The information stored in the computer is called software. Most software stays in RAM temporarily and is erased from RAM when you no longer need it. But some software stays in the computer’s circuits permanently: it hides in the ROM and is called firmware.

To feed firmware to the computer, put extra ROM chips on the motherboard or insert a ROM cartridge. To feed other kinds of software to the computer, use the keyboard, disk, or tape: type the info on the keyboard, or insert a disk or tape containing the info.

You can feed the computer four kinds of software: an operating system, a language, application programs, and data. Let’s look at them.…

 

An operating system is a set of instructions that explains to the CPU how to handle the keyboard, the screen, printer, disk drives, and mouse.

BIOS versus DOS

In a standard IBM-compatible PC, the operating system is divided into two parts.

The operating system’s fundamental part is in the motherboard’s ROM chips and is called the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS). The operating system’s advanced part is on a disk and is called the disk operating system (or DOS, which is pronounced “doss”).

From MS-DOS to Windows

The first DOS for the IBM PC was invented by IBM and a company called MicroSoft (MS). That DOS was called IBM PC-DOS or MS-DOS. It came on a floppy disk.

The first version of it was called version 1. It came on a floppy disk.

Version 2 was better: it came on a floppy disk but could be copied to a hard disk. (Version 1 couldn’t handle hard disks.)

Versions 3, 4, 5, and 6 were even better. Like version 2, they came on floppy disks and could be copied to the hard disk, but they had this advantage: they could be supplemented by a set of extra floppy disks, invented by Microsoft and called Windows, which let the computer perform tricks (such as dividing the screen into “windows of info” and letting you use a mouse instead of just a keyboard).

The original version of Windows was called Windows 1. Later came Windows 2, then Windows 3. Those versions of Windows were supplements to MS-DOS. To use them, you had to buy MS-DOS first. They were supplements (called shells) that tried to hide MS-DOS’s ugliness (just like a clamshell hides an ugly clam); they made MS-DOS look prettier. You would buy the ugly operating system (MS-DOS) plus an operating-system shell (Windows) to create a new operating environment.

Modern standard Windows

In 1995, Microsoft invented a better version of Windows, called Windows 95, which performs more tricks and is a complete operating system: it does not require you to buy MS-DOS first; it is not just a shell.

Windows 95 comes on a floppy disk plus a CD-ROM disk. To use Windows 95, you (or the dealer) must copy the floppy disk and CD-ROM disk to the hard disk.

After Windows 95, Microsoft invented further improvements. Here are the years:

Windows 95 and the versions that came after it are all called modern Windows. Earlier versions of Windows (Windows 1, 2, and 3) are called classic Windows.

Most computer programs require modern Windows. Most programs say they require “Windows 95 or later”. Such programs refuse to run if you bought just classic Windows or MS-DOS.

Windows CE versus Palm

Microsoft has invented a tiny version of Windows, for pocket computers and other electronic devices having a small RAM and small screen. That tiny Windows is called Windows Compact Edition for Computers Embedded in Consumer Electronics (Windows CE). It fits completely into ROM chips and requires no disks.

It’s used in handheld computers such as the Compaq iPaq and the HP Journada. It competes against an even smaller ROM operating system, called the Palm Operating System (Palm OS), which is used in cheaper handheld computers such as the Zire, the Handspring Treo, and the Sony Clié.

Corporate versions of Windows

Big corporations running big networks used a fancy “corporate” version of Windows called Windows New Technology (Windows NT), invented in 1993. In the year 2000 came an improved version, called Windows 2000. Windows XP replaced them and made them obsolete, but later Microsoft invented another corporate version, called Windows 2003 Server.

Unix

AT&T’s Bell Laboratories invented an operating system called Unix. It’s pronounced “you nicks”, so it sounds like “eunuchs”, which are castrated men. (Be careful! A female computer manager who seems to be saying “get me eunuchs” probably wants an operating system, not castrated men.) “Unix” is an abbreviation for “UNICS”, which stands for “UNified Information & Computing System”.

The original version of Unix was limited to DEC minicomputers used by just one person at a time. Newer versions of Unix can handle any manufacturer’s maxi, mini, or micro, even when shared by lots of people at a time.

Linux A Finnish programmer named Linus Torvalds (whose first name is pronounced “lee nuss”) invented a Unix imitation called “Linus Unix” or Linux (pronounced “lee nucks”). It’s free!

It runs on 386, 486, and Pentium computers and also on Atari and Commodore Amiga computers. The most popular way to get it is to buy a distribution (which includes Linux plus extras), published by Mandrake or SuSE or Red Hat.

