there are two ways to represent
information one is to use alpha numeric
data in cells organized in rows and
columns but there is a more Dynamic way
to represent the relationship between
these ENT
[Music]
indeed color motion Dimension and sound
make a big difference in the way you
represent information whether it's a
horse race or a spreadsheet today we'll
show you the new generation of dynamic
spreadsheet software on this edition of
the computer Chronicles
[Music]
computer Chronicles is made possible in
part by Intel the world's leading
manufacturer of microprocessors Intel
the computer inside additional funding
is provided by the software Publishers
Association providers of educational
materials to help manage software don't
copy that
floppy welcome to the computer
Chronicles I'm Stuart chaet and with me
today is Craig Stinson contributing
editor for PC Magazine and Craig is
author of this cover story in PC
Magazine on the new era in spreadsheets
with hot looking products like Quattro
Pro for Windows Excel 123 for Windows
and so on here is the original 123 I
have up here and it just looks so
ancient right now you know the old slash
commands and you know we're familiar
with using this kind of stuff but it
looks just years and years and years ago
why isn't this not good enough anymore
why do we need these the new era in
spreadsheets well actually this was hot
stuff in his day um it did it did uh
graphs it did database sorting and data
queries and the menu commands were
spelled out words and so on but it only
worked with one file at a time it only
gave you two Dimensions rows and columns
if you needed a third dimension or a
fourth dimension you open new files and
uh in the real world people need to work
with data from multiple sources they
need to look at alternative values best
and worst cases and so on so that's one
reason um the graphs were pretty limited
and uh we've gone a long way in Te
graphing technology since then um the
database commands didn't let you tap
into external data sources the macro
programming language was great but it
wasn't anything like a true programming
language and so uh they the the programs
now have uh programming languages that
really let you develop robust
applications okay Craig we are going to
see the newest of the new today in fact
two new spreadsheets that came out after
this article in PC Magazine improv from
Lotus and CA compete from Computer
Associates we'll also look at the new
Quattro Pro for Windows and Excel
version 4.0 now it's no secret that
today's spreadsheet programs are loaded
with features that many users never get
to use because they don't have time to
figure it out so who do you call
spreadsheet Busters also known as the
Don Barnes Excel team a spreadsheets
really just an Erector Set when you look
at it to begin with it's a blank grid
there's nothing to it everybody when
they pull a spreadsheet out of a box has
to customize it to a certain extent just
to get it to do anything so we've taken
it to a to a very high degree of
customization voice information system
manufacturer octel needed a way to cost
justify its products to both potential
and existing clients they were using
Excel as it is off the shelf but company
Executives decided they needed to get
more out of their spreadsheet they
called in the Don Barnes Excel team and
the result was the creation of a
software product called net worth this
was a real nice tweak to an already
existing uh application that as you say
is off the shelf but a little bit of
expertise added here and there and
suddenly you've got a very elegant
product net worth has proved to be
extremely popular with octel current
clients po are able to enter in data
specific to their company and then
immediately receive a report on the cost
benefit of using octel products which
include voicemail fax call and other
voice Information Systems octel account
Executives also use net worth to
demonstrate to Future clients what the
potential hard and soft dollar savings
are Don Barnes used The Familiar Excel
interface as a foundation then built a
custom application that allows users to
get the information they need without
having to know a lot about where that
information is stored within the
spreadsheet he says many users are
unaware of the nearly Limitless
possibilities for software customization
people right now have no idea that you
can take these pieces of software and
totally customize and because you're
taking something that's already in place
debugged which is a big deal if you're
going to put something on hundreds of
desktops you're starting from a point
that would take years to develop on on
its own excel's engine is already there
for us to use we use pieces of it and
then combine some of our own code and
our own ideas to enhance it or or set it
up for someone's specific needs but in
the future these products will be the
building blocks for complete custom
applications all over the world for the
computer Chronicles I'm Janelle stelson
[Music]
if you think improv is the name of a
comedy club in San Francisco you're only
partly right it's also the name of the
newest spreadsheet product from Lotus
just as 123 evolved into improv Computer
Associates has replaced its old
supercock with a brand new spreadsheet
program called CA compete here to show
us how they work are John olafin from
Lotus development and also with us soal
sidiki from Computer Associates so Hal
