 x	E                                                                 n, 1990 MOAUG Newsletter)

     When I get a new package of goodies from an ADAM vendor, it's just like Christmas all over again! New toys!
     So join me, if you Random Access: The HARRIS FILE by MOAUG columnist John Harris (as printed in Jan, 1990 MOAUG Newsletter)

     When I get a new package of goodies from an ADAM vendor, it's just like Christmas all over again! New toys!
     So join me, if you will, as we examine the contents of my latest package from NIAD (PO Box l3l7, Lisle, Il. 60532):
     First there's MARKET MONITOR, the never-released Coleco program to keep track of your portfolio of stocks (and bonds?).
     It was developed in l986 by Coleco Canada Limited and is now in public domain ($4 disk or $6 Datapack from NIAD.) With MARKET MONITOR, you can maintain 50 buy-or-sell trans- actions on l5 securities.
     In addition, it will compute your capital gains to help you with your income tax, and track prices automatically by modem link with Financial Post Data Service; or, you can look them up in the newspaper and enter them manually.
     The one shortcoming I found was that there was no documentation on my disk. I'm sure this was oversight, because a review in the NIAD newsletter, Nov. 89, page 6, states: "The manual has been typed into SmartWRITER for easier distribution and to avoid any extra charges for reproduction of the manual."
     So I'm returning my disk and I'm sure our friend of ADAMCon 01, Jim Notini, will place it on there for me.
     It seems easy enough to run: pull reset, enter today's date, choose type of printer, get menu, etc.  But if a doc is available, I want it. I need all the help I can get.
                         * * * * * 
     Next, another PD unreleased Coleco program, TAX PLANNER, also from Coleco Canada, l984 (also reviewed in NIAD, Nov. 89, p. 6.)
     Unlike MARKET MONITOR, I found TAX PLANNER to have more ReadmeDOCs than I wanted--not one, but three. Doc 1 gives the general instructions, but if you live in the U.S., you can cut your printer off after you complete the "Financial Modeling" section. Next comes Appendixes A thru F, all about Canadian tax provisions. This program was written by Canadians for Canadians.
     And don't wear your printer out cranking out Docs 2 and 3 either. They're also Canadian.
     For our Canadian friends, this is a super program. And NIAD assures me that the program itself does perform admirably for the U.S. citizen as well. It doesn't figure your tax for you, but can answer a number of "what if" questions. 
     I haven't tried it yet. Would be interesting to get a review by MOAUG's own president, John Terry, who is a professional tax man. Or maybe John could rewrite docs with U.S. tax info. How about that, John?
     And NIAD's Notini also welcomes additions and revisions.
                         * * * * * 
     Then there's ADAM SUPPORT, a PD SmartFILER data base of vendors and user groups. 
     There are l80 entries, but a single source may be listed several times--once in each category such as software, hardware, repair, etc.
     A glance through the listings shows it to need updating. For example, Expandable Computer News is listed although it ceased publication some time back. And Sol Swift's Digital Express is still listed in Oak Hill, W. Va.  (But then we've all had a little problem keeping track of Sol, haven't we?).
     But you can update it easily enough and it's a handy way to keep all those addresses in order. An excellent addition to your data base library! (Note: My wife, Merlin, noticed that this bears a striking resemblence to the database developed by Hector Sanchez and distributed by the Saint Louis ADAM Users' Group.  We got our copy from MOAUG.  We are not absolutely sure that the two are identical.) 
                         * * * * *
     Next in the package is a copy of the NIAD PRODUCT REVIEW BOOK, (paper cover, 5 l/2x 8 l/2 inches, $l9.95) with reviews of l00 Adam products.
     A flip through this booklet tells me immediately that I'm in trouble. The print is so fine, cramped, and so light that my bifocaled eyes are going to be crossed after a few minutes of trying to read it. I finally hauled out the magnifying glass.
     There's no index (and one would be helpful), but it's arranged alphabetically within sections on software, hardware and books. Well, almost. The tractor feed review somehow ended up in the book section.
     The book consists of reprints of product reviews from earlier issues of the NIAD newsletter.  Therefore, it provides some very useful information on products released between l985 and June l987. But it hasn't been revised, and this is sorely needed. Important programs developed later, such as SpeedyWRITE, are not reviewed.
     The book warns us that not all the products listed are available thru NIAD. But it doesn't tell us from whom they can be obtained or whether they're available at all. There's little point in studying a review of a product that's no longer available. 
     The front cover lists it as "Book 1." So we'll look forward to Book 2, and hope that it will have a more user-friendly format. 
     Certainly the NIAD newsletter itself has a most attractive and easy-to-read format with its standard 8 l/2 x ll pages and crisp print. All that's needed is to simply use this same format for the book.
     Until then, I don't recommend this one. 
 
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