Features

• Software for professional and customizable business plans
• 400+ sample plans; instructions and examples at every step
• Easily exports to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe PDF
• Built-in Plan Review ensures bullet-proof financials
• 2 expert business and marketing planning books included

Features

• Microsoft's desktop enterprise project management program
• Used with Project Server 2003 and Project Web Access
• Offers all the tools found in Project Standard
• Provides powerful enterprise project management capabilities when used with Project Server
• Use for portfolio management, modeling, resource management, and project collaboration

Features

• Create rich-media presentations that deliver better communications -- whether you're doing marketing presentations, online learning or executive broadcasts
• Improved audio and video options give you a wealth of backgrounds, templates and special effects to include in tyour presentation
• Enhanced SMart Tags make it easier to manage and track different aspects of your presentation or project
• Advanced multimedia support makes it easier to transfer Powerpoint files to a CD
• Cross-platform compatibility with support for Macintosh and Netscape users

Features

• Essential tool for research, writing, and publishing
• Create instant bibliographies; organize references and images
• Build libraries of any size; new reference types and fields
• Add, edit, and display references in any language
• Search online bibliographic databases

Product Description

iWork '05 ... Read more

Features

• Integrated iLife media browser and photo masking
• Create, present, and publish work quickly and easily
• Cinema-quality slide presentations; streamlined, yet powerful word processing
• 40+ professionally designed templates with multiple page designs
• Freeform graphics canvas; easy-to-use text styles, charts, and tables

Reviews (16)

Don't Underestimate This Program.
A number of reviewers have commented upon how easy this program is and, I suppose, in one sense it is, especially if you stick to using the templates.However, as one who has had occasion to work with "Adobe Pagemaker," this program can do sophisticated page layout and, as such, there will be a learning curve for the inexperienced.

But, the User Manual is good and there are good books coming out, like one from Visual Start in July, that will help people learn.

It is wrong to think of this program as a word processor "in competition with" Word."MS Word" is a robust word processor; "Pages," as its name implies, is a page layout program.Having also worked with "MS Publisher," the real point of comparison and not "MS Word," "Pages" far exceeds "Publisher" in capabilities and yet for relatively simple layouts is as easy as "Publisher" to use.

I have not as yet put any real strain on the program, but at first blush, on my Powerbook G4 1.5, speed of operations is just fine.Yes, as a few reviewers have pointed out, some of the palettes could be more elegantly combined.One tends to get a clutter of open palettes.But, these are refinements that will be made in future editions, I am sure.

Bottom line: If you want to layout pages with a lot of the sophistication possible in the more expensive "Quark" and "PageMaker" programs; if you want to be able to export your documents to universal portable PDF file format and print out beautiful documents; if you want to pay, basically, only about $40 for these benefits ["Keynotes," the other half of iwork represents another $40], then buy "Pages."

And, if you are a novice with respect to not only page layout programs but also to very robust word programs like "Word," don't expect that everything will be simple.You will have to learn, but you will be rewarded relatively quickly.

I almost didn't buy it....
I thought, "I have MS Office for the Mac, why do I need iWork?" Was I wrong!

Okay fine I suppose I don't really NEED it. But it is a great program, and worth the price. The ability to export my work as a .pdf file is worth the price by itself. The Pages interface is much better, cleaner than Word. And the templates are suprisingly useful. I created a web page by costomizing a template and exporting it as HTML. I twas easy and quick and the result looked great. Most of the people I work with are PC users and because they were unfamiliar with pages the web Page looked fresh, not like a modified copy of someone elses work.

I use my Mac for research mostly and the ability to save documents as .pdf files is very valuable as they are searchable. With Tigers ability to search the text within a .pdf I can now save my work as a .pdf and later find everytime a particular work appears in the fines I've created. This has made cross-refrecing very easy and fast. I now use a program called Pyramid to create a "mind map" of my work and create links from the "map" to refrences in the .pdfs.