Solaris Sun Microsystems makes Sparc minicomputers, which are used as graphics/engineering workstations and Internet servers. Sparc minicomputers use the Solaris operating system, which is a souped-up version of Unix. Solaris is intended for Sparc minicomputers, but you can also get a version of Solaris that runs on microcomputers containing an Intel CPU.

Unix versus Windows Though many programmers adore Unix, it won’t outsell Windows, since Unix is harder to learn and had its main features stolen by new versions of MS-DOS & Windows. But Unix networks are more reliable than Window networks and form the basis of the Internet.

Mac OS

The Mac uses its own operating system, called the Mac OS. To invent Windows, Microsoft copied many features from the Mac OS. Windows and the Mac OS are very similar to each other.

Versions 1-9 of the Mac OS were invented completely by Apple. Version 10 of the Mac OS is based on Unix instead: it’s a version of Unix modified to resemble and surpass Mac OS 9.

Since Mac OS 10 is technically quite different from Mac OS 9, Apple tries to emphasize the Olympic greatness of OS 10 by writing it in Roman numerals (like this: Mac OS X), which Apple says to pronounce as “Mac oh ess ten”. Apple will forgive you if you say “Mac oh ess ex”, which sounds like “Mac — oh! — is sex!”, since Mac OS X is the sexy operating system that makes the Mac gorgeously appealing.

Old computers

Old computers used old operating systems:

 

Languages that humans normally speak — such as English, Spanish, French, Russian, and Chinese — are called natural languages. They’re too complicated for computers to understand.

To communicate with computers, programmers use computer languages instead. The most popular computer languages are BASIC, JavaScript, Java, and C++.

Each is a tiny part of English — a part small enough for the computer to master. To teach the computer one of those tiny languages, you feed the computer a disk (or ROM chips) containing definitions of that tiny language’s words.

Of those 4 computer languages, Basic is the easiest to learn and the most practical for most purposes; JavaScript is the best for creating small but thoughtful programs on the Internet; Java is the best for creating deeper Internet programs (and animated Internet cartoons!); C++ is the hardest to learn but runs the fastest, consumes the least RAM and gives you the most control over the computer.

Although those 4 languages have become the most popular, many others were invented.

This book discusses many languages, so you become a virtuoso!

 

The computer will do whatever you wish — if you tell it how. To tell the computer how to do what you wish, you feed it a program, which is a list of instructions, written in Basic or in some other computer language.

To feed the computer a program, type the program on the keyboard, or buy a disk containing the program and put that disk into the drive, or buy ROM chips containing the program. But before buying the disk, make sure it will work with your computer. For example, if the disk says “for Windows”, it will work with a modern IBM-compatible PC but not with the typical Apple Mac computer.

A person who invents a program is called a programmer. Becoming a programmer is easy: you can become a programmer in just a few minutes! Becoming a good programmer takes longer.

You can buy two kinds of programs. The most popular kind is called an application program: it handles a specific application, such as payroll or psychotherapy or chess. The other kind of program is called a system program: it teaches the computer how to handle various kinds of hardware and various computer languages. An operating system (such as Windows or Unix) is mainly a collection of system programs, bundled together to form a nice package. Application programs are usually purchased separately, though a few applications programs are included in the operating system’s price.

You’ll want several kinds of application programs. Here are the most popular.…

Word processing

A word-processing program helps you write memos, letters, reports, research papers, articles, and books. It also helps you edit what you wrote.

As you type on the keyboard, the screen shows what you typed. By pressing buttons (on the keyboard or the mouse), you can edit what’s on the screen and copy it onto paper and onto a disk.

Most operating systems include a simple word-processing program.

Those simple word-processing programs are very limited. For example, they aren’t smart enough to correct your spelling.

Most businesses use a fancier word-processing program instead, called Microsoft Word. It can correct your spelling and perform many other tricks. It’s supposed to cost several hundred dollars, but some dealers include it as a free bonus when you buy a computer. It works just if you’ve already bought Windows or the Mac OS. Its main competitor is WordPerfect, which costs less and is published by a company called Corel.

Instead of saying “word-processing program”, it’s shorter to say just “word processor”, but beware: “word processor” can mean a program, a person, or a machine. Yes, “word processor” can mean 3 things:

Spreadsheets

To analyze a company, accountants examine the company’s financial data (each month’s expenses and revenues) and arrange all those numbers to form a huge “table of numbers”, spread across a big sheet of paper. That’s called a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet is a table of numbers, spread across a sheet of paper — or across the computer’s screen.

A spreadsheet program lets you create a table of numbers on the computer screen. You can type any numbers you wish. For example, you can type amounts of money (for accounting) or scores (from sports or student exams) or measurements (from science-lab experiments or sociology surveys) or your ratings of members of the opposite sex.

