Lotus articles from January 1989

Lotus archives from January 1989

Staff letter; we're presenting things a bit differently.
January 1, 1989... STAFF LETTER WE'RE PRESENTING THINGS A BIT DIFFERENTLY Putting out a magazine each month entails enough work to keep us busy around here. So it is all too easy to just keep doing it, without stopping to think about whether we're still...

Letters.
January 1, 1989... LOANS: EARLY PAYMENT AND LET THE BANK DO IT I read with interest Stephen Nelson's "Track the Payments on Your Loan" [September]. I haven't been able to set up a spreadsheet that takes into account additional payments made against a loan....

(at)ERR. (corrections to Oct 88 issue and Jul 88 issue )
January 1, 1989... @ERR "The Day-of-the-Week Probem" (October): The comma that appears after @DATE should be placed after ,7). The correct formula is: @CHOOSE(@MOD(@DATE(YEAR, month,day),7),"Saturday", "Sunday","Monday","Tuesday",...

Good ideas; reader tips on using Lotus products.
January 1, 1989... GOOD IDEAS READER TIPS ON USING LOTUS PRODUCTS 1-2-3/SYMPHONY ENTERING DATES Using the @DATE function to enter dates in 1-2-3 or Symphony is cumbersome. The following technique circumvents having to enter the @DATE function...

Q&A; answers to your questions about Lotus products.
January 1, 1989... ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT LOTUS PRODUCTS 1-2-3 DATA QUERY RANGE MIX-UP Q. I am having a problem with the Data Query commands. The Criterion range contains a great deal of information entered across 15 cells. How can I get...

Essay; inside-out logic is very confusing.
January 1, 1989... INSIDE-OUT LOGIC IS VERY CONFUSING Why am I so confused? Wait--don't answer that question. First let's talk about the Next computer. Like many of you who try to keep up with what's what in microcomputerland, I focused hard on the...

(at)Lotus.
January 1, 1989... @LOTUS CUSTOMER SUPPORT ON CD-ROM Lotus Development Corp. has announced Lotus Prompt CD, a collection of 10 databases with information about all Lotus products, which is updated and delivered monthly on a CD-ROM. Each...

Ideas & trends.
January 1, 1989... IDEAS & TRENDS PUT DATA ON THE MAP A spreadsheet tells you how much, and a database gives you the who and what, but to find out where, you really need a map. There are currently about 50 desktop mapping programs for PCs, but you...

It's tax time; Ideas and trends. (includes related article on hints on buying a tax package)
January 1, 1989... IT'S TAX TIME Midnight, April 15, 1988. At tax preparers' offices throughout the country, the champagne corks started popping. Several New Hampshire offices of H&R Block presented employees with T-shirts sporting the message...

Digital archives: will they be accessible? (Ideas and trends)
January 1, 1989... DIGITAL ARCHIVES: WILL THEY BE ACCESSIBLE? No one really knows how long magnetic data will last, since the magnetic-storage business has been around for only 45 years. But Michael Sheridan, technical director for 3M's Data Storage Products...

Applications that talk to each other. (Ideas and trends) (communications protocols)
January 1, 1989... APPLICATIONS THAT TALK TO EACH OTHER In an ideal world, PC communications would be as simple as sending a document to a printer. No need to call up specialized software. Instead, just transmit any file to a fax machine, E-mail network, or...

Interview: user groups grow up. (Ideas and trends) (Betty Brooks of the Houston Area League of PC Users) (interview)
January 1, 1989... INTERVIEW: USER GROUPS GROW UP Like the microcomputer industry itself, user groups have come out of the hobbyist's garage and into the big time. One of the largest groups is the Houston Area League of PC Users (HAL-PC). A few dozen...

Have you backed up your hard disk today? (Ideas and trends) (backup options) (includes related article on selecting a backup system)
January 1, 1989... HAVE YOU BACKED UP YOUR HARD DISK TODAY? Few computer users regularly back up the data on their hard disks, perhaps because the time, effort, and expense associated with backup systems can be daunting. However, new technologies and...

(at)Library Volume I; work more efficiently by teaming these (at)functions with 1-2-3 and Symphony. (Software Review) (IRG Information Systems) (evaluation)
January 1, 1989... @LIBRARY VOLUME I If you create financial worksheets, several of @Library Volume I's 48 @functions can save you work and recalculation time. If you often convert spreadsheet tables into databases to avail yourself of 1-2-3's or Symphony's...

