Editing Acorn Archimedes (section)

=== Document processing and productivity ===

Although document processing and productivity or office software applications were addressed by a few packages released in the Arthur era of the Archimedes, bringing titles such as First Word Plus,<ref name="acornuser198804_wordprocessors" /> Logistix,<ref name="acornuser198804_investment" /> and PipeDream,<ref name="acornuser198710_pipedream" /> it was not until the availability of RISC OS that the Archimedes would see the more compelling software developed for the platform being delivered, with Acorn even delaying its own Desktop Publisher to take advantage of this substantial upgrade to the operating system.<ref name="acornuser198811" />

Alongside Acorn Desktop Publisher, Computer Concepts' "document processor" [[Impression (software)|Impression]] and Beebug's Ovation<ref name="acornuser199011_ovation" /> provided a small selection of solutions in the realm of desktop publishing. Acorn pursued the publishing industry with software and hardware system bundles, with Impression typically featuring prominently,<ref name="acornuser199203_publishing">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser116-Mar92/page/n8/mode/1up | title=Acorn DTP Package Takes on the Mac | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1992 | access-date=6 August 2021 | pages=7 }}</ref> even in the era of the Archimedes' successor, the Risc PC.<ref name="acornuser199406_publishing">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser143-Jun94/page/n22/mode/1up | title=Acorn Publishing Impact | magazine=Acorn User | date=June 1994 | access-date=6 August 2021 | pages=23 }}</ref> Ovation was eventually succeeded by Ovation Pro in 1996, offering stronger competition to Impression Publisher—itself the professional package in the range that had developed from Impression—and to industry-favoured applications such as [[QuarkXPress]].<ref name="acornuser199609_ovationpro">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser172-Sep96/page/n31/mode/2up | title=DTP excellence | magazine=Acorn User | date=September 1996 | access-date=16 April 2021 | last1=Kreindler | first1=Jack | last2=Hill | first2=Martin | last3=Capper | first3=Alan | pages=32–35 }}</ref>

Amongst a variety of word processor applications, one enduring product family for the platform was developed by Icon Technology who had already released a word processor, MacAuthor, for the Apple Macintosh. This existing product was ported to RISC OS and released as EasiWriter in 1991, fully supporting the outline fonts and printing architecture of the host system.<ref name="acornuser199106_easiwriter">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser108-Jul91/page/n105/mode/2up | title=Winning Words | magazine=Acorn User | date=June 1991 | access-date=6 August 2021 | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | pages=104–105 }}</ref> Icon followed up to EasiWriter with an enhanced version ("EasiWriter's big brother") in 1992, [[TechWriter]], featuring mathematical formula editing.<ref name="acornuser199207_techwriter">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser120-Jul92/page/n10/mode/1up | title=TechWriter Hits Right Formula | magazine=Acorn User | date=July 1992 | access-date=6 August 2021 | pages=9 }}</ref> Both products were upgraded to provide mail-merge capabilities—a noted deficiency of the first release of EasiWriter—and both provided convenient table editing, with TechWriter also offering automatic footnote handling, being promoted as "a complete package for producing academic and technical documents".<ref name="acornuser199210_techwriter">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser123-Oct92/page/n80/mode/1up | title=The Write Stuff | magazine=Acorn User | date=October 1992 | access-date=6 August 2021 | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | pages=77–78 }}</ref> Upgraded "Professional" editions of EasiWriter and TechWriter were released in 1995, with the latter adding the notable feature of being able to save documents in [[TeX]] format.<ref name="acornuser199507_icon">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser157-Jul95/page/n10/mode/1up | title=Icon Technology gets professional | magazine=Acorn User | date=July 1995 | access-date=23 August 2021 | pages=11 }}</ref>

Given the platform's presence in education, various educational word processing and publishing applications were available. Longman Logotron supplied a "cost-effective introduction to DTP" in the form of FirstPage, retailing at £49 plus VAT with "unlimited" educational site licences costing up to £190. Targeting machines with only 1&nbsp;MB of RAM, various traditional word processing features such as a spelling checker and integrated help were omitted, but as a frame-based document processor it was considered "excellent value for money" when compared to the pricing and capabilities of some of its competitors, even appealing to the home market.<ref name="acornuser199411_firstpage">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser148-Nov94/page/n76/mode/1up | title=Hold the first page | magazine=Acorn User | date=November 1994 | access-date=23 August 2021 | last1=Preston | first1=Geoff | pages=77–78 }}</ref> Similarly, Softease's "object-based" document processor, Textease, also had potential appeal beyond the educational market, freeing the user from having to design page layouts using frames, instead permitting them to click and type at the desired position or to drag and drop graphical objects directly into the page, providing a user interface paradigm reminiscent of the Draw application provided with RISC OS. Document layout capabilities were nevertheless available, supporting multiple column layouts, as were the traditional features such as spellchecking and integrated help absent from FirstPage. Pricing was even more competitive at around £30, or £40 with spellchecking support.<ref name="acornuser199509_textease">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser159-Sep95/page/n44/mode/1up | title=Textease | magazine=Acorn User | date=September 1995 | access-date=23 August 2021 | last1=Preston | first1=Geoff | pages=45 }}</ref>