we're we're we're saying this is a show
about spreadsheets but I guess the
programs we're about to look at are
really more than spreadsheets it's just
not an accurate description anymore is
it that is correct uh Stuart the the pro
product we're looking at is more of a
financial analysis tool extends the
spreadsheet metaphor into a new areas
where you can actually represent your
business data in actual terms and
basically what I can show you here is is
I have a four-dimensional spreadsheet
here uh that's that has my financials
across time and my third dimension is
divisions which has the game dos and
athletic Care Division these are
basically product lines and with
different pages on it and then I have
different dimension that's a four
dimension and so basically the product
allows you to set up up to 12 Dimensions
you can the the other advantage of this
product is that you can actually use
English language terms rather than using
cryptic cell referencing to Define your
formulas for example cost of goods sold
is material plus production and and if
you wanted to cut and copy this formula
across all pages would just click on the
global icon and then Define the scope of
this formula select okay and it gets
copied across so you're not stuck with
cells which just happen to be adjacent
to each other in the oldfashioned model
that's correct exactly now six months
down the road you want to go in and
analyze this model again you double just
go in and see how these formulas are
created you just double click on one of
these formulas and up comes an A and a
tool that we have uh which is an audit
Trail tool and it shows you in English
language terms how this formula was
described how do I shift those
dimensions you were showing me before
and if I want to you know represent two
two other di basically let let me show
you an example if I wanted to see the
sales of my 1992 year uh for all the
divisions I would click on this drag
this icon see up and drop it on top of
the dimensions and basically the I have
reoriented my model to show the new data
so it it is very flexible in that manner
okay uh not only can you allow can you
do that but if you wanted to let's say
graph this data you select the data
click on the graph icon and then draw on
your workspace and up comes a graph MH
and this graph you you can double click
and it becomes its own window you can
annotate it and add things to it you
close it out you can create as many
graphs as you want in this model you can
move it around and do all the things you
want to do that's pretty neat all right
John let's turn to improv for Windows
now now Lotus already has a spreadsheet
program out there called 123 for windows
are the other versions of 123 why improv
how does this positioned against two3
okay well improv is the first Dynamic
spreadsheet for Windows it's it's a
reinvention of the spreadsheet um you'll
find that it's a dramatic dramatically
different approach to spreadsheets um as
compared to traditional cellbase
spreadsheets like one two three okay
what do you mean by Dynamic and
different approach to a spre well um the
interaction is very different and and
why don't I show you this there's
actually some nice features of improv
that make it Dynamic um let's take a
look at the spreadsheet um first thing
that you'll find is there are common
things like columns and rows individual
cell addresses what you find that's
different with improv is that there's
there's not that outer boundary where it
has cell refc is 1 two three yeah that's
correct well with improv instead of this
being D D5 this would actually be named
snowboards gross margin quarter 2 in
1993 and how do I know that I mean how
would I refer to a sell then uh cells
are always referenced in their English
terms um one of the nice things that
that buys you is the ability to not only
rearrange a spreadsheet instantly
because you're not tied to sell
addresses but also now you can write
formulas in business terms all right how
would I rearrange for example well let's
take a look at this spreadsheet model
here where we've broken out cost of
goods by different products down the
left side um this might be great for
what you'd like to analyze but let's say
management wanted to see it broken out
by line items well with improv we can
pick up a product tile move that to the
right side you'll notice that the
spreadsheet instantly rearranges now we
have line items Broken Out by different
products similarly here at the top if we
wanted to compare quarters year to year
93 to 94 pick up the year tile move that
below quarter and now you'll see quarter
one you can make that comparison really
nice tools to spot Trends and gain
insights um again you have you can move
this into now the third dimension where
we can compare 93 to 94 and with improv
you really have Limitless ways to
rearrange a spreadsheet so that's that's
Dynamic views the the the second thing
that I wanted to show you was General
English formulas M and with improv we've
actually separated our data here in the
top from our formulas in the bottom as
you can see in the first Formula here
cost of goods equals Revenue time
45% written in business terms and that
formula is applied to the cells that are
in Gray is in it that's correct and
that's another nice thing is one formula
can apply to many cells a more
simplistic approach right um if taking a
look at all six of these formulas you'll
notice that six formulas are driving