The typical spreadsheet program is powerful. It can automatically do these things:

It’s great for analyzing budgets, scientific experiments, statistics, and you!

Most businesses use a spreadsheet program called Microsoft Excel. It requires Windows or a Mac. Its main competitors are Corel’s Quattro Pro and IBM’s Lotus 1-2-3: they require Windows or MS-DOS.

Danger: compulsive perfectionism

The most successful business programs are the ones that make work become fun, by turning the work into a video game. That’s why word processing programs and spreadsheet programs are so successful — they let you move letters and numbers around the screen, edit the errors by “zapping” them, and let you press a button that makes the screen explode with totals, subtotals, counts, and other info.

Sometimes, word processing can be too much fun. Since it’s so much fun to edit on a word processor, people using word processors edit more thoroughly than people using typewriters or pens.
Word processing fosters compulsive perfectionism.

Word-processed documents wind up better-written than non-electronic documents but take longer to finish. According to a survey by Colorado State, people using word processors take about 30% longer to generate memos than people using pens, and the word-processed memos are needlessly long.

Danger: intimidation

Word-processing and spreadsheet programs can become weapons that mesmerize people into believing everything you say — even if what you’re saying is wrong.

For example, suppose you want to submit a budget. If you scribble the budget on a scrap of paper, nobody will take you seriously; but if you put your data into a spreadsheet program that spits out beautifully aligned columns with totals, subtotals, percentages, bar charts, and pie charts, your audience will assume your budget’s carefully thought out and applaud it, even though it’s just a pretty presentation of the same crude guesses you’d have scribbled on paper.

Similarly, if you want to talk somebody into believing your idea, scribbling it on a scrap of paper won’t impress anybody. Instead, printing the idea beautifully, using a word processor to create headlines, footnotes, etc., That will make the idea seem carefully thought out, even if the thought is actually the same garbage.

Try it! If you’re a kid, write a formal report on why your dessert tonight should be strawberry ice cream instead of vanilla. After submitting it to your Mom, submit it to an ice-cream company and watch yourself get praised, quoted, and hired! That’s what marketing is all about: bad ideas, nicely packaged.

Databases

A database program helps you manipulate long lists of data, such as names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, comments about folks you know (your friends, customers, suppliers, employees, students, and teachers), past-due bills, and any other data you wish!

As you type the list of data, the database program automatically copies it to the hard disk. Then the program lets you edit that data. For example, you can insert extra data in the middle of the list. The program lets you view the data in any order you wish (such alphabetical order, ZIP-code order, or chronological order) and print that view onto paper.

The program can search through all that data and find, in just a few seconds, the data that’s unusual. For example, it can find everybody whose birthday is today, or everybody who’s blond and under 18, or everybody who lives out-of-state and has owed you more than $30 for over a year.

Most businesses try to use a database program called Microsoft Access. It requires Windows. Unfortunately, it’s hard to master. You should start with an easier database program instead, such as FileMaker Pro, which is published by a division of Apple and runs on Macs and Windows. Other famous database programs are Approach (for Windows and published by IBM’s Lotus division), Oracle (for large corporations), Q&A (for beginners using MS-DOS), Dbase (for MS-DOS or Windows), and FoxPro (which resembles Dbase but is fancier).

Internet

The Internet is an international network of computers that share info. You can make your computer become part of the Internet too!

Web The most popular part of the Internet is the World Wide Web (WWW), where people publish Web pages that everybody else using the Internet can view.

If you want to view the Web pages that other people have created, and browse through them, you need a program called a Web browser.

The most popular Web browser is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. It’s available for Windows and the Mac. Its main competitor is Netscape Navigator. Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator are both free. The easiest way to get your free copy of Internet Explorer is to get Windows 98 or Me or XP: each comes on a CD that also contains Internet Explorer.

To invent and edit your own Web pages (so other people on the Internet can view them), get a Web-page editor. The most popular is Microsoft’s FrontPage. FrontPage’s main competitor is Dreamweaver, which can perform fancier tricks but is harder to learn and more expensive.

E-mail If you attach your computer to the Internet, you can send electronic mail (e-mail) to another computer on the Internet, provided you have an “e-mail sending & receiving program”, which is called an e-mail client.

The most popular e-mail client is Microsoft’s Outlook Express, which comes free as part of Internet Explorer. Outlook Express’s main competitor is Netscape Messenger, which comes free as part of Netscape Navigator.

Outlook Express is a stripped down version of Outlook, which handles e-mail, faxes, and appointments and is not free.

Graphics

A graphics program helps you create pictures that are pretty or bizarre or whatever else you want! You’ll want to get several type of graphics programs.