Time Line; instant Gantt charts bring the flexibility of what-if analysis to project management. (Software Review) (Symantec Corp.) (evaluation)
January 1, 1989... TIME LINE If you manage projects, chances are that you can do that work on a personal computer with a project-management program. If you use a spreadsheet to do the budgeting and analysis associated with your projects, you want a...

1-2-3 macros; beyond the worksheet. (using DOS batch files and Release 2-2.01 macros to make Lotus 1-2-3 work with other programs) (includes related article on transferring data) (includes letter from reader)
January 1, 1989... 1-2-3 MACROS We've encountered this question several times since LOTUS began. It is possible to do what you ask, but not without creating a kludge. Still, if you have a hard disk and you're willing to work through concepts in three...

Symphony macros; a data-conversion tool. (managing information stored in tables) (includes letters from readers) (includes related article on conventions used in examples and using range names)
January 1, 1989... SYMPHONY MACROS A DATA-CONVERSION TOOL When you work in a Symphony spreadsheet, your data usually ends up in a table. Once you've created a table with several columns and rows of data, manipulating the data can be a chore. For example,...

Macro basics; set titles in 1-2-3. (learning how to write Lotus 1-2-3 macros)
January 1, 1989... MACROS BASICS SET TITLES IN 1-2-3 Setting worksheets titles locks selected rows and columns into the display on your screen. Once you set titles, you can move the cell pointer to any point on the worksheet and still view the rows or...

How to calculate earnings per share. (finance) (a template to determine the values involved in calculating earnings per share) (includes related article on where to find guidelines)
January 1, 1989... HOW TO CALCULATE EARNINGS PER SHARE Calculating earnings per share (EPS) should be pretty easy: Start with total earnings and divide by the number of shares of stock. Unfortunately, it isn't always that simple. And when it isn't, the...

Anatomy of a 1-2-3 graph. (how to create the five graph types available in Lotus 1-2-3)
January 1, 1989... Anatomy of a 1-2-3 GRAPH A spreadsheet is great when you want to organize and analyze information, but it doesn't always make it easy for you to quickly find answers to your questions. Look at the worksheet in figure 2 and answer the...

A guide to public domain software. (programs to enhance Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony spreadsheet programs) (includes names and addresses of online information services and mail order houses) (buyers guide)
January 1, 1989... A GUIDE TO PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFFTWARE The prospect of getting something for nothing is always alluring. And so it is with sofftware. In this article you'll learn about the world of free (public domain) and almost free (shareware) programs...

(at)FUNCTIONS revisited. (Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony)
January 1, 1989... @FUNCTIONS Revisited When you build a spreadsheet model, you may occasionally create extra work for yourself. For example, you might write labyrinthine @IF formulas that could be more concise and memory-efficient. Or perhaps you create...

Re-create reality in a spreadsheet. (using at-RAND) (includes related article on producing random numbers)
January 1, 1989... RE-CREATE REALITY IN A SPREADSHEET If we knew with certainty what the outcome of an action would be, deciding whether or not to take the action would be simple. The decision would depend solely upon the favorability of the outcome. But in...

Graphics; color for reports and overhead transparencies; the HP PaintJet and Xerox 4020 color ink-jet printers. (Hardware Review) (evaluation)
January 1, 1989... GRAPHICS COLOR FOR REPORTS AND OVERHEAD TRANSPARENCIES While laser printers are leaders in producing high-quality black-and-white output, no leader has emerged for printing in color. Pen plotters are slow and fill solid areas unevenly....

Compaq SLT-286: a new leader in laptops, for now. (Hardware Review) (New Products) (evaluation)
January 1, 1989... Compaq SLT/286: A New Leader in Laptops, for Now In October Compaq finally joined the laptop crowd. The $5,399 Compaq SLT/286 Model 20, with a 20-megabyte hard disk, and the $5,999 Compaq SLT/286 Model 40, with a 40-megabyte hard disk, are...

NEC Ultralite: 4.4 pounds and a caveat or two. (Hardware Review) (evaluation)
January 1, 1989... NEC Ultralite: 4.4 Pounds and a Caveat or Two NEC Home Electronics' Ultralite laptop is noteworthy for its minuscule size, extremely, light weight, and use of a new form of mass storage. However, its lack of some basic functions, such as a...

New products. (brief notices about new products)
January 1, 1989... Build 3-D Spreadsheets or View Two at once Look&Link consists of two 1-2-3 add-ins. Link (35K of RAM) lets you dynamically link and consolidate worksheets. Since Link allows you to link worksheets on disk, only the amount of available disk...