I don't use Keynote as much. I t more visially appealing than Powerpoint and pretty easy to use. The ability to use Quicktime movies in the presentation is helpful and the ability to export as a Powerpoint file is nice.

Great program if Microsoft can develop an imitation
Keynote and Pages, the two applications included in iWork, were flawless under the Panther operating system. The Keynote app has always suffered from its inability to share with PC users. Oh yeah, I know I can convert a Keynote file to Powerpoint, .swf, QuickTime, or PDF, but the problem is that, especially when converting to PowerPoint, Keynote loses all its buttery-rich goodness. It's a PowerPoint problem, I realize, but without a Keynote viewer, there's no way around it. Thus, Mac folks must rely on Microsoft for slide presentations if they don't want to lug around their Mac laptop.

Also, installing Tiger will mess up the purchased Keynote templates you have saved. Even reinstalling them won't help.

My humble advice is to wait a couple of years until Apple fixes the bugs in Tiger, then MAYBE think about using a Mac. Until then, I'm switching back from a Mac to a PC.

Big time winner!
iWork comes with two programs, Pages (a word processor) and Keynote (Apple's version of PowerPoint).Both of these programs are very simple to use and very effective.Without a doubt, there are better programs available, but their cost several hundred dollars more and for the average user don't provided more bank for the buck.

When I first turned on Pages I thought "How cheesey!"But as I got to using it I found my first impression was totally wrong.It's simple appearance is very deceptive.This is a word processing program that can do everything that is needed for ordinary personal documents and beyond.You have to be willing to explore the program to discover its gems, but once you learn were things are you will find it a very fast and easy to use.The real value of the program is its desk top publishing.The 40 some templates let you create profession grade newsletters, journals, resumes, invitations, marketing brochures, and many other kinds of documents.This is worth the price of the software alone.It seamlessly works with your iPhoto, iTunes and iMovies.This is one powerful piece of software.With it you can produce commercial grade color brochures or newsletters at an entry level price.

Keynote makes wonderful multimedia presentations, and like Pages is seamlessly integrated with iPhoto, iTunes and iMovies.If you are using graphics or want to import photos into your presentation, Keynote is significantly easier, quicker, and simpler to use that PowerPoint.You can't miss with this program.You can even save you presentation as a PowerPoint, Quicktime, or PDF file or post it on the internet for all to see with the easy of a single click.

I have used both Microsoft Word and PowerPoint and keep them on my hard drive but rarely use them.As my skill with Pages and Keynote has grown I have found them to be more than sufficient in producing quality documents from personal letters, teaching handouts, to professional grade overhead presentations.
For the cost, iWorks cannot be beat!And you will not be disappointed.

iWork `05 System Requirements
- Macintosh computer with a 500 mhz or faster Power PC G3, G4 or G5 (G4 for PowerBook); G4 or G5 recommended
- 128 MB of physical RAM (512MB recommended)
- 8 MB of video memory (32MB recommended)
- Mac OS X v10.3.6 or later
- QuickTime 6.5 or later

Pages is a disappointment
I had high hopes for Pages, Apple's new Word Processing Application, but these hopes were shattered once I tried to design a newsletter with it.

I find the interface unintuitive, unlike most Apple software, and the templates are not easily customizable. What's more, the application continues to mysteriously "erase" work that I have done, even after I have saved it.

Apple, I know you can do better than this... ... Read more

Features

• Feature-rich, compatible office productivity suite at a competitive price
• Powerful word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications
• Compatible with Microsoft Office, PDF, HTML, XML, and more
• Intuitive Publish to PDF feature; no need for additional PDF software
• Maximizes efficiency; versatile and easy to use

Reviews (5)

Great Alternative to MS
First off I don't own a business or anything I am just a poor student that needed an office program for school. After using Word and MS Office I needed to upgrade (this gets expensive year after year). So I decided to try Corel Office. It does pretty much everything Word, Excel, ect... does. And you can publish to PDF which is a bonus. Its a great alternative to MS and is a good value for the money.

