#Quality of Software
3 messages in this thread
All,
I am close to buying a CD player and I want to get a better idea of which
software to chose as a bundle. I have looked into this a little by using
some CD's at a friends house and I noticed that the quality of this
software is VERY different (as is the case of all software).
For example, Groliers has a pretty good search method. I can enter key
words and then when the article appears I can search within it. It also
offers links to other articles. Family doctor also seems to have a good
method of doing an initial search and then narrowing it down. But when I
looked at Library of the Future I saw no way to do a text search once I was
within an article. The World Atlas and the US Atlas were very limited in
the information they offered. And in Toolwork's Reference Library I tried
out the dictionary and the definitions were very limited. Also, there was
no way to highlight a word in the Thesaurus and jump to another list of
synonyms (unless I missed something).
I know opinions differ and people have different tastes. But I am hoping I
can find out here which CD's fall into the "quality" category. I would
hope that a CD be comprehensive in the information it contains (unlike US
Atlas which only lets you look up a couple of cities in each state). And I
would hope that it incorporates what I have come to expect as part of
computer software (ie. keyword searches, searches within a selected set
after an initial search, lists of title headings and subheadings, the
ability to backstep in a search, and the ability to launch a new search via
links.)
Anyway, one bundle I am looking into is the one from DAK that
contains Magazine Rack, U.S History on CD ROM, Bible Library, Time
Compact Almanac, and Small Business Consultant with Stat Pack. Any
comments would be GREATLY appreciated.
..Andrew
As you might expect "quality" is still very much in the eye of the
beholder. For good or ill, most products you will find in bundles use
very different software and interface techniques. Unfortunately
there is no way to tell if the products meet your needs other than to
try them. Some vendors wite their own interfaces, other use
off-the-shelf packages, still others use modfied vesion of commercial
software. Most vendors I know appreciate your feedback. Everyone is
looking for the "best" to do things.
Rich,
I agree, quality is in the eye of the beholder. And an interface
preference for one person may be the least favorite for another. Still,
there are possible ways to describe a product even though these won't be
the same as first hand experience and I'm hoping to at least get a some
sort of idea about these products before making a choice.
I'm very new to all of this. I only became interested a couple weeks ago
when a friend showed me his Groliers. It was then that I realized how much
sense CD information-bases make. And since I am tired of driving to the
library I find this fascinating.
..Andrew