This hands-on workbook covers MS-DOS, WordPerfect 5.0, Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2, and dBase IV. The book is organized as a series of self-paced tutorials that can also serve as a reference guide for this software. The authors note that this book was written for an introductory survey course on microcomputer software. The expectation is that it will be used in a conventional classroom environment.
The book consists of over 700 pages of text. It is wire bound so it can lie flat while opened for reference. Its pages are fairly large: 8 by 10 inches. Workstations in computer laboratories can be small, and this space consideration needs to be addressed by anyone considering this book for classroom use. The book includes a 5.25" floppy diskette that contains the guided activity examples in machine-readable form.
Since this book attempts to introduce students to an operating system and three application programs, in-depth coverage is not provided. For example, MS-DOS tutorials give the student enough information to format a floppy diskette and copy files. The application software coverage is better. Although the WordPerfect tutorial is concerned primarily with writing business letters, the discussion of Lotus 1-2-3 goes into some detail and even gives a simple macro command.
The authors have arranged the text so it reflects the increasing complexity of the material. They start with the operating system, advance to WordPerfect (an analogy to an intelligent typewriter is implicit), and then continue with electronic spreadsheets. The creation of a database is perhaps the most ambitious undertaking, but the authors provide