Not so suite when you think about it
WordPerfect is a nice word processor. But there's nothing really the matter with MS Word either. They're only word processors after all, and both do what any word processor should do. So the question is, how does the rest of Corel's suite compare to Microsoft's offering? The answer is the same as its been for years: not too well. Excel, Access and Power Point are just plain better than Corel's Presentations, Paradox, etc. Do any businesses actually use Paradox or Presentations? I have not encountered any that do. The compatibility with MS has improved a little, but this begs the question why not buy MS Office in the first place? Then compatibility is no longer an issue, and you get applications that 90% of the business world is using anyway. So the key for me (I chose MS Office over WordPerfect) was not the word processor (WP and MS Word are both good) , but the other applications--the spreadsheets, presentation software, etc. Corel just isn't in the same league as MS when it comes to these.

WordPerfect 12: A New Hope?
Having now had WordPerfect 12 installed for some time, I can say that Corel has done well in their target area of improving compatibility with MS Office. There really isn't much else new about this version, but improving WP's ability to co-exist with MS Office may be what is needed to keep this once-great suite going.
Why consider WP12 if you're looking for an alternative to MS Office? Put simply, StarOffice/OpenOffice just isn't ready yet. Every part of the WordPerfect suite is more polished, more powerful and more flexible than the equivalent component in SO/OOo. Of course WP12 has Reveal Codes, which neither SO/OOo nor MS Office has, but even in features that they have in common, like Publish-to-PDF, WP's version is more professional than the SO/OOo equivalent.
QuattroPro sometimes gets a bad rap, but it is a very powerful spreadsheet, with its own Pivot Tables (the equivalent of Excel's CrossTabs), and it offers 1 million rows and 18,000 columns, far more than ANY of its competitors.
Paradox is the sort of database app that makes its MS Office "equivalent" look like a child's toy, if you are prepared for the steeper learning curve.
Of course the heart of the suite is the incomparable WordPerfect itself, and version 12 is not an embarrassment to its predecessors. Even though the only major improvements have been to compatibility with MS Office (significantly better in WP, QP and Presentations), there have been some other useful bug fixes and refinements.

The really exciting thing about this release is the evidence that Corel (now owned by Vector, and in a much healthier financial situation than it has been for years) has renewed its commitment to the suite, and is being realistic about what is needed to protect WP's niche in the market. Planning for version 13 is apparently already under way, as is a trial of a version for Linux, so WordPerfect is definitely here to stay for the foreseeable future.
Having used both OpenOffice and StarOffice for over a year now, I can honestly say that, if you are looking for an enterprise-quality, professional business suite alternative to MS Office, WP12 is a much better choice. The quality difference is especially noticeable in the respective spreadsheet applications, with QuattroPro being several orders of magnitude more powerful and useful than Calc.
In summary, if, for any reason, you want an alternative to MS Office, WP12 is it. Sure, it's not free, but the competitive pricing structure for upgrades make it a very economical choice, and the quality of the product is such that the cost is money VERY well spent. WORDPERFECT LIVES!

WordPerfect Office 12
I'm a die-hard WordPerfect user, so consider the source!

That said, one important note not present in Amazon's info: WPO 12 also works in Windows 98 SE ... try that with MSO later versions!

Several fixes have been observed (compared to WPO 11), including (and important to me) that using Wp's Publish to PDF again saves multiple colored text on the same line correctly again (it worked OK in Wp10).

Great product, particularly for those wanting improved round-tripping with MS Word files, opening or saving as.

Too little, too late for a once great product
Earlier versions of WordPerfect have suffered from file incompatibility with MS Office applications. WordPerfect Office 12 *finally* has great file compatibility features. In fact, just click an icon on a toolbar and you can save to the MS Office application of your choice.

PROS
* Solid file compatibility with MS Office---finally!

