No comments about Director 8 Shockwave Studio with Fireworks 4.

5 comments about AppleWorks 6.2.

1. Ok, I'm am sure that there are features in Word or Excel that some of you might use and the key word is might, but for the other 98% of us. Apple Works is a complete program that is full featured and easy to use. It can save and all of latest Microsoft Office file formats and that is half the battle most of the time with some of the attachments that I receive. Other than that I've been using it for about two months now and it has done everything that I have asked it to do and done it with ease. I have no problems with crashing or quiting unexpectedly under OS X. I start it and it runs and runs and runs. It's a great value even if just to open and looks at an Excel spreadsheet or Word doucument.

   Chris




2. Like some of the other reviewers, I'm rather surprised at the number of negative reviews that Appleworks has received. While it is true that Appleworks is not as powerful as Microsoft Office, it is much less expensive and clearly represents a better value. The word processer part of it (the part that most people will use) is more intuitive and easier to use than Microsoft Word. True, Word is more powerful; but it costs $350 and requires a manual to use. I have never needed to use a manual to use Appleworks. You have complete control of your documents and you don't have to summon up the help application to figure out how to do common tasks like formatting paragraphs or adding links. Those who have mastered the complexities of MS Word and who require its special features may not like Appleworks. But for the rest of us, it more than meets our needs.

   Also, one thing more: I have never had any trouble with Appleworks' translators from cwk to word format. I'm not sure why so many people have reported having trouble with it. I translated an entire book from Appleworks to PC MS Word, preserving the formats and special lettering instructions without any trouble at all. In any case, this wouldn't be a problem if people would show more courtesy to non-MS users (Macs and Linux) and not insist on sending them doc formatted files. PDF and rtf are far better cross-platform alternatives.




3. I'm a huge Apple fan and have been using computers for spreadsheets, graphic design, and word processing for years. I have never in my life found a more poorly considered and executed program than Appleworks. It's translation software from MSWord does not work at all--it deletes large chunks of text, rearranges them, and, all in all, causes more work than simply retyping! Its other features are counter-intuitive and frustrating. If you're thinking about saving money by buying this piece of software, think again. There's far better stuff on the market. You'll regret this purchase. Trust me.



4. AppleWorks is a hands down better value than Excel for 99.9% of the people 99.999% of the time. Excel has become so bloated with unneeded features that it is ungainly. More over the Excel interface changes significantly from version to version and Microsoft has to do things in their own special way rather than following standards. AppleWorks reads in and uses almost all of my old spreadsheets from Excel as well as docs. AppleWorks is much more stable and not a processor hog like Excel.



5. I have been using Appleworks since 1985 and followed it through numerous revisions. Appleworks is very intuitive and easy to use (I find using Word to be a wrestling match between me and the program - it keeps wanting to tell me what I'm doing instead of just doing what I ask it to do). The wordprocessor in Appleworks doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Word has but it can do everything that 99.99% of users need to get done.
   
   As for file translation between Word and Appleworks - a quick note is in order. If you are running Appleworks under Mac Classic OS (Mac OS8 or Mac OS9) the file translation to/from Word is between 'weak' and 'passable'(50 - 70% accurate), but under OSX the file translation has made huge leaps forward. It is still not perfect. But the accuracy has jumped up into the 95-98% range.
   
   Under Mac OS8/9, the usability in a Word/Excel world is very limited. But under Mac OSX, it's usability stands up to the needs of 99.99% of what users need.
   
   If you are not concerned with translating documents to/from Word/Excel, then Appleworks is THE STANDARD that all others try to meet. Appleworks is far more cost effective than Word/Excel and does far more. Besides the word processor and spreadsheet Appleworks also has a Drawing module, a Painting module, and a full featured Database module. And data can be copied and pasted back and forth between ANY of the modules. This means that you can go into the Painting module and paint a picture, then copy it, and paste it into the letter you are writing to grandma in the word processor, plus much more.
   
   For the Macintosh, Appleworks is your 'do almost everything' program for everyday data processing. (it doesn't do video or sound, or specialized tasks like that) If you want to write letters, make bulletins, or 'wanted posters', small signs, spreadsheets, drawings, paintings, or a database of your movie collection, Appleworks is for you.

