type; lets the user change fonts, margins, and columns eas-
ily; rewrites sentences to make them grammatically correct
with the click of a mouse; and converts Web files directly
to Word format so they are ready to use. Other excellent
word-processing products include Corel WordPerfect
(Canada) and Sun’s StarOffice Writer, which can be pur-
chased, and some free options—OpenOffice’s Writer (a
downloadable version of StarOffice Writer), IBM Lotus
Symphony Documents (also downloadable), and Google
Docs, which is Web based. In choosing a word processor,
most of us tend to prefer whichever word processor we
worked with first. Increasingly, though, organizations have
settled on a standard office suite (more on this later), and
thus we use the word processor included in that standard
suite, usually Microsoft Word.
SPREADSHEETS Second only to word processing in pop-
ularity are electronic spreadsheet products, the most widely
used of which is Microsoft Excel. Other commercial
spreadsheet products include Corel Quattro Pro and Sun’s
StarOffice Calc; among free spreadsheet products are
OpenOffice’s Calc, IBM Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets,
and Google Docs. After the early success of VisiCalc,
Lotus 1-2-3 became the spreadsheet standard in the early
1980s and held that leadership position for over a decade
until Excel took over the top spot.
The idea of the electronic spreadsheet is based on the
accountant’s spreadsheet, which is a large sheet of paper
divided into many columns and rows on which the
accountant can organize and present financial data. The
spreadsheet approach can be used for any application that
can fit into the rows and columns framework, including
budget summaries for several time periods, profit and loss
statements for various divisions of a company, sales fore-
casts for the next 12 months, an instructor’s gradebook,
and computation of various statistics for a basketball team.
DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS After word pro-
cessing and spreadsheets, the next most popular category
of personal productivity software is microcomputer-based
database management systems (DBMSs). The most widely
used product is Microsoft Access; other popular products
include FileMaker Pro, Alpha Software’s Alpha Five, and
Corel Paradox. dBase was the desktop DBMS leader in the
1980s but has now disappeared. All these products are
based on the relational data model, to be discussed later in
this chapter. The basic ideas behind these products are the
same as those for large machine DBMSs, but the desktop
DBMSs are generally easier to use. With the aid of macros
(the use of a macroinstruction name instead of the corre-
sponding, oft-repeated string of commands) and other pro-
gramming tools (such as Visual Basic for Applications in
Chapter 2 • Computer Systems 39the case of Access), rather sophisticated applications can
be built based on these DBMS products.PRESENTATION GRAPHICS Presentation graphics is yet
another important category of personal productivity soft-
ware. Most spreadsheet products incorporate significant
graphics capabilities, but the specialized presentation
graphics products have even greater capabilities. Used for
creating largely textual presentations, but with embedded
clip art, photographs, graphs, and other media, the leader
in this field is Microsoft PowerPoint, followed by Corel
Presentations and Sun’s StarOffice Impress. Free presenta-
tion graphics packages include IBM Lotus Symphony
Presentations, OpenOffice Impress, and Google Docs. For
more complex business graphics, the leading products are
Microsoft Visio, Adobe Illustrator, and CorelDRAW
Graphics.ELECTRONIC MAIL AND GROUPWARE We will defer a
full discussion of electronic mail (e-mail) and groupware
until Chapter 5, but these clearly qualify as personal
productivity software. Electronic mail has become the
preferred way of communicating for managers in most
businesses today. It is asynchronous (no telephone tag) and
unobtrusive, easy to use and precise. Groupware incorpo-
rates electronic mail, but also much more. Groupware has
the goal of helping a group become more productive and
includes innovative ways of data sharing.OFFICE SUITES There are still other important categories
of personal productivity software to consider, but let’s
pause at this point to introduce the critical idea of office
suites,which combine certain personal productivity soft-
ware applications—usually all or most of those categories
we have already considered—into integrated suites of
applications for use in the office. Following up on the pop-
ularity of the Microsoft Windows operating system,
Microsoft had first-mover advantage when it introduced
the Microsoft Office suite in 1990, and it has parlayed that
advantage into the dominant entry in the marketplace.
Two other commercial office suites are worth men-
tioning—Corel WordPerfect Office, built around
WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, Presentations, and Paradox; and
Sun StarOffice, including Writer, Calc, Impress, Base
(database), and Draw (graphics). There are also several
free suites available: OpenOffice, with Writer, Calc,
Impress, Base, and Draw; IBM Lotus Symphony, with
Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations; and Google
Docs, with integrated word processing, spreadsheets, and
presentations delivered over the Internet. The other players
in the office suite arena have had difficulty keeping up with
Microsoft. Microsoft was the first mover, controls the