* Paradox is an easy tool for learning about relational databases; it is far easier to use than Access, though not as powerful

* WordPerfect drawing tools are superior to MS Word drawing tools

* WordPerfect is still better for laying out complex documents, including outlines and multiple columns

* The 'reveal codes' feature alone is nearly invaluable--why didn't MS copy that somewhere along the way?

* It costs less

* Can create PDFs (without buying Acrobat) from the WP print menus

CONS
* Corel, WordPerfect's maker, is in financial trouble--will bug fixes and upgrades be available?

* Excel is more powerful (ie., Pivot tables) and has a better interface than Quattro Pro

* PowerPoint is head-and-shoulders easier to use than Presentations

THE SKINNY
Hey, WordPerfect, what took you so long to get the file compatibility!? Your market share is almost zip. Methinks it is too little, too late to resurrect this once great product. I was one of the last WordPerfect loyalists, and I switched to MS Office for good 4 years ago!

* If you are a WordPerfect loyalist, the file compatibility features alone make this a required purchase

* If you don't want to spend the money for MS Office, this is a good alternative

* BUT, OpenOffice.org is a *free* alternative to MS Office with good file compatibility. The interface isn't as nice as WordPerfect's--but *free* goes a long way ... Read more

Product Description

The QuickLink-Pen Elite is the latest version of the very popular and successful QuickLink-Pen, providing users with new and improved electronic note-taking capabilities: reads notes and definitions aloud; beams to Smartphones, as well as to PDAs and PCs; includes English dictionary definitions; USB connection to PC.Used just like a yellow highlighter, the QuickLink-Pen Elite allows the user to collect, electronically, notes from any printed text - anytime, anywhere!The QuickLink-Pen Elite is ideal for students, doctors, business people, or researchers who need the ability to quickly and easily take notes whenever and wherever they might be - in a library, on a plane, or in a business meeting. ... Read more

Features

• USB and IrDA infra red ports, PC compatible
• Stores up to 1,000 pages of text; text-to-speech software
• Supports English, German, Swedish, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and French
• Exports data to Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and Internet Explorer
• 97% OCR accuracy, recognizes 6-22 point font sizes

Reviews (4)

Doesn't work with OS X
I want to like this thing, but I can't, for it does not work at all with OS X.

So, if, like me, you run Apples, just pass on by this page because the thing will not work for you.

Not as good as the C-Pen 800C
I'm measuring, first and foremost, ease and precision of scanning. Speed of scanning and ease of installation on the computer are, in my mind, about the same for both this, the Wizcom QuickLink Elite, and the C-Pen 800C. They differ sufficiently, however, in the primary question of ease and quality of scanning. For the record, I bought both at the same time, with the intent of keeping the better of the two. You can just go ahead and buy the C-Pen 800C.
I have had one horrible experience with a pen scanner by Siemens, the "Pocket Reader." It was truly useless. It scanned so poorly that I just put it aside. By the time I though to return it, Siemens was no longer making it, and I couldn't get customer service here in the U.S.
The Wizcom QuickLink Elite is not so bad. It's serviceable. I don't think it lives up to its 95% accuracy guarantee, but perhaps meets a 90% threshold, measured impressionistically. It's interface is also reasonable and satisfactory.
However, the C-Pen 800C is even more precise, truly approaching 95%. Moreover, if you discount errors in spacing from this accuracy percentage, its precision is even higher. Whereas the Wizcom is just as likely to make a content error, misread letters, etc., the 800C's errors are more likely to be the absence of a space when there should be one. A rare missed space doesn't make you puzzle over the text when you come back to it two months later.
C-Pen is also lighter, and it's rechargeable, so while it's more expensive, in the long run, you'll save on batteries.
Both have comparable single-language dictionaries, though Wizcom has more built in or for free (C-Pen allows you one free dictionary, including bilingual ones). Wizcom is a only a bit slower on the uptake, but significantly more likely to warn you "Scan too fast." I've never had that from C-Pen, and again, the precision at any speed is appreciably better with C-Pen.
Both have comparable PC and PDA compatibility capacity.