No comments about Upgrade Photoshop CS3 10 Win 1U Retail.

No comments about Website Maker.

No comments about Sibelius 5 Educational & PhotoScore Ultimate 5.

1 comments about Wedding Fonts.

1. I was very disappointed in this software package, which aims to convince the consumer that he or she will be able to choose from an extensive variety of fonts for their wedding invitations/programs/etc. I bought this software because I was searching for a difficult-to-find font, which I had been unable to locate on the internet for free. Nowhere on the box does it say how many fonts come in the software, and SummitSoft is apparently banking on their false impression, because I counted only 56 fonts added to my list of fonts in Microsoft Word. Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of a software program dedicated to *only* fonts I think of that program providing perhaps a few hundred fonts, not a few tens of fonts... the back of the box allows you to preview what the company calls "just a few" of the fonts included in the package, which turn out to be about half of the total! If you are searching for fonts for your wedding stationary, I suggest one of the free font databases online, where you have access to thousands of fonts (not everyone is as picky as I am)!

2 comments about Print Artist Freedom Edition.

1. Like the title says, "Best Print Artist Yet!" This one has a huge array of features, and unlike so many other programs, it it really easy to use. I didn't find myself getting stuck in endless loops when trying to access features like I usually do (I'm sure at least a few of you know what I'm talking about). This is an awesome version to Print Artist. If I were to recommend any Print Artist program to you, it would be this one.



2. I like the fact that I do not have to wade through a ton of graphics to find that special one I need. This program is as user friendly as all other Print Artist programs that my family uses. The graphics print out true to color. My daughter loves the Freedom program. She plans to use it for many of her History projects next year at school. I have used different versions of Print Artist through the years.(IA 2 - PA 15.0) I have even experimented with others but have always remained loyal to Print Artist. I would recommed everyone use this software for all of their graphic needs. I rate it 5+ stars.

5 comments about Tune Plus V 2.0.

1. I should have read the system requirements better. Requires iTunes. I wanted to use this on a laptop to manage songs and playlists without iTunes installed. My mistake.
   
   Unfortunately, didn't get to try it out very much. DotNet FrameWork 2.0 gets installed along with it, and just kept getting errors when enumerating the iPod song list - supposedly a known problem.
   
   What's ironic is that it needs iTunes already installed to run properly. So what's the $20 Tune Plus' point of existing, when the free product that it's supposed to replace/augment does a better job at almost every feature.
   
   I guess if you wanted to download movie listings, weather reports, etc. this would be ok. (/shrug) I use my cell phone for this.



2. TunePlus saved me jillions of dollars. I had my Ipod synced full of purchased music, videos and movies from the Itunes store, natch. Then one day, when I was just minding my own business, downloading some software from www.trojansrus.com, I got the dreaded BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH! Since my laptop was ancient (1 1/2 years old!!!) I decided to invest the $1,000 they wanted to retrieve info from my hard drive into a new-soon-to-be-outdated model. I had all my cds for my software...no worries, right? WRONG! Synching is a one-way street with Itunes. It's like the Hotel California. But then TunePlus came riding over the rainbow on a unicorn! It took everything from my Ipod, backed it up and allowed me to place it tenderly back in Itunes for future listening enjoyment, without handing over huge handfuls of cash. I love me some TunePlus!!! (I had backed up my files, but who wants to lug around or store lots of discs? I had the files on...you guessed it...the crashed laptop hard drive.) No need to learn my lesson the hard way...I now use Tune Plus for easy all's-right-with-the-world!



3. Installed ok... BUT would not recognize my 8 GB nano which is almost a year old. Unable to use the program for what I bought it for.



4. I just bought a new iPod and needed something to transfer songs from my old iPod. I'm on the road, I have iTunes on my laptop but it does NOT contain the music library loaded on my old iPod (that is at home on my desktop). This software couldn't open my old iPod - kept getting a "Object Not Found" message followed by another weird "Debug" message, CLEARLY a sign of a software bug. Piece of junk. I bought the Copytrans software instead and got my new iPod loaded with a little finagling.