well over 100 different cells
um the other nice thing about these
formulas is we can expand on this
spreadsheet and let's say we wanted to
add a new product line let's call that
skis um notice how the formulas
automatically apply now if we key in
data um you'll notice how that it simply
recalculates okay so the ability to
expand and modify a spreadsheet right is
much easier what else um just to just to
finish up one of the other nice things
is we have some very nice presentation
tools to convey to convey your find ings
okay what's the price then on improv um
improv is uh suggested retail price is
$4.95 in line with other spreadsheet
products and CA compete CA compete is
also pric at $4.95 the official
spreadsheet price right now I guess for
everybody uh what about other platforms
these are both running in Windows any
plans to have an improv or compete
running on the Mac for example well
right now we have improv running on NeXT
computers and in the windows environment
um certainly we'll explore other
platforms um over over time but right
now it's Windows product and for compete
we already have it running under the os2
platform and we plan to Port it to the
Unix platform as well under Motif and
other areas John lastly uh I want to is
improv the next generation of 123 or
these lateral parallel products uh
parallel products um we believe that uh
improv has some really nice tools uh for
certain applications and our strategy is
different tools for different tasks uhuh
okay very good thank very much all right
regular spreadsheet programs are great
if you know why a and b equal C but
suppose you don't know the formula for C
then you need a different kind of
spreadsheet program one that can invent
the Formula One such program is brain
cell from a company called Promised Land
Technologies in a small storefront
office in New Haven Connecticut five
employees at Promised Land Technologies
are working on one of the most popular
and Powerful spreadsheet addin products
it's called brain cell it can sift data
and create formulas where none existed
before these formulas lead to informed
predictions on when to buy and sell
stocks or they can tell a medical
researcher which trauma patients will
need intensive follow-up care brain
cells technology uses a unique algorithm
called back percolation which according
to brain cell inventor Murray rero
trains faster and works better than the
back propagation algorithm found in
other neural net programs a trading
system developer perk will probably make
between 15 and 30% more profit than when
developed with even the best commercial
back props and because brain cell is
embedded in two of the top spreadsheet
products on the market Excel and Lotus
123 for Windows the learning curve is
very fast this means that what used to
be a highly technical system is easily
accessible to anyone who knows their way
around a spreadsheet the reason that the
spreadsheet environment is so valuable
is first of all let's say you you use
Lotus you know the if you if you've done
any sort of automation macros you know
the Lotus macro language so if I added
five commands or six commands that look
like the Syntax for Lotus it wouldn't be
too hard for you to learn what a neural
network does is sift through all of the
data available in your spreadsheet and
then based on that data the software
writes a formula for your scenario for
example brain cell can tell a bank
manager how many loan customers are
likely to default this year and it can
also suggest who is a good loan risk the
person makes about five makes 500 , a
month with $2,400 a month in expenses
and he's a loan risk of two and we
wouldn't give him a loan because his
risk is too low and there's a formula
here that's
dependent on the value of the neural net
output so let's say all of a sudden this
guy has hit the lottery so now he's
getting his nice check
for $10,000 a
month and let's see what
happens now he's a lone risk five and we
give money the formula is all update we
replace formulas in the spreadsheet with
this neural net that adjusts and recal
just like a for for the computer
Chronicles I'm Janelle
[Music]
stelson if Lotus 123 used to be the
standard for spreadsheet programs that
honor has probably shifted to
Microsoft's Excel but challenging Excel
now is the latest entry from Borland
Quattro Pro for Windows here to show us
both programs are Dan Williams of
Microsoft and song Wang of Borland Dan
in the first part of the show we looked
at things like improv and compete which
are like next Generation spreadsheet
programs redefining what a spreadsheet
is you've kind of done the same thing
with Excel compared to the older model
of spreadsheets what are some of the
features of excel that have made it in
fact so successful D let's start with
some ease of use here are some of the
Innovations we've introduced to make uh
everyday tasks really easy we have
autofill which intelligently extends or
copies worksheet information we have
drag and drop here I'm copying a column
heading Auto sum makes it easy to uh
enter sum formulas in a worksheet oh I
noticed that I uh let me just move that
cell there okay uh let's uh use shortcut
menus to format some numbers where did
that come from I just click the right
Mouse button to bring up the shortcut
menu and finally to format worksheets
quickly we have the auto auto format
tool on the toolbar I'll just click that