Too much capability can be a bad thing....
I chose this device over the competitor products based on (1) ergonomics, (2) local device controls, and (3) independent operation from the PC.Unfortunately, the device software has fallen prey to the age-old issues of any device that tries to perform "smart" syncing operations.It gets confused...

My goal was to use the pen as a remote scanning device and then be able to upload the scanned text to either my home PC or my laptop.I installed the desktop application on both machines with no apparent problems.However, after successfully syncing with one machine, a subsequent attempt to sync with the second machine failed miserably.One such failure caused me to permanently lose 2 hours worth of scanned input.I was horrified.

I need a scanning pen that is exactly just that.A scanner.I don't need a smart device that wants to 'remember' what I've done or what I want to do.I don't get this type of behavior with my digital camera or my flatbed scanner, so I don't expect it from a pen.When you perform an alleged upload operation, the software tries to write information back into the pen.If I'm "uploading" then I don't want anything to be "downloaded" into the pen... period.This is the bane of my tests and the failures.

There are certainly other factors that affected decision to return the equipment to the manufacturer for refund, such as sluggish processing times between scans, and extremely poor ability to read Times New Roman (note: all their samples are in Arial, but find a textbook that isn't TNR!).I could still have lived with these ideosyncracies if it weren't for the high risk of data loss.This was intended to be a time saver, but it simply wasn't.

My rating here is based on the hardware.This device could be vastly improved with a change in software philosophy.Just upload the data and don't second-guess the operator.

Portable, useful, and easy to use
I received QuickLink Elite pen today and have been testing it for the past 6 hours. Now I am finished, I would like to share my thought about this device with you. The box came with the content as described by Amazon. My surprise was that the 135 page color manual, I thought those were extinct! That is in addition to the PDF one in the CD.

Installation on Windows XP Pro. SP2 (Tablet edition) went smoothly, the instructions on the self run CD were easy to follow. You basically install the driver for the cable [serial at the device connector to USB (II in my case) at the PC end], then you install the desktop application which is a very basic utility that lists the files on your pen, and allows you to communicate, change settings, transfer data, and add software to your pen. Once you install the software, you will be asked to connect the device to the computer to start the communication. Initially I had a problem connecting to the device because it conflicted with Bluetooth serial ports. So I disabled the Bluetooth serial ports and removed some extra unused serial COM ports from the computer device manager. I reinstalled the pen drive from the CD, restarted the computer but before I connect again I did one more IMPORTANT step that is not mentioned anywhere. You Baud rate on the pen (go to settings, communications, baud rate) must be the same as your computer COM port (go to device manager, right click on the new COM port), choose a rate, in my case 57600 worked best. After that I managed to exchange files, install software to the pen. In addition, It tried the IrDA with my laptop, the text file was transferred instantly. PDA (iPAQ) recognize the device but transfer of files needed third-party software (Peacmaker $15). In their website, they say there will be an upgrade where third party will not be needed.

After that scanning the text went smoothly, I also scanned small image ( max 8 mm wide), installed the tables software on the pen, scanned directly on the PC ... all went very well. I scanned a type font 10 textbook, out of the total 543,24 were mis-recognized (some missing one letter, some had capital letter in the middle, while others were just a mess). That is about 95.5% accuracy, not bad, considering that I get about 85% with a flatbed scanner. It takes me about 5 to 6 seconds per line (about 5 minutes per page), so this is truly for text snippets rather than a whole page scanning. Image scanning is useful for signatures, Greek letters, etc. Quality is just OK, you can also scan tables, business cards (to outlook), URLs (get sent to favorites) with the included add-ins on the CD, and bar codes (additional downloads from the wizcom website). All in all I will recommend this device for students, researchers, & people who type slow or rather collect different set of texts from books, journals, etc. It fits 1000 pages internal memory, besides scanning directly to your word processor. It has built in English dictionary, good for language students. It also read aloud any text that is scanned (I do not see the use of this one) but the pen comes with earphone with volume controls.
All in all, this pen turn out as it was described and I think it is a keeper. Thanks for reading this long review and I hope it helped someone.
... Read more