5. I bought this software to use for my ipod touch. But surprise surprise, it doesn't even recognize the ipod. I wish the manufacturer was more specific on the box regarding which ipods work. The presentation of the software was also choppy during instillation not to mention it has unwanted add ons. So now iam down $20 plus I am stuck with a typing program by a guy I never heard of.

5 comments about Adobe Illustrator 9.0.

1. This is by far the best graphics software available. New improvements to the basic drawing tools, as well as special effects that allow you to change everything to exactly what you imagine combine to produce a fantastic application. Not just the industry standard, but in a class by itself.



2. I must say Adobe makes fine Products and this is one of them, I love it.This program is a Fantastic program!!



3. The most important change to Illustrator 9 is its ability to work with web design projects.
   
   Illustrator 9 combines illustration tools with improved typographic control and image support.
   
   Why Trade Up to Adobe Illustrator 9.0?
   
   Graphic artists using Illustrator 9 now have the ability to work their web design projects in unison with Photoshop 6. Adobe Illustrator 9 offers them a bundle of new features:
   
   Pixel Preview command
   
   Web safe colors when working in RGB mode
   
   Web Optimization
   
   Release to Layers command
   
   Simplify Command; and
   
   Effects menu.
   
   Who Uses Adobe Illustrator?
   
   New Transparency Palette. Adobe illustrator 9 introduces the new Transparency palette. You can now apply varying levels of transparency to any object, bitmap or type character.
   
   You can apply transparency to layers, groups of objects, knockout shapes, stroke and fill. Also, you can create special effects, such as confining blending to a group of objects. Now, graphic artist can create graduated transparencies on blends.
   
   New Features
   
   Several new features in Illustrator 9.0 will be familiar to veteran Adobe Photoshop users:
   
   The new real-time transparency effects. (There is a new tab on the Stroke and gradient dialog, with a slider.) Select an object, slide the transparency value to 80 percent and the objects beneath it show through. You can move the transparent object at will.
   
   New Styles Palette
   
   Apply drop shadows, glows, scribbled outline effects or dozens of other visual effects to any object or text. The text remains fully editable.
   
   The Layers functions are useful to web designers using Adobe Illustrator 9 for improving their drawings.
   
   The new release Layers to Flash function allows Illustrator 9 to be used to produce morphing object and animation effects.
   
   Pixel Preview Mode and Save for Web Dialog
   
   Pixels are now supported as a measurement method. The new Pixel Preview mode allows you to preview your vector objects as they would appear in a web browser. Objects snap to the nearest pixel edge in the document.
   
   This allows you to preview up to four different optimization settings for output to either JPEG, GIF, PNG-8 or PNG-24 format files. Now, you can adjust the resulting image quality, file size, blur, number of colors in the image.
   
   Use the release to Layers feature in Illustrator 9. You can take all the objects in a given layer and assign each object its own layer which is useful for web animation.
   
   Pro Comments
   
   Noted are Adobe Illustrator 9 new Opacity masks, Layer Clipping masks and Feathering functions, and overprint preview.
   
   Excellent hardcopy manual for learning how to use Adobe Illustrator 9 comes with the program. (No Missing Manual)
   
   Adobe Illustrator 9 has True transparency effects, styles palette and improved Flash support. Pixels can now be specified as a global measurement unit for sizing, editing, and laying out artwork.
   
   Con Comments Noted was the missing companion CD with Adobe Illustrator graphics that comes standard with Adobe Pagemaker Plus application.
   
   Also, I noted that some of the Selection tools can be confusing. I found that Masking tool some times flattens layers.
   
   Final Notes
   
   Every day over one million men and women use Adobe Illustrator. Adobe Illustrator continues to provide the touch-and-feel tools you need to create brochures, video artwork and web pages. Plus, it's used for making packaging, ads and editorial spreads.
   
   Adobe Illustrator 9 offers graphic artist and web designers more flexibility, better integration, along with new object effects.



