from the start, or they have to be
able to simulate the future and the outcome of motor actions a _lot_
faster than real-time. In a brain with neurons that complete their
computations in about 10 msec. Is this suggesting where AI went off the
track a long time ago? Yep. So how does the brain store or build a 4
dimensional manifold in a way that neighborhoods are preserved--given that
the brain appears to be 2 or 2.5 dimensional? There appears to be
something really strange going on.
Cheers,
-- --- Harry Erwin, PhD, Computational
Neuroscientist (modeling bat behavior) and Senior SW Analyst and Security
Engineer. CV and papers available at: < http://mason.gmu.edu/~herwin/CV.htm
>
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