Features

• For IT professionals, engineers, and developers
• Provides the most comprehensive technical diagramming and drawing tools available
• Create and share complex information
• Allows for software diagramming and reverse engineering
• This is an upgrade--a previous verion of Visio is required

Reviews (3)

Beware!!! Not an upgrade for Visio 2003 Standard
I just purchased this thinking that "of course I can upgrade to Visio 2003 Pro from Visio 2003 Standard". Nope. This is just plain silly. I still am trying to figure out if I can even upgrade my Visio *2003* Standard version to Professional.

A Valuable Upgrade
I have been using the Visio diagramming software since the 2000 version. In my mind this upgrade is the best I have purchased.

The interface with the rest of the Office XP 2003 Suite is vastly improved. I can now take a diagram created in Visio and drop it into Word documents, PowerPoint Presentations and e-mails without having to reformat it. In the past the transfer was never clean.

Once the diagram is embedded, I can emphasize and clarify key points, gather input from team members and even share documents using SharePoint services. This is a huge timesaver for me.

If you embed your diagrams in other documents, you will love this upgrade.

Powerful, Versatile, Sophisticated Business Diagramming
Visio has always been an excellent solution for technical diagramming. Version 2003 is no exception and improves upon its predecessor with support for the web and integration with other Office applications. The program still lacks certain elements of Microsoft Office which I feel concerned about. Users are able to import Native Auto CAD drawings directly into Visio, and use the Visio tools to further customize and edit drawings to their hearts content. You can create custom stencils save them and share with other Visio users over a corporate network. You can export diagrams as a webpage so that users who don't have Visio installed locally on their machine can View diagrams through web browser at different resolutions with ease. The program enables IT Adminstrators to create Diagrams for Active Directory role outs for Windows 2000 Server and Server 2003. SQL Server or other third party database products such as Oracle and IBM DB2 can use the Visio functionality to outline a companies storage of data through active digrams that automate how data is stored and used. You can create simple project management task, and also export other Visio digrams to PowerPoint and further edit within PowerPoint or Word.Other features include searching for stencils online in the program, which makes it easy for you to find that particular diagram. Visio still lacks certain elements such as native support for WordArt. Overall, this upgrade is a must have for existing Visio 2000 or 5.0 users, but some 2002 users might not see any need for some of the functionality and might wait first to see if their diagramming and network infrastructure needs demand the new functionality and technology that Visio 2003 has to offer. ... Read more

Features

• Business-planning software with helpful collaboration tools
• 400+ sample plans; expert instructions and examples at every step
• Easily exports to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe PDF
• Built-in Plan Review ensures bullet-proof financials
• 2 expert business and marketing planning books included

Features

• Information management tool for delivering great customer service
• See customers at a glance and detailed information instantly
• Synchronize information between key applications
• Import contacts from QuickBooks, Microsoft Excel, Outlook, and more
• Create group mailings instantly; familiar look and feel of QuickBooks

Features

• Provides basic report design functionality off PC-based data sources
• Enhanced features for greater productivity and easier reporting
• Format painter for faster report formatting
• Enhanced Excel export for greater end-user flexibility
• 100-percent Java reporting component for J2EE applications

Features

• PowerPoint 2003 gives you the ability to create an impact with your ideas, whether it's in person or online!
• Create rich-media presentations that deliver better communications -- whether you're doing marketing presentations, online learning or executive broadcasts
• Improved audio and video options give you a wealth of backgrounds, templates and special effects to include in tyour presentation
• Enhanced SMart Tags make it easier to manage and track different aspects of your presentation or project
• Advanced multimedia support makes it easier to transfer Powerpoint files to a CD

