Publishers Present Their ‘Oscars’ of Software
The week before the motion picture industry conducted its annual Academy Awards presentation, the computer software industry hosted a similar event. It wasn’t nationally televised, but at a black-tie event at the posh Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, the Software Publishers Assn. presented its Excellence in Software Awards for 1986.
Like the Academy Awards, there were multiple categories--22 to be exact. And each award was presented by a pair of industry luminaries who attempted to lighten the suspense with humor. Some were actually funny. The heaviest laughter came when computer enthusiast Robin Williams did a stand-up routine. Williams wasn’t paid for his act, but he included several pleas for the audience to send him free software. Douglas Adams, author of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” served as master of ceremonies.
As someone who mainly writes about business and productivity programs, I was surprised to find that a majority of the nominees and almost half of the winners fell into the category euphemistically referred to as “entertainment software.” Games were very popular in 1986.
Broderbund Software of San Rafael, Calif., won six awards. Toy Shop was selected as “best new use of a computer,” “best concept” and “best creativity program.” It allows you to build working toys that are created and customized on the screen and then printed out and attached to adhesive card stock (included) for manual assembly.
The program even comes with supplies such as wooden dowels, wire, cord, balloons and rubber stripping. It can be used to make cardboard cars, carrousels, balloon-powered airplanes and even a medieval catapult. The toys have moving parts such as wheels that turn and horses that go up and down. The IBM PC and Apple Macintosh versions of the program retail for $69.95 while the Apple II and Commodore 64 versions are priced at $59.95.
Another Broderbund program--called Where in the USA Is Carmen Sandiego?--won “best primary school education program” and “best general education program.” This game, which runs on the Apple II, Commodore 64 and IBM PC, is a geography lesson and mystery in which the user tracks thieves throughout the United States. It includes printed and on-screen maps and a copy of the “Fodor’s USA” travel guide to help in the search. The program retails for $44.95.
The award for the “best home productivity program” went to the Newsroom Pro from Springboard Software of Minneapolis. This $129.95 program for the IBM PC is designed to produce newsletters, banners and other printed material. It includes an automatic layout feature, over 2,000 pieces of pre-drawn “clip art” and an integrated text editor. A less sophisticated version, called the Newsroom, is available for Apple II and IBM (both $59.95) and Commodore 64 ($49.95).
The “best utility program” award went to Referee, from Persoft of Madison, Wis. Referee is aptly named because it acts as traffic cop for an IBM PC that is running more than one “memory-resident” program. Such programs, like SideKick, are available to users even if the computer is running another program. When more than one memory-resident program is running at a time, they can get in each other’s way, causing all sorts of havoc. Referee, which lists for $69.95, lets you activate and deactivate memory-resident programs that cannot get along with one another without removing them from memory.
Dan Bricklin’s Demo Program, from Software Garden of West Newton, Mass., was recognized as the “best programming tool.” The $74.95 program makes it possible for software developers to create sample screens that show off what their programs might look like, long before the programs are actually written. It allows you to create screen images or slides that can be displayed sequentially. Bricklin, incidentally, is the co-author of VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program ever written for a personal computer.
Chessmaster 2000 by Software Toolworks of Sherman Oaks was selected as the “best entertainment program.” It runs on the Amiga, Apple II, Atari XL, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC and Macintosh. I’ve had a review copy for a while but, since I’m not a chess player, I never bothered trying it. After it won the award, I unwrapped my copy out of curiosity, and now I’m afraid I might get hooked. The program offers 12 levels of play from “newcomer” to “grandmaster.” I’m still in the “teach mode” where the computer displays all the legal moves and suggests the best alternatives. It comes with a library of classic games from the 17th Century through the 1985 Karpov-Kasparov world championship. The program retails for about $40.
Like the Academy Awards, the most significant prize was saved for last. The “best software program” (as well as “best business productivity tool”) for 1986 went to Microsoft Works for the Apple Macintosh. Works, which lists for $295, is an integrated multi-function program that provides word processing, database management, spreadsheet and telecommunications, all in one package. Its main advantage is that all functions are available at the click of a mouse, making it unnecessary to stop what you’re doing, exit a program and load in new software when you want to switch to a new function.
Like most integrated programs, none of its functions is as full-featured as some of the stand-alone programs in each of the categories. Nevertheless, each function is powerful enough for most users, and the program is easy to use and well integrated. You can, for example, merge names and addresses from the database with letters from the word processor to create form letters.
For years, the movie industry has rated its films with notations such as “PG,” “R” and “X.” Generally, the software industry has no such concern since most programs are completely devoid of anything lascivious. But Infocom’s Leather Goddesses of Phobos, the winner of the “best software packaging” award, allows the user to choose between “tame,” “suggestive” and “lewd.” According to its manual, the adventure game takes you through a “a naughty, bawdy, rowdy, rousing and very, very amusing romp across the solar system.”
Why best packaging? It comes with 3-D glasses, a comic book-like cover and seven “scratch-and-sniff” decals. Versions for the Macintosh, Apple II, IBM, Amiga and Atari ST sell for $39.95. The Atari XT and Commodore 64 versions are $34.95.
For a complete list of this year’s winners, write to the Software Publishers Assn., 1111-19th Ave. N.W., Suite 1200, Washington, D.C. 20036.