Aside from the hybrid word processor and spreadsheet application, PipeDream, being released in versions 3<ref name="acornuser199004_pipedream" /> and 4<ref name="acornuser199203_pipedream" /> for the RISC OS desktop environment, Colton Software released a standalone word processor, Wordz, in 1993, with plans for companion applications and a degree of integration between them.<ref name="acornuser199305_wordz">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser130-May93/page/n52/mode/1up | title=Wordz Made Easy | magazine=Acorn User | date=May 1993 | access-date=7 August 2021 | last1=Burley | first1=Ian | pages=49 }}</ref> The first of these companion applications was Resultz,<ref name="acornuser199307_resultz">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser132-Jul93/page/n50/mode/1up | title=Getting Resultz | magazine=Acorn User | date=July 1993 | access-date=7 August 2021 | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | pages=49 }}</ref> and the two applications were combined to make Fireworkz, itself incorporating the editing capabilities of both applications within a single interface, offering the ability to combine textual and spreadsheet data on the same page within documents.<ref name="acornuser199403_fireworkz" /> Colton subsequently expanded the family in 1995 with the Recordz database product, combining it with the existing Fireworkz functionality to make the Fireworkz Pro product,<ref name="acornuser199503_fireworkz_pro">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser153-Mar95/page/n24/mode/1up | title=Fireworkz Professional Now Available | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1995 | access-date=8 August 2021 | last1=Singleton | first1=Alex | pages=25 }}</ref> this bringing it into direct competition with Acorn's Advance and Minerva's Desktop Office suites, but ostensibly offering a much deeper level of integration than those competitors.<ref name="acornuser199504_recordz">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser154-Apr95/page/n55/mode/2up | title=Making records | magazine=Acorn User | date=April 1995 | access-date=8 August 2021 | last1=Vogler | first1=Clem | pages=56–57 }}</ref> PipeDream itself was later updated to version 4.5, conforming more closely to the RISC OS look and feel, being initially offered as an upgrade for users of version 4.0.<ref name="acornuser199702_spreadsheets" />

Acorn's own interest in developing applications led it to initiate work on the Schema spreadsheet application, only to disengage from application development and to transfer the product to Clares who, with assistance from the originally commissioned developers, brought the product to market.<ref name="acornuser199104_schema">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser105-Apr91/page/n114/mode/2up | title=Full Scheme Ahead | magazine=Acorn User | date=April 1991 | access-date=8 August 2021 | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | pages=112–113 }}</ref> Despite its origins as one component in an application suite that was never delivered as envisaged, a cut-down version of Schema 2 was later incorporated into Acorn's Advance application suite alongside variants of Computer Concepts' Impression Junior and Iota Software's DataPower.<ref name="acornuser199303_advance">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser128-Mar93/page/n8/mode/1up | title=Acorn is Back to the Software | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1993 | access-date=8 August 2021 | pages=7 }}</ref> Schema 2 itself was enhanced with a "powerful macro language" and released in 1994.<ref name="acornuser199409_schema2">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser146-Sep94/page/n51/mode/2up | title=The Scheme of things | magazine=Acorn User | date=September 1994 | access-date=8 August 2021 | last1=Matthewman | first1=David | pages=52–53 }}</ref>

In the spreadsheet category, Longman Logotron's Eureka, released in 1992, provided robust competition to Schema and PipeDream, seeking to emulate Microsoft Excel in terms of functionality and user interface conventions.<ref name="acornuser199209_eureka">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser122-Sep92/page/n21/mode/2up | title=Enter Eureka | magazine=Acorn User | date=September 1992 | access-date=8 August 2021 | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | pages=20–21, 23 }}</ref> The interoperability benefits of the updated product, Eureka 2, were later given as a reason for Acorn to adopt the software internally, acquiring a 300-user site licence and thus allowing its employees to convert "substantial spreadsheet data which needed converting from Lotus 1-2-3".<ref name="acornuser199312_eureka2">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser137-Dec93/page/n11/mode/1up | title=Acorn says Eureka | magazine=Acorn User | date=December 1993 | access-date=8 August 2021 | pages=10 }}</ref> Updated again as Eureka 3, with new features remedying "what was badly missing in the earlier version", but with the manual regarded as inadequate and with online help still absent from the application, the application was nevertheless regarded as the most powerful of the platform's principal spreadsheet offerings, attempting to be "the ''Excel'' of the Acorn world".<ref name="acornuser199702_spreadsheets">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser178-Feb97/page/n31/mode/1up | title=Spreadsheets shootout | magazine=Acorn User | date=February 1997 | access-date=10 October 2021 | last1=Tomkinson | first1=Mike | pages=32–34 }}</ref>