Product Description

Business Objects Crystal Reports 11.0 Professional.Crystal Reports a proven, world standard solution helps you design, manage, and deliver reports via the web and embedded in enterprise applications. It can provide you with a solid starting point for your business intelligence (BI) strategy by helping you securely deliver the most requested pieces of information as highly-formatted reports to end users both inside and outside your organization.Crystal Reports allows you to:Access and present any data the way you want Deliver the right reports to end users at the right time Integrate reporting with applications and portalsDesigned for the creation and maintenance of highly formatted reports, the Professional Edition includes all features in the Standard edition plus access to almost any enterprise data sources. ... Read more

Features

• All-in-one desktop publishing
• 2500+ professionally designed templates
• Powerful text handling; sophisticated graphics
• Professional printing capabilities
• Full-featured image editor included

Features

• Visio 2003 is the simple & flexible tool that documents and organizes complex ideas, processes, and systems -- and illustrates them for others!
• It's never been easier to assemble diagrams -- just drag the pre-defined Microsoft SmartShapes symbols into the desired location
• Generate common diagram types from all sorts of existing data, to put complex concepts, processes, and relationships into their proper context
• Create visually rich diagrams that ive your ideas maximum impact -- then share them in workspace files on your team's SharePoint site
• Track reviewer's comments and customize your diagram, to meet the needs of your organization

Amazon.com Product Description

Marketing Plan Pro 2003 features everything you need to write a detailed marketing plan quickly. Built-in PlanWizard walks you through creation of the plan, and forecasting worksheets help you plan out your revenue and expenses for each program. Build your strategy and implement it. Include your own graphics, automatically develop full-color, 3-D charts, and complete Microsoft Excel-like financials. Then run the numbers using the thousands of built-in industry profiles. Marketing Plan Pro includes 70 sample marketing plans. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Not For Students
This program works great if you are trying to open a business from the beginning, but not for writing a plan for an existing business. I had to write a marketing plan for a class and it was helpful but there are many more resources out there that would be better.

Excellent Marketing Resource
I was referred to this product through a contact at the American Marketing Association. What a great piece of advice!

This is impressive software from every perspective. I found it easy to use, the content is excellent throughout, and the sample marketing plans were amazing. Check out "Interior Views" for example. The other resources, including the associated book, were also valuable for me.

My marketing plans looks great and I would not have been able to accomplish this task so efficiently without this software.

The New Version is Even Better
The latest version of Marketing Plan Pro has everything you need to create a solid marketing plan, and now it has an impressive library of sample plans. I found a couple plans that were very helpful to me as I created mine.

This sofware saved me hours and my marketing plan looks awesome!

It made me look like a marketing guru
I first learned about Marketing Plan Pro through a class I took that used Kotler's "Marketing Managment" text where the software is mentioned. This software was so helpful in creating a marketing plan, I just can't imagine doing one without it. Great wizards, good sample plans, and the graphics it created for me were incredible.

The plan looks great, my boss was blown away, and it is the easiest way for me to keep my marketing plan current and useful.

I recommend it without hesitation. ... Read more

Features

• Calibrate your monitor in easy-to-follow steps
• All-digital, 7-filter colorimeter; works with both CRT and LCD monitors
• Calibrate monitor to selected tone response and color temperature
• Create an ICC profile of the monitor in its calibrated state
• Designed for novice users; requires no startup time or user training

Reviews (2)

Questionable Color
First and foremost you need to know my background. I'm an Illustrator and I've been working with color and images a very long time. I'm also extremely adept at computers having my A+, Network+, MCSE, MCSA and CCNA certifications. I've always relied on Adobe Gammma to do the job but my Dell 5100 Laptop needed a lot of help.

Ok, so I've been trying to get my color calibrated correctly for a while now. The main problem has been my Dell 5100 Laptop showing colors a tad bit too dark. So I went out and bought this Spyder with PhotoCal software.

Installation was a breeze. The software booted up great onto Windows Xp Pro and Home and it instantly recognized the Colorimeter tool (the plastic attachment that measures the color on your screen).