and the most recently used auto format
is applied to my worksheet there are a
bunch of other Auto formats available uh
next let's create a chart using the
chart wizard tool on the toolbar I'll
click that once and draw my chart where
I wanted in the worksheet now the chart
wizard is like a personal assistant that
walks me through the process of creating
a chart the first question is uh what
sales do I want a chart and these are my
CS
uh next is what kind of chart would I
like and I'll pick this 3D column chart
here within the chart wizard I can
rearrange the way the data is organized
and classified I can choose to add a
legend or not and add a chart
title M now my chart's on the worksheet
now to bring I can double click and it
comes up in its own window and through
direct manipulation I can just grab this
chart with the mouse and rotate it to a
different
perspective so those are some of the
basic worksheet things we have now let's
take a look at scenario manager yeah
right uh here's a very typical worksheet
model by the way about 80% of excel
users do what if analysis and here's a
typical model where this is the business
model that I care about up here are my
uh changing conditions that affect my
business now like inflation growth
interest rate taxes exactly that those
are going to affect my future income now
those changing conditions together are a
scenario and Microsoft Excel with
scenario manager uh makes it easy to
manage multiple scenarios if I want to
see the best case scenario uh for the
future I can show that in the worksheet
if I'd like to see all of these
scenarios together I can click the
summary button and Excel creates a
report sheet where I can see my best
worst and most likely cases plus the
results that I care about and we have uh
a few more tricks in this worksheet if
we scroll to the right
what I have here is a chart with some
graphic objects where I can graphically
uh enter another scenario I can just
drag these chart points so just vary the
inflation rate the growth rate Etc by
pulling the the the ground and don't
forget and don't forget
taxes I'm got stuck here
okay taxes going up next
year now after I've graphically entered
that scenario I can just click the add
scenario button and we'll call this new
and I've added a new scenario to my
sheet this next scenario button allows
me to scroll between the scenarios so
that's about it that's great all right
let's Turn to You song and Quattro Pro
for Windows you guys are boring of the
new guys on the Block and the
spreadsheet Wars for Windows here what
are the main features that the quatro
Pro brings to the T here well Stuart we
give you better ways to handle
threedimensional notebooks in the form
of note uh spreadsheet notebooks where
the different pages notebooks and single
file we give you presentation Graphics
which a second to none and also UI
Builder which is the same one we use to
create Quattro all right let's start out
by taking a look then son what you shows
first um here you see on the screen a
spreadsheet notebook if you look at the
bottom of the screen you can see there's
actually little tabs here with names
what you're going to find is just like
the notebooks you use every day this is
organized exactly the same okay so those
tabs pull up separate sheets is that
right there there's 256 sheets in a
single file now neat thing about this is
we give you a lot of uh ways to work
with these notebook pads for instance
let's see right here I want to put a
total for all my uh three sales figures
there I hit the right Mouse button which
is our object inspect inspector over R
and I give it a name let me just call it
total here now in order to make the sum
those that information all I have to do
is grab all this information here extend
my selection by clicking on the tab and
then click on my sum button and I'll
actually create a formula that goes
through all the sheets now if I want to
make the sheets all look better I can
put it in group mode you see a little
blue line there that underlines all the
four sheets that are in my group now I
can highlight this information here and
using something we called speed format
we can get a list of all the different
formats that are uh currently in Quattro
Pro you pick the one you like let's say
I like this Beethoven one we use
composers a little bit fun there and
then you can see here it's taking effect
in every single sheet not just the one
I'm working on so we give you a lot of
different ways to work with multiple
sheets now we have Graphics are second
to none you heard me mention well we can
just highlight information here and
click on the graphic icon our speed you
drag a range where you want it to appear
and the graph will appear now as usual
you can double click and then you can
right click anywhere in the graph as
well so if I right click here you'll see
I get the graph types I'm going to
choose a 3D type here and I can even do
things like change the view and the
rotations of the graph as a matter of
fact I can change this perspective make
it look like it's starting real close
and going real far away see not can
apply that now once I get all the graphs
that I like at the very very last page
of our spreadsheet is the graph page it
has all the graphs that we we we have
here what I can do is I can create those
slideshows and put uh graphs inside my
slideshows I double click on the show
itself you'll see a list of all the a