One type is called a paint program. It lets you create pictures easily. These paint programs are the most famous:

Another type is called a photo editor. It lets you scan a photo into the computer (by using a scanner) and see the photo on the computer’s screen. Then it lets you edit the photo: it lets you crop out the irrelevant parts, cover scratches and embarrassing details, improve the contrast and brightness and colors, remove red-eye (caused when eyes become accidentally red from the flashbulb), and add special dramatic effects. These photo editors are the best:

These photo editors are outdated:

Another type is called a drawing program. It resembles a paint program but specializes in drawing straight lines instead of squiggles. It’s best for drawing pictures of things that have straight lines, such as buildings, machines, and charts for technical illustrations. These drawing programs are the most famous:

Another type is called a computer-aided drafting & design program (CAD program). It resembles a draw program but does more math. For example, it can print mock blueprints, showing the lengths of all parts. It can compute the surface area (square feet) of any shape, so you can compute how much material to buy to build your structure and cover it. It lets you give fancy geometric commands, such as “draw a 37-degree angle, but make the point be round instead of sharp, so nobody gets hurt” or “draw a circle that goes through these three points” or “draw a line that grazes these two circles, so it’s tangent to them”. These CAD programs are the most famous:

Another type is called a presentation program. It lets you create a slide show, to accompany your speech. In the slide show, each slide can include photos, charts, and notes. These presentation programs are the most famous:

Another type is called a desktop-publishing program. It resembles a word-processing program but lets you more easily create newsletters, newspapers, magazines, posters, and signs, by letting you more easily include pictures, captions, multiple columns, and jumps (such as “continued on page 5”). These desktop-publishing programs are the most famous:

Accounting

You can get a checkbook program. It helps you balance your checkbook, track your expenses (and categorize them so you can get tax deductions), manage your credit cards, track your investments (stocks, bonds, and bank accounts), and compute your net worth.

The first program to do that well was Quicken, published by Intuit. Recently, Microsoft has invented a competing program, called Microsoft Money, which is slightly better. Those programs are fine for personal use or to run tiny businesses.

If your business has lots of employees, you’ll want a more powerful program, better able to “pay your employees” and “bill your customers”. The easiest powerful program is Intuit’s QuickBooks, which is a souped-up version of Quicken. Other accounting programs, which is are even more powerful (and slightly harder to learn how to use) are Peachtree Complete Accounting and Manage Your Own Business (MYOB).

Office suites

Instead of buying a word-processing program, a spreadsheet program, and other programs separately, you can buy an office suite, which includes them all!

MS Office The best and most popular office suite is MicroSoft Office (MS Office). The newest version, called MS Office 2003, requires Windows XP (or Windows 2000 supplemented by Service Pack 3) and comes in 4 popular editions:

You get the upgrade price just if you already owned MS Office (97, 2000, XP, or 2003) or Microsoft Works (version 6 or higher) or Microsoft Works Suite (version 2001 or higher). You get the “-$75” or “-$100” rebate if you buy from License Technologies Group (a reseller accessible on the Internet through www.microsoft.com), with a limit of 5 rebates per address. You get the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) price just if you buy a computer at the same time from the same dealer. You can get the Academic price in two ways:

Notice that the Basic Edition is available just as an OEM product, and the standard edition is not available as OEM product.

If you have a modern Mac instead of Windows XP, you must use MS Office’s Mac version. The current version is MS Office:mac v. X, which requires the Mac OS X operating system (version 10.1 or later) and includes just Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and an e-mail program called Entourage (which is a souped-up version of Outlook). It costs $436 list, $261 upgrade, $199 OEM. Microsoft is developing a newer version, called Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac.

WordPerfect Office The main competitor to MS Office is Corel’s WordPerfect Office.

The newest version, called WordPerfect Office 12 costs $300 list, $250 from most dealers, $130 for an upgrade from most dealers. You get the upgrade price if you owned an earlier version of WordPerfect (version 8, 2000, 2002, 11, or Family Pack), Microsoft Works 7, or Microsoft Office (version 2000, XP, or 2003).

Lotus SmartSuite Another competitor to MS Office XP is IBM’s Lotus SmartSuite. It includes a “word processor with dictation” (Word Pro), a spreadsheet program (Lotus 1-2-3), a presentation program (Freelance) and a database program (Approach). The newest version, called SmartSuite Millennium Edition 9.8, costs $256 from most dealers, $194 upgrade from most dealers.

StarOffice Another competitor to MS Office XP is StarOffice 7, which imitates MS Office and is free!

Like MS Office XP Professional, it includes a “word processor with desktop publishing” (StarOffice Writer), a spreadsheet (StarOffice Calc), an e-mail client (StarOffice Mail), a presentation program (StarOffice Impress), and a database program (StarOffice Base). It also includes a drawing program (StarOffice Draw) and lots more!