The calibration is only Wizard-based (which kinda sucked). It guides you step-by-step with the following questions...
1) Is this a CRT or LCD
2) Would you like 1.8 or 2.2 Gamma?
3) Would you like 5000 or 6500 color temperature.
4) Can you adjust the color settings? Yes, No and Presets are options.

If you select No, then it starts the calibration immediately by scanning all gradations of RGB, White, Black and Grey.

If you select Yes, then it quickly scans normal RGB and then asks you to adjust the colors through your monitor until they all meet inside a thin rectangular box (I thought the calibrator was supposed to do this!). Once you calilbrate your own monitor, it starts running through all the gradations of RGB, White Grey and Black as mentioned above.

Finally...it asks you to save your ICC profile and it creates a nifty Startup program similar to Adobe Gamma that boots with Windows.

First was my 19" Dell 1901FP LCD monitor. The love of my life. Color on this monitor is quite nice but I decided to give it a go and test it out anyways. I deleted Adobe Gamma from my startup folder and away we went.

Once done, I was somewhat happy. The white, however, seemed rather blueish. All the other colors seemed ok. I was semi-content and moved on to my notebook. This was trickier since I can't adjust color settings and I had to completely rely on the Spyder to do the job. It finished and looked semi-decent. So being in a hurry I packed everything away and left to work.

At work...things got bad quick. I booted up my Dell 5100 Laptop and immediately noticed the colors were quite dark. As a matter of fact, my gamma was screwed. I was looking at a picture of some black Rollerblades I was selling on eBay and I couldn't differentiate the blacks from the midtones. It was just a congestion of really dark mids and highlight.

So I did some research and found out I was supposed to calibrate without any ambient light sources. This was buried in the PhotoCal CD and was never mentioned in the Wizard. At the time I had daylight and tungsten lights (Reveal lightbulbs) so I guessed that's what I did wrong. So tonight, in complete and total darkness I once again calibrated both the LCD and Notebook monitor and I achieved the same results. The notebook was deathly dark and although the colors were much better off, I simply couldn't adjust the gamma. The whites on the Dell 1901FP 19" display were still blue-toned.

This product did not calibrate my Notebook as promised and it left my LCD's colors questionable. In my line of work, there can't be any questions. This product is going back.

Yes, you do need this, and it works
If the image on your monitor doesn't match what comes out of the printer, this gizmo will fix the problem. It works with both CRTs and LCD's. It takes 15 minutes and when youre done the monitor will use a custom profile that sets the mix of red, green and blue correctly, along with the brightness. You have to know in advance what kind of controls your monitor has -- no color controls -- common on laptops, or user-set RGB and color temperature controls. But the insructions tell you how to find out, and the product works with either type. Hint #1: To see the monitor controls and the calibration pattern simultaneuously, open the PhotoCal software, drag it over to one side of the screen and then open the monitor controls and drag them over to the other side. #2: Re-run the calibration after you adjust the monitor to check the results -- the software doesn't cycle back by itself. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

With Visio Enterprise Edition, tasks you'd otherwise do by hand or with expensive high-end tools are streamlined. Enterprise-wide networks and directory structures can be documented automatically. Design and re-engineer database systems with ease. Or reverse engineer and generate Microsoft Visual Studio code to get a head start visualizing and generating application structures. Get the green light from your clients or feedback from IT team members. Enterprise Edition makes it easy to share your documents using its dynamic Web publishing features. Save diagrams as HTML or in VML format so that users can review them using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0.

Enterprise Edition works with the leading directory services, database systems, programming environments, and other IT tools. And, it's fully integrated with Microsoft Office 2000 and Windows 2000. Easily update and manage your network diagrams with AutoDiscovery and AutoLayout. Get accurate equipment representation in your diagrams with the more than 13,000 network manufacturer-specific shapes that come in Visio 2000 Enterprise. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

visio 2000 ee ain't bad
ee has auto discovery of devices on the network which is a neat feature that maps out the network for you so you don't have to do the tedious work of figuring out all the devices. has native support for active directory and nds too! ... Read more