Spring 1986 RAIN Page 53 Whole Earth Software Catalog for 1986, 2.0, edited by Steward Brand, 1985, 224 pp„ $17.50 from: Quantum Press/Doubleday 245 Park Avenue New York, NY 10167 There is no one place you can turn to obtain a comprehensive examination of small computer hardware and software, but the Whole Earth Software Catalog comes close. ^e catalog is a very subjective affair. Instead of those cut-and-dried reviews that appear in major computer magazines' annual product review issues, the catalog makes no bones about revealing prejudices, or relying on personal preferences. A typical catalog review is a collage of a half dozen anecdotal appraisals of a particular software. Staying with the long tradition of the Whole Earth Catalog, readers are left on their own to evaluate the comments. As Steward Brand said in an early Whole Earth Catalog, the purpose of the catalog is to point out, not to sell. The catalog is a lot like the first one, although out of 473 items reviewed, 207 are new. The useful feature of providing both a retail price as well as a “street” price is condnued. If you want to buy REVIEWS one book that will give you an overview of what is available for small computers, this might be it. We at the Information Technology Institute use it as a basic reference guide to respond to our client’s questions. On our wish list for future editions would be more discussion of applications. As with other Whole Earth efforts, the focus is too often on just the product itself. While software companies create the software, it is the users that develop interesting applications, and sometimes these applications are even available for sale. For example, community organizations using a database management software system like dBase (II or HI) have developed specific database forms that might be useful to others. These forms can be made available (for a price or free) to others using a modified version of dBase called Run Base. Tracking Utility Costs by Microcomputer: A Guide to Software for Local Governments and Schools, by John Cook, 1985, 33 pp., free; How to Organize and Communicate Your Energy Data, by Bonnie J. Cornwall, 28 pp., free from: California Energy Extension Service 1400 Tenth Street Sacramento, CA 95814 916/323-4388 The California Energy Extension Service has published a useful manual for energy conservationists, entitled Tracking Utility Costs by Microcomputer: A Guide to Softwarefor Local Governments and Schools. The first chapters provide an overview about selecting software for tracking energy costs. This is followed by a description of how the software works in general and how it can be used. The bulk of the book is an extensive review of specific software packages. Finally, there is a summary of the results of an Extension Service survey of uses of computers for energy conservation applications in California school districts. The office has also published a booklet that compliments the software guide. How to Organize and Communicate Your Energy Data is a brief guide to energy accounting, primarily aimed at schools and school districts. The Federal Data Base Finder, 1984-85 edition, 400 pp., $95 frbm: Information USA 12400 Beall Mt. Road Potomac, MD 20854 If you want to gain support for your paranoid vision of the information age—that everything is being put on computer—or if you want to get a comprehensive picture of what information the U.S. government is putting on-line, the Federal Data Base Finder is a good place to begin. The federal government is the world's largest supplier of computerized database and data files. While we may have an international trade imbalance in material things, it is clear we are the leaders in knowledge production. The Federal Data Base Finder identifies over 3,000 data bases and files divided into government controlled databases, commercial databases, and government data files and tapes. Most of the references in the commercial database section are well known, but those described in the other two sections are less so. Or, did you know that the U.S. Naval Observatory maintains a database (available to anyone with a modem) through which you can get sunrise and sunset information for most any place on earth, the times when satellites will pass through your area, and much more.
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