It’s published by Sun (the same company that makes workstation computers) and costs $80.

Integrated programs

Instead of buying an office suite, you can pay less by getting a cute little program, called an integrated program, which does a little bit of everything!

The best integrated programs are Q&A, Microsoft Works, and AppleWorks. Here’s how they compare.…

Q&A This is the best integrated program for handling databases. It also handles word processing, but poorly.

It handles nothing else. For example, example, it does not handle spreadsheets.)

Get the DOS version, since the Windows version is terrible.

The newest DOS version, Q&A 5, costs $199 (plus $15 shipping). It was originally published by Symantec, but now you must get it from Professional Computer Technology Associates in Pennsylvania at 215-598-8440.

Microsoft Works This is the best integrated program for handling word processing and spreadsheets. It also handles databases.

Its Windows version is good. Its DOS and Mac versions are not.

Its newest Windows version, Microsoft Works 7, costs $45 from Microsoft, $32 OEM.

Better yet, get Microsoft Works Suite 2004, which includes 6 programs:

You get all that for just $85 ($100 minus a $15 rebate), or $51 OEM.

Here’s a trick: buy Microsoft Works (or Microsoft Works Suite), then use that as an excuse to get the upgrade price on other products. For example, that gets you the upgrade price on MS Office 2003 and WordPerfect Office.

AppleWorks This is the best integrated program for handling desktop publishing. It also handles word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentations, painting, and drawing. The newest version, AppleWorks 6, comes free with all new Macs. You can also buy that Mac version for $79 list, $78 from discount dealers. You can also buy versions for Windows and the Apple 2.

It’s published by Apple, which used to call it Claris Works.

Creative applications

You can buy programs that teach you new skills, produce music, play games, and perform wild tricks.

Vertical software

Software that can be used by a wide variety of businesses is called horizontal software. Programs for word processing, spreadsheets, and databases are all examples of horizontal software.

Software targeted to a specific industry is called vertical software. Programs specifically for doctors, lawyers, and real-estate management are all examples of vertical software.

Vertical software is expensive because it can’t be mass-marketed to the general public and isn’t available from discount dealers. The typical vertical-market program costs about $1000, whereas the typical horizontal-market program costs about $100 from discount dealers.

Until the price of vertical software declines, use horizontal software instead. With just a few hours of effort, you can customize horizontal software to fit your own specific needs.

Viruses

Some nasty programmers have invented computer viruses, which are programs that purposely damage your other programs and can sneakily copy themselves onto every disk and e-mail message that you share with friends. To avoid catching a virus, protect yourself in 4 ways:

 

The typical program comes on a CD-ROM disk. To use the program, put its CD-ROM disk into the CD-ROM drive. Then copy the program to your hard disk.

The CD-ROM disk containing the program might also contain lots of music, video, and other data. If the data is too big to fit on the hard disk, you must keep the CD-ROM disk in the drive while running the program, so the computer can access whatever part of the CD-ROM’s data is needed at the moment.

Some programs let you create your own data, by typing the data at your keyboard. The computer stores that data on the hard disk. You should occasionally copy that data onto a floppy disk, as a backup copy, to protect yourself in case the hard disk gets damaged.

Will your computer be pleasant to use? The answer depends mainly on which software you buy. Software companies will influence your life more than any hardware manufacturer.

The 13 dominant software companies are Microsoft, Novell, Corel, Lotus, Borland, Symantec, Oracle, Computer Associates, Intuit, Adobe, Autodesk, The Learning Company, and Electronic Arts. Here’s why.…

Microsoft

The most important software company is Microsoft, which takes in about 32 billion dollars of revenue per year. It makes the most popular operating system (which are MS-DOS and Windows). The company’s main founder, Bill Gates, became a billionaire when he was 30 years old and appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. On October 28, 1995, Bill celebrated his 40^th birthday — and was worth 14.7 billion dollars. At the beginning of 1997, he was worth 24 billion dollars; seven months later, at the end of July, he was worth 40 billion dollars. Two years later, in mid-1999, he was worth 100 billion dollars!

He didn’t have that much cash in his pocket, of course. Most of his billions are invested in Microsoft stock. He’s the richest person in the world, just because he owns 12% of Microsoft, whose stock is overpriced.

100 billion dollars is a lot of money! For example, even if you earn 100 million dollars per year, you’ll need to work 1000 years to get what Bill had. Programmers often measure their salaries in microbills, where a microbill is defined as being a millionth of Bill Gates’ worth, so a microbill became $100,000.

Bill’s 100 billion dollars were enough to give $360 to each American, or $16 to each person on the planet. His 100 billion dollar bills, if laid end-to-end, would stretch to the moon and back, 20 times.