little thumbnail sketch basically of all
the graphs that are in that show if I
want to put another graph in you just
grab it and just drop it in the show and
double click you'll see that it's now
been put in the show we can also apply
different effects as well I'm just going
to run this show here and you can see
that all those effects actually occurred
so there's my little fade there there's
my dissolve so it's very very quick to
get live information from your
spreadsheet and put it all into a
slideshow but beyond that we also give
you the ability to do something we call
application building so right here in
this page you'll see I have a button
here and it's called very if I click on
that button it'll give me a a dialogue
here I can change by just clicking there
and you'll notice it's automatically
live linked to the graph in the
spreadsheet and all that again was
created with something we call the UI
Builder and you can see that all the
tools for the UI Builder are built right
into the product itself all right that's
pretty good uh now let me ask you how
about on the Macintosh what's happening
with quatro Pro for Windows on the Mac
is there going to be well currently we
are not announcing anything on the
Macintosh we're always exploring new
platforms though okay okay and Excel of
course yeah pretty much everything you
saw today Stuart works the same on the
maos all right let me ask you song uh
you guys are Borland always talk about
object oriented technology and the big
thing that you Pro program with objects
what does that really mean what is the
significance in the development using
object Orient well in laan's terms uh
objectoriented programming is just more
just more strict methods of how to
develop that way people can interchange
information easier um what it basically
means is to make components which are
independent in themselves but can share
with other components you can plug them
together just like in Hardware where you
have IC that you can plug and share
amongst different pieces of Hardware
we're thinking about objects you can
plug in different pieces of software and
you'll actually see those different
objects in these products for instance
the database desktop which is part of
Paradox for Windows is in Quattro as
well okay real quick prices on these
products Excel $4.95 standard price
going right for spreadsheets man I tell
you there's got to be something going
you guys are talking to each other all
right as usual very difficult to pick
but great products thanks very much all
right that's our look at the new era in
spreadsheet stay tuned now for this
week's computer news on random access
[Music]
in the random access file this week
Microsoft announced new software called
Microsoft at work the office Software
System will connect computers phones
copers fax machines and printers so they
can circulate documents from one to the
other electronically a very new thing
for us to move outside the PC onto the
other equipment uh we've always been
thinking a lot about how you create
documents and how they move around in
the office uh and now we're actually uh
creating the approach that will make
that more
efficient Cassio and Tandy have teamed
up to introduce the Zoomer PDA the
Zoomer uses the GEOS operating system
several versions will be released this
fall all priced well under
$1,000 other companies joining forces
include silicon graphics and Time Warner
the two announced plans for a
full-service interactive digital cable
television network prototype by the end
of the year next up Paul Schindler of
Windows magazine courtesy of CMP
Publications
today we're going to look at a Dos
package that ought to interest anyone
who really cares a lot professionally
about the weather the product is weather
brief it turns your telephone into the
weather channel of course the
information isn't free it costs between
15 and 40 cents a minute here's a sample
of the things you can get Regional
weather
reports a city forecast our example as
Houston the National Weather
summary a US r map within the last
hour a satellite weather
picture the chance of
precipitation the high
temperatures drought
conditions the isobar map parametric
pressure and high resolution radar it's
like having a Weatherman in your own
home or office but better because you
get the weather data you want when you
want it weather brief is $53 from
weather Bank in Salt Lake City for the
computer Chronicles I'm Paul Schindler
the bestselling utility programs this
week include Microsoft DOS 6.0 and
Windows 3.1 on the PC Apple's system 7.1
personal upgrade kit is number one on
the Mac side how can you get something
for nothing Computer Associates is
shipping free copies of its personal
finance software to the first 1 million
people who call 800 free money Kiplinger
CA simply money won't make you money but
it will help you keep track of what have
it's available for Windows 3.1 users and
finally the dinosaur craze has come to
the computer if you love Jurassic Park
look for arts and letters Jurassic art
it's a complete drawing program and
online database on dinos that's it for
this week's computer Chronicles I'm
Janelle
stelson computer Chronicles is made
possible in part by Intel the world's
leading manufacturer of microprocessors
Intel the computer inside additional
funding is provided by the software
Publishers Association providers of
educational materials to help manage
software don't copy that floppy