Quadriga (AppleWorks v4.0)

[nkp@ausom.oz.au (Nicholas Pyers)]

The following appeared on the latest issue of TimeOut: Central.

It seems to be one of the best kept secrets in the computer industry and is
a great bonus for the faithful.  Someone up stairs has been listening.

Quality and Randy should be elevated to the status of GODS!!!

LONG LIVE THE APPLE // !!!!!!!!!!

Transcript Follows:


Quadriga is the code name for a major new software product from Quality
Computers. Tentatively titled "The Works 4.0", this product was designed to
be what AppleWorks 4.0 should have been if Claris was still active in the
 Apple II world.

Quadriga's product manager is Randy Brandt, one of the authors of AppleWorks
3.0. After several years of idly discussing with Mark Munz what an
AppleWorks
upgrade could be like, Randy proposed the project to Quality Computers'
President Joe Gleason in early 1993. Joe agreed to the proposal, and Randy
began serious design, starting with many of the ideas he'd been considering
for the last few years. Once work began, Dan Verkade (DoubleData,
ReportWriter, SuperForms, etc) was hired as a programmer to work with Randy.

The Quadriga feature list is incomplete as this is being written, but here
are some things you can expect. Many small improvements aren't listed, but
are still very handy, such as the data base multi-record layout displaying
the column widths as the user is editing them. All of the well-known
existing
enhancements which have been built-in are also improved over the current
versions.

Release Date
- scheduled for October 1, 1993 release

Hardware
- runs on minimal 128K unenhanced IIe with one 5.25" drive
- 256k recommended, required for UltraMacros player

Installation
- TimeOut and Init Manager built-in
- hard drive installer included

Desktop/Generic
- three smoothly integrated desktops, allowing up to 36 files. When
quitting,
  user is notified of all changed files.
- Tab switches between desktops at OA-Q menu, save/remove files menus
- quitting with large files are on the desktop is much faster
- three separate clipboards, one for each application. User can decide which
 clipboard to paste in a file.
- clipboards are fully editable
- add to clipboard option allows appending to existing clipboard
- built-in disk/file utility a la FileMaster includes auto-install of inits
  and TimeOut applications
- mouse support, on-screen clock included
- UltraMacros player included (no recording or compiling)
- five printers instead of three
- HP DeskJet support built-in
- auto-save feature saves current file every X minutes
- screen blanker included
- Add files lists 250 files instead of 170
- Add files lists Text files and loads them as Word Processor files
- Change Disk menu shows current volume names when OA-? is pressed
- QuickPath feature lets user pick a new path from a list


Word Processor
- dictionary copier is built-in
- split screen editing
- MouseText symbols for printer codes instead of carets
- glossary feature allows easy formatted input from data base files, such as
 inserting addresses in a letter
- improved mail merge no longer uses the clipboard, supports fixed form
  merging as well as reformatted document merging
- improved find/replace


Data Base
- categories per record increased to 60 from 30
- characters per category increased to 2560 from 1024
- selection rules can be imported from a report
- large files with rules active are much more responsive
- more find options include instant binary searches on sorted categories
- changed records can be selected
- standard values can provide the current date or time
- date categories support years from 1000 to 9999
- improved TotalControl features built-in
- spreadsheet-style formulas can be up to 240 characters long
- glossaries allow easy entry from pop-up lists of other data bases, up to
  16,250 entries
- glossaries highlight the first matching entry when multiple entries are
  possible on partial match categories
- data can be imported from other data base files
- data can be exported (posted) to other data base files
- sorts can be case sensitive or insensitive
- reports increased to 30 from 20
- reports auto-sort before printing
- reports printed to text files support user-defined delimiters

Spreadsheet
- the current column's width is displayed on screen
- during formula entry, functions can be selected from a pop-up list
- date formatting allows date math
- oa-f can now be used to find numbers and formula data
- finds can be row or column based
- if titles are set, they are used on each page of a printout
- "3D" feature allows spreadsheets to access other spreadsheets
- new functions include Left, Right, Upper, Lower, Mid, etc.
- Alert function allows a specified calculation result to display an
 on-screen message

End Transcript

-- 
Nicholas K Pyers (nkp@ausom.oz.au)

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