Hi Peter Perros!
12-Nov-96 21:57:00, Peter Perros tapped feverishly away
and wrote to All Subject: Geoworks
 PP> Hi all. I just stumbled onto this message area. I once owned Geoworks
 PP> V1.2 (I think). It was my into to GUI and WYSIWYG in the days when all
 PP> I ran was a 286 and DOS 3.3 - and I was very fond of it. But I grew up
 PP> like everyone else and now use other programs. Tell me, what is the most
 PP> recent version of Geoworks, and, is there a Web site?
Just to get the terminology right for a start: Geoworks is the company
who produced it and are now pursuing the "smart" phone (eg Nokia 9000
released in September at about $3000) and PDA (HP OmniGo 100 and 120)
markets with operating systems under the GEOS name. The rights to Ensemble
(the PC/GEOS suite of applications packaged with GEOS) have been sold
to New Deal Inc who have renamed Ensemble "New Deal Office 2.5". Follow
all that? Keep reading, I'll confuse you yet! 8-)
Ensemble went from version 1.2.8 (which was sold as Geoworks Pro when
packaged with Quattro Pro, and Quick Start when packaged with a tutorial
video - confusing?) to version 2.0 and then 2.01. That is the latest
that has been sold here in Australia and you might be able to pick up
a copy from Computermate Services, PO Box 540, TOORMINA NSW 2452,
Ph: (066) 584 388, if they have any left, for $99. As it is a huge
improvement on 1.2.8, it is a bargain at that price. It includes improved
versions of everything in 1.2 (except GeoComm which remains unchanged)
plus spreadsheet and database. It features "drag and drop" between
applications, fonts from 4 to 792 pt (11 inch letters!) and a host
of other goodies, yet has a very low hardware overhead.
At this time, Computermate Services have no plans to market New Deal
Office which consists of Ensemble 2.01 running on GEOS 2.1 instead of
2.01. The installation program has been patched to overcome a couple
of slight problems when installing on fast computers (586 133MHz, 686
and Pentiums) and under Windows 95. Neither problem was insurmountable
and Ensemble 2.01 really flies on these fast computers whilst still
running respectably on a 286 with 2MB of RAM (more is better, though).
I will be sending GeoPublish to Ground Zero shortly if Frank doesn't
have it already. Download it and you will get an idea what 2.01 is
like. It only includes GeoWrite, the Text File Editor, the Scrapbook
and GeoManager. All the other goodies come with the full package.
Unless Computermate relents, you would have to send $US59.95 plus
postage to Canada to upgrade to New Deal Office.
GEOS 3.0 includes the necessary socket for a Web Browser and we
may see New Deal Office 3.0 with such niceties in another six months
or so, but it is up to New Deal Inc and they have not got their
act together yet.
As for growing up and hence away from Ensemble, I cannot agree and
nor would the subscribers to my GeigaCounteR Magazine. While you
can't do Internet or run the latest games under GEOS, you can do
desktop publishing and word processing, and the books for a very
small business. You can get a Web page editor, a hypertext book
creator, a home finance application and other third party additions.
Ensemble suits the person who wants "to get in and get the job done,
and get out again".
I once tried to do my newsletter (as it was then) with Windows 3.11
software. I had Print Artist, Corel Draw 3 and the entire Lotus
Smart Suite 3.1 at my disposal. After several hours of trying to
create my usual masthead and layout, I saved the two pages I had
and did the rest in Ensemble. So much easier than learning something
totally foreign. Windows was supposed to give a uniform interface
to all applications. Believe me, it doesn't. There are many different
interpretations of that interface.
It also appeals strongly to the person who has sufficient creative
ability to do a job themselves given the necessary tools and
who doesn't want the MS Wizard condescending approach which
will do a fair average quality job easily if what you want is one of
the preset approaches, but tends to obstruct you if you want to
construct your own concept. If you are prepared to learn how to
do things, it is fast and intuitive.
I don't know whether I have done justice to Geoworks in trying to
explain the differing philosophies, but Ensemble is 10MB (including
the essential DOS, GUI environment and all applications) and Windows
3.11 is 8.5MB for just the environment. So the approach has to be
different.
As for Web sites, there are several. Ensemble Inc in South Africa
and the Geos Optimismus Crew Europa (GOCE) in Switzerland are both
excellent. GOCE call Ensemble a "cult" program and I guess they
are right.
There are a number in North America and Wayne Logan in South Australia
is busily creating a Geiga/Geoworks Snail Mail Network one. Computermate
Services also has one under construction. Just run Geoworks Ensemble
through any of the popular search engines for a list. Ensemble Inc
is a good starting point as he has links to many of the good sites
and response times to his site are excellent.
Regards
Peter Campbell (aka Pensey)
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