A number of [[Database#Database management system|database applications]] were made available for the Archimedes, with Minerva Software following up from its early applications on the system, DeltaBase and System Delta Plus,<ref name="acornuser198708_risc_micro"/> with the RISC OS desktop-compliant Multistore in early 1990: a relational database with a graphical "record card" interface and report generation functionality.<ref name="acornuser199003_multistore">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser092-Mar90/page/n121/mode/2up | title=Let's Get Relational | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1990 | access-date=8 August 2021 | last1=Phillips | first1=Martin | pages=120–121 }}</ref> A broadly similar approach, albeit without any claimed "relational" capabilities, was offered by Digital Services' Squirrel database manager software, emphasising customisation of the presentation of data and reporting, but also introducing a flowchart-based method of querying, this feature causing one reviewer to regard the product as "the most innovative database manager on the Archimedes" with its usability being comparable to [[FileMaker]] on the Apple Macintosh.<ref name="acornuser199105_squirrel">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser106-May91/page/n127/mode/2up | title=Top of the Tree | magazine=Acorn User | date=May 1991 | access-date=8 August 2021 | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | pages=126–127 }}</ref>

Aimed at the education market, with a focus more on "computerised data handling" than data management, Longman Logotron's PinPoint framed the structuring and retention of data around a questionnaire format, with a form editor offering "DTP-style facilities", and with data entry performed interactively via the on-screen questionnaire. Some analysis and graphing capabilities were also provided.<ref name="acornuser199112_pinpoint">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser113-Dec91/page/n150/mode/1up | title=To the Point | magazine=Acorn User | date=December 1991 | access-date=8 August 2021 | last1=Futcher | first1=Dave | pages=149–150 }}</ref> A version of PinPoint would eventually be made available for Windows, ostensibly aimed at market research as opposed to education, as its producer attempted to broaden its audience and availability for different platforms.<ref name="pcw199404_pinpoint">{{ cite magazine | title=PinPoint for Windows | magazine=Personal Computer World | date=April 1994 | last1=Begg | first1=Paul | pages=288, 290 }}</ref>{{rp|page=288|quote=This unusual new database from Longman Logotron is perfect for market research data but still flexible enough to prove useful in many other areas.}} Also emphasising a desktop publishing style of presentation was Iota Software's DataPower, employing these facilities to customise record entry to "make data collection as much like form-filling as possible" and in the reporting functionality of the software.<ref name="acornuser199302_datapower">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser127-Feb93/page/n116/mode/1up | title=Fast and Friendly | magazine=Acorn User | date=February 1993 | access-date=8 August 2021 | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | pages=115–117 }}</ref>

In 1993, Longman Logotron introduced S-Base, a programmable database offering the possibility of customised database application development. Described as "a more disciplined, less graphical approach to database design", the software enforced a degree of discipline around data type and table definition, but it also retained various graphical techniques to design forms for interaction with the database. Building on such foundations, programs could be written in a language called S to handle user interaction, graphical user interface events, and to interact with data in the database. Being compared to the contemporary DOS-based [[Paradox (database)|Paradox]] software, it was regarded as having more of an emphasis on "database applications" than actual databases, also being considered as similar to the contemporary RISC OS application, Archway, as a kind of "application generator" tool.<ref name="acornuser199303_sbase">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser128-Mar93/page/n28/mode/1up | title=Journey into S-Base | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1993 | access-date=8 August 2021 | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | pages=27–29 }}</ref>

DataPower, S-Base and Squirrel were all subsequently upgraded, S-Base 2 being enhanced with features to simplify the setting up of applications and consequently being regarded as "without doubt the most powerful database management system available for the Archimedes" due to its programmable nature, Squirrel 2 gaining relational capabilities and being recommended for its "amazing flexibility" and for its searching and sorting functionality, with DataPower being recommended more for "the majority of users" for its usability and "attractive graphs and reports".<ref name="acornuser199404_databases">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser141-Apr94/page/n45/mode/2up | title=Heavyweight Databases | magazine=Acorn User | date=April 1994 | access-date=8 August 2021 | last1=Harrison | first1=James | pages=46–48 }}</ref>

Despite spreadsheet and database applications offering graphing capabilities, dedicated applications were also available to produce a wider range of graphs and charts. Amongst these were Chartwell from Risc Developments and the Graphbox and Graphbox Professional packages from Minerva Software.<ref name="acornuser199203_charted">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser138-Jan94/page/n89/mode/2up | title=Charted Course | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1992 | access-date=9 August 2021 | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | pages=78–79 }}</ref> Arriving somewhat later than these packages, being released by Clares in January 1994, Plot also sought to cater for mathematical and educational users by offering support for function plotting, this having been largely ignored by the existing packages which tended "to be based on producing bar and pie charts from tables of figures".<ref name="acornuser199401_plot">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser138-Jan94/page/n89/mode/2up | title=The Plot Thickens | magazine=Acorn User | date=January 1994 | access-date=9 August 2021 | last1=Watts | first1=Robin | pages=90–91 }}</ref>