Bill plans to donate 95% of his wealth before he dies. He’s begun by giving big grants to libraries, schools, and third-world health agencies.

When I was writing this book in January 2004, Bill’s worth had dropped to just 34 billion dollars, because of the donations he made and because the stock market dropped.

Microsoft is the most diversified software company:

It also sells hardware (such as mice, keyboards, and the Xbox game-playing system) and Internet services (such as MSN).

Microsoft continually develops new products because of pressure from competitors. For example, Microsoft was forced to improve Microsoft Word because of competition from WordPerfect and improve Microsoft C because of competition from Borland’s C. Those continual pressures to improve keep Microsoft a vibrant, dynamically changing company.

Novell & Corel

Novell makes Netware & Intranetware, which are programs that help you create computer networks.

In 1994, Novell bought WordPerfect Corporation, which made the most popular word-processing program, WordPerfect. Novell’s purchase was natural, since both companies were in Utah. WordPerfect Corporation sold out to Novell because WordPerfect Corporation was having financial trouble, since many customers were switching to Microsoft Word, which has been improving dramatically.

Novell also bought a product called Quattro Pro, which was invented by a company called Borland. Borland sold that product to Novell because Borland was having financial trouble competing against Microsoft.

Novell’s founder, Ray Noorda, has quit. Novell’s next head, Robert Frankenberg, tried to make the company smaller and more manageable, so in 1996 he sold WordPerfect and Quattro Pro to a Canadian company, Corel, which is famous for inventing a graphics program called Corel Draw.

Novell takes in about 1 billion dollars per year. Corel takes in about ¹/₈ of a billion dollars per year.

Microsoft owns 25% of Corel.

Lotus

Lotus made the most popular spreadsheet program (which was 1-2-3). For too many years, Lotus sat on its laurels, and customers gradually began to switch to competitors such as Microsoft Excel and Quattro Pro. We expected Lotus to die.

But during the 1990’s, Lotus displayed good taste and made wise moves: it dramatically improved 1-2-3; it bought a company called Samna, which made the nicest word-processing program (Ami Pro), so Ami Pro became a Lotus product; it began selling an easy-to-use presentation-graphics program, Freelance; and it began selling a product called Notes, which helps people send electronic mail to each other and edit each other’s documents.

In 1995, IBM bought Lotus, so now Lotus is part of IBM, which takes in about 81 billion dollars per year.

Borland

Borland was started by Philippe Kahn, who grew up in France.

To study math, he went to a university in Zurich, Switzerland, where he got curious about computers and decided to take a computer class.

The university offered two introductory classes: one explained how to program using a language called PL/I, the other explained how to program by using a language called PASCAL instead. Since PASCAL was brand new then, nobody had heard of it, so 200 students signed up for PL/I and just 5 students signed up for PASCAL. Philippe signed up for PASCAL because he hated big classes. His professor was PASCAL’s inventor, Niklaus Wirth.

In 1983, Philippe went to California and started a computer company. Since he was an illegal alien, he tried to pretend he was thoroughly American and named his company Borland, in honor of the land that produced astronaut Frank Borman. His first product was Turbo PASCAL, which he had created back in Europe with the help of two friends.

Most other versions of PASCAL were selling for hundreds of dollars. Philippe read a book saying people buy mail-order items on impulse only if priced under $50, so he charged $49.95. The book and Philippe were right: at $49.95, Turbo PASCAL became a smashing success.

Later, Philippe improved Turbo PASCAL and raised its price to $149.95. He also bought other software publishers and merged them into Borland, so Borland became huge.

Philippe occasionally experimented with dropping prices. For example, he dropped the price of Borland’s spreadsheet program, Quattro Pro, to just $49.95, even though Quattro Pro was in some ways better than 1-2-3, which Lotus was selling for about $300. Microsoft’s head, Bill Gates, said that the competitor worrying him the most was Borland, because he feared Philippe would pull another publicity stunt and drop prices below $50 again, forcing Microsoft to do the same.

During the 1980’s, Borland bought two companies that invented wonderful database programs: Reflex and Paradox. Borland eventually stopped selling Reflex, but Paradox lives on.

Paradox’s main competitor was DBASE, published by a company called Ashton-Tate. Philippe decided to win the competition against Ashton-Tate the easy way: he bought Ashton-Tate, so now Borland publishes both Paradox and DBASE. Philippe said he bought Ashton-Tate mainly to get his hands on Ashton-Tate’s mailing list, so he could sell DBASE users on the idea of converting to Paradox.

