Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 22, 1993 TAG: 9303200274
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: L.R. SHANNON NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WEDDING WORKSHOP SOFTWARE COULD SAVE PRENUPTIAL HEADACHES
It probably wouldn't have helped Spencer Tracy or Steve Martin to be better fathers of the bride, but the Wedding Workshop is an invaluable piece of software for parents or principals keeping track of the many details that lead up to a traditional ceremony.The Wedding Workshop, for Windows 3.0 or later, offers a variety of modules for guest lists, estimated and actual expenses, to-do lists, vendors and service providers. In computer terms, these are specialized databases and spreadsheets, plus a small word processing program, so you can do everything within the one program.
I filled out the opening form, the "Getting Started Worksheet." Wedding name: Yokum; bride's name: Daisy Mae; groom's name: Li'l. There are also spaces for preferred and alternative date; preferred time (morning, afternoon, evening); primary and secondary colors; reception site (hotel, hall, outdoors, club, home, other); reception type (sit-down, buffet); ring exchange (single, double); estimated number of bridesmaids, attendants and guests; wedding style (very formal, formal, semiformal, informal, military, double, country, bicultural, ethnic, family, other) and preferred and alternative honeymoon destinations and dates. The program is quite thorough and detailed, if you want that kind of help.
The 116-page manual is short on technical computer matters (if you know how to use Windows you will hardly need it) but long on practical advice.
There are suggestions on choosing engagement and wedding rings, including a discussion of the "four C's" of diamonds, carat, cut, color and clarity; writing engagement and wedding announcements for the local newspaper; the vital question of who pays for what; hiring a photographer and disk jockey or band, budgeting and much more. Everything you put in can be printed out.
The Wedding Workshop, a product of Precision Software of Santa Clara, Calif., runs on any computer likely to be running Windows. The suggested retail price is $64.95. If you want to get more information or to order, call (800) 688-9337 or (408) 241-4727.
So much talk of Windows programs must bore or infuriate computer users who shun graphical interfaces or who own one of the machines, the vast majority, that are either incapable of using or unsuitable for the Microsoft program.
Screen savers for Windows are a big business. These little programs turn the screen into exploding fireworks, kaleidoscope displays, flying toasters or energetic bunnies when the computer is idle for a specified number of minutes. But what is the poor Windowless DOS-user to do? Settle for a program that just boringly blanks the screen?
Razzle Dazzle, a screen saver from Road Scholar of Houston, offers spectacular displays with Windows, but it works equally well under plain DOS 3.1 or later. It includes what seems like an infinite number (at least 2.6 billion, according to the publisher) of colorful moving geometric images.
Those of us who still live in both worlds, sometimes running straight DOS and sometimes running Windows programs, can now enjoy reduced productivity in both environments. The program, $49.95, is widely available.
The name of the company, Road Scholar, is not as irrelevant as it may seem. It also publishes City Streets: The Electronic Street Guide. The program can find street locations and intersections for any of 160 U.S. cities and work out routes to get from one spot to another.
The map can be customized so you can, for example, make your home or office the center of the universe. The suggested retail price is $99.95, which includes one city.