4. I've been using Illustrator 9.0 for some months now and the more I do so, the more I wish the program designers had paid a lot more attention to how the program manages memory usage and how it arranges the placement of its various toolbars on the computer screen. I happen to work with very large vector-graphic files, with up to 20 or more layers, and this program has a bizarre way of handling them, I've found. Particularly for any layers with heavy detail on them, the tiny thumbnail views I'm forced to endure in the layers toolbox slow the refresh rate and use of the layers toolbar itself so much that I might be waiting as much as a minute or two for these totally unnecessary thumbnails to refresh themselves after every change made on the unlocked or highlighted layers in question. Minimizing the layers toolbar, of course, speeds things up, but sometimes you can't do that, especially if you are working with more than one layer at once and you are copying or transferring a graphic or image from one layer to another, then you're stuck with the agonizingly slow speed. ....In any case, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND IT IN THE NEXT UPGRADE. Even with the Preview mode turned off so that you are only looking at simple vectored lines of your artwork instead of the complete, final image to help speed things up is only handy on occasion. My next beef: toolbar management. For me, I want to have as much available screen space to see and work on my artwork as possible, and though the toolbars are useful, quite often they are just in the way. Furthermore, the main image-editing toolbar that always appears on the left side is simply too much of a screen hog, especially if I'm dragging a graphic object from one part of the artwork somewhere to the left off the screen -- I always have to drag the graphic object down and around the bloody thing to get to the left side if I want to do any off-screen dragging. A real pain. .... Next beef: styles. The program comes provided with some fancy premade graphic styles, a kind of clipart pattern that appears in full color and in amazing colors, a number of which I'm quite impressed with. One I liked was a representation of rippled blue ocean water (in fact, it was called Cartographic - Ocean Basin). I had planned to use it in some of my artwork, but I soon learned the way they designed the program left it more and more of a problem than any help. The way the program allows you to manipilate swatch colors and gradients, to add textures and glass effects also has inherent drawbacks, I've found. .... A lot of the features in Illustrator 9 *are* great, however, you just have to learn how to use them. It would help if the provided manual was a little less brief and esoteric in its language but explained things a little more explicitly about many things. Learning Illustrator is NOT for the casual graphic artist. It takes patience, a lot of reading, and even more trial and error with the toolbars. And the way the manual explained the main toolbar menu itself was quite a pain. For a long time I had no idea how to access half the toolbar's cursor-tools because the manual wasn't explicit in explaining that I had to hold my mouse-pointer over an arrowed tool-icon for about a second before the other tool-icons I'd read about would appear and be accessible. .... My experiences with Illustrator 9 come from someone who has never used Illustrator or PhotoShop before, so naturally I notice things that an experienced Adobe user may not consider very much. There are a lot of good things in Illustrator, the vector graphics themselves being a huge plus, but if you're a beginner or want to just do quick and dirty (but still very detailed) graphics, maybe you should consider a different product with a faster learning curve (and that manages memory better). So, these are just a few things I've experienced with Illustrator 9.



5. For those of you who design graphics, webpages, presentations, publications, or just enjoy working with a great piece of drawing software, Adobe Illustrator is for you. Adobe Illustrator gives you fine precision over your artwork, so that you can truly make it your own. Using Adobe Illustrator, you will be able to work in the developing field of vector graphics, a great enhancement. Vector graphics are great, because if you need to stretch or skew a picture a vector graphic will remain crisp and sharp around the edges unlike more traditional bitmap style images. You can also save your graphics in the SVG format for use on your webpages. This will help to ensure that your graphic always looks the way that you intended it to. In addition, Adobe Illustrator works amazingly well with other Adobe products (such as Acrobat) so you should have a smooth transition between products. If you are used to using Adobe products, you will also feel very comfortable in the environment of Illustrator, which is very much like that of other Adobe products. Where I can see some problems, is for those of you interested in a simple graphics program without all of the bells and whistles. This program is NOT for you. This program can be a bit complicated at first, but is well worth learning for all of the advanced features. This is a product that you can learn to use well, and when you do you will have a VERY powerful graphics development application at your side.

No comments about Click Art 400,000 DVD-Rom (Jewel Case).