But Philippe paid too much for Ashton-Tate, whose products, employees, and mailing lists were all becoming stale. Since Ashton-Tate was bigger than Borland, Philippe had to borrow lots of money to buy Ashton-Tate, and he had trouble paying it back. Buying Ashton-Tate was his biggest mistake.

By 1994, he was having trouble competing against Microsoft’s rapidly improving products and trouble repaying the money he’d borrowed to finance the takeover of Ashton-Tate. Financially strapped, he sold Novell his crown jewel, Quattro Pro, gave Novell the right to make a million copies of Paradox.

Novell’s founder, Ray Noorda, said candidly he wasn’t thrilled by Quattro Pro but wanted to buy it anyway, just as an excuse to give Philippe some money, so Philippe could stay in business and scare Microsoft, so Bill Gates would devote his energy to fighting Philippe instead of fighting Novell.

In 1995, Philippe stepped down from being the head of Borland. Now Philippe spends most of his time running a new start-up company, called Starfish Software.

Borland changed its name to “Inprise”, then changed back to “Borland” again.

Borland takes in about ¼ of a billion dollars per year. Mirosoft owns 10% of Borland.

Why fight?

The heads of computer companies still act like a bunch of tussling toddlers. I’m waiting for their mama to say, “Boys, boys, will you please stop fighting, shake hands, and make up!”

Why can’t Bill Gates make peace with his competitors? Answer: they’re all greedy — and Bill is brash. (For example, during an interview with CBS’s Connie Chung, he walked out when she mispronounced “DOS” and asked a pointed question about a competitor.)

But Bill’s actually somewhat glad at his competitors’ successes, since Microsoft needs to have enough successful competitors to prevent the Justice Department from declaring that Microsoft’s too big a monopoly. By letting several competitors invent new ideas and bring them all to market, we consumers get to choose for ourselves which ideas are best — and vote on them with our dollars — rather than kowtow to a single dictator.

Symantec

My favorite database program, Q&A, is published by Symantec.

Like Lotus, Symantec shows good taste in acquisitions: it bought two companies making good versions of the C programming language (Lightspeed and Zortech) and also bought two companies making DOS utility programs that fix DOS’s weaknesses (Peter Norton Software and Central Point Software). Now Symantec takes in about 1½  billion dollars per year.

Symantec tries hard to improve all those acquired products, but I wish it would improve Q&A instead! I’m sad to see Q&A, the world’s best database program, be neglected and fall into obsolescence.

Specialized companies

Oracle and Computer Associates (CA) make software that runs on computers of all sizes: maxicomputers, minicomputers, and microcomputers.

Intuit makes programs that handle accounting on microcomputers. Intuit’s programs are cheap: under $100.

Adobe makes Postscript software (used in many laser printers), Photoshop (which edits photographs), and Acrobat (which does desktop publishing and lets you easily transmit the results by Internet). In 1994, Adobe bought Aldus (the company that invented the first desktop-publishing program, PageMaker). Adobe takes in 1¼ billion dollars per year.

Autodesk publishes Autocad, which is the fanciest program for handling computer-aided design (CAD). Autodesk takes in ¾ of a billion dollars per year.

Softkey, Spinnaker Software, Brøderbund, and The Learning Company all published cheap programs, priced between $2 and $50 each. Those four companies merged: the combo became owned by the Mattel toy company, then became independent again, then became part of Riverdeep, which takes in ¹/₆ of a billion dollars per year.

Like Brøderbund, Electronic Arts makes excellent educational games and low-cost tools for budding young artists and musicians. It’s also the world’s biggest producer and distributor of video games for computers and for video-game machines (such as Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox). It takes in 2½ billion dollars per year.

 

You’ll want four kinds of software: an operating system (which teaches the CPU how to handle the keyboard, screen, printer, and disks); a computer language (such as BASIC); application programs (such as a word-processing program, a spreadsheet program, and a database program); and data.

When shopping for a computer, beware: its advertised price usually does not include all four kinds of software. Ask the seller which software is included and how much the other software costs.

The typical fancy program (such as a word-processing program, database program, or spreadsheet program) has a list price of $495. That’s also called the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP). If you buy the program directly from the software’s publisher, that’s the price you’ll pay. (You’ll also pay about $7 for shipping & handling. If the publisher has a sales office in your state, you’ll also be charged for sales tax, even if you’re phoning the manufacturer’s out-of-state headquarters.)

That list price is made ridiculously high as a marketing ploy, to give you the impression that the program is fancy.

But if you walk into a typical computer store, you will not pay $495 for the program. Instead, you’ll pay $299. That’s called the street price because it’s the price you see when you walk down the street and peek in the windows of computer stores. (You’ll also pay sales tax.)

Instead of charging $299, mail-order dealers charge slightly less: $279. That’s called the mail-order price. (You’ll also pay about $7 for shipping & handling, but you won’t pay tax if the mail-order company is out-of-state.) Another way to get that kind of price is to visit a discount computer superstore such as Comp USA.

Version upgrades

If you already own an older version of the program, you can switch to the new version cheaply, by asking for the version upgrade, which costs just $99. You can order the version upgrade at your local computer store, or from mail-order dealers, or directly from the program’s publisher. The most aggressive dealers (such as Comp USA) charge slightly less: $95.

To qualify for the version upgrade, you must prove that you already own an older version of the program. You can do that in several ways:

If you bought the old version shortly before the new version came out, you can get the new version free! Just phone the publisher and ask for the free version upgrade.

Competitive upgrades

If you don’t own an older version of the program, you can’t get the version-upgrade price. Here’s the best you can do:

To prove you qualify for the competitive-upgrade price, provide the title page or Disk 1 of the competing program (or have Microsoft’s software automatically scan for such programs).

Copying software

If you buy a program, you should make backup copies of the disks. Use the backup copies in case the original disks get damaged.

You’re not allowed to give copies of the disks to your friends. That’s against the law! If your friends want to use the program, they must buy it from the software publisher or a dealer, so that the programmer receives royalties.

If you give copies to your friends and become a lawbreaker, you’re called a pirate; making the copies is called piracy; the copies are called pirated software or hot software. Don’t be a pirate! Don’t distribute hot software!

Some software publishers use tricks that make the computer refuse to copy the program. Those tricks are called copy protection; the software is copy protected. But even if the software publisher doesn’t use such tricks, it’s still against the law to make copies of the program for other people, since the program is still copyrighted.

If your friends want to try a program before buying it, don’t give them a copy of the program! Instead, tell your friends to visit you and use the program while they sit at your computer. That’s legal, and it also lets you help your friends figure out how to use the software.

If you buy a version upgrade, you’re not allowed to give the older version to a friend to use on a different computer. You must destroy the older version — or keep it just for emergencies, in case the newer version stops working.

Demo disks

Besides sitting at a friend’s computer, another way to “try before you buy” is to phone the program’s publisher and ask for a free demo disk.

Although some demo disks are just useless animated ads, the best publishers provide useful demo disks (called trial-size versions) that closely imitate the full versions. For example, the typical trial-size version of a word-processing program has nearly all the features of the full version, but it refuses to print memos that are more than a page long and refuses to copy your writing onto a disk.

Trial-size versions are nicknamed crippled software, because each trial-size version has one or two abilities cut off. Playing with crippled software is a great way to give yourself a free education!

Freeware

Software that you’re allowed to copy and use freely is called freeware. For example, most demo disks and trial-size versions are freeware.

Most software invented by schools, government agencies, and computer clubs is freeware. Ask!

Shareware

Shareware is software that comes with a plea: although the author lets you copy the software and try it, you’re encouraged to mail the author a contribution if you like what you tried.

The suggested contribution, typically $25, is called a registration fee. It makes you a registered user and puts you on the author’s mailing list, so the author can mail you a printed manual and newer versions of the software.

Though most shareware authors merely “ask” for contributions, other shareware authors “demand” that you send a contribution if you use the software for longer than a month. Software for which a contribution is “demanded” is called guiltware — because if you don’t send the contribution, the author says you’re guilty of breaking the law.

To get shareware, copy it from a friend. If none of your friends own the shareware you want, buy the disks from a computer club or store for about $5 per disk; but remember that the $5 pays for just the disk, not the registration fee (which you’re honor-bound to mail in if you extensively use the program).

Beta versions

After inventing a program, its publisher must test it, to make sure it works on many kinds of computer equipment and in many situations. At first, the publisher’s employees test the program on their own computers: that’s called alpha testing. Next, the publishing company lets outsiders try the still-not-quite-perfected program: that’s called beta testing.

The outsiders who try it are called beta testers; the version being tested by outsiders is called a beta version. Beta versions are sometimes distributed for free or at a reduced price; but if you use a beta version, don’t rely on it, since it hasn’t been perfected yet.

Special deals

If your office wants many employees to use a program, ask the publisher for a site license, which permits your company to make copies for all employees in the office. Typically the employees are not allowed to take the copies home: the copies must all be used at the same site.

If you’re in a school and trying to teach kids how to use a program, ask the publisher for a trial-size version or academic version or educational site license.

If you own two computers and want to put the same program on both, you must typically buy two copies of the program. For example, if you want to put Windows 98 on two computers, you must buy two copies of Windows 98 (to avoid piracy), unless both computers are on the same site and you have a site license. Microsoft and some other major software publishers permit this exception, called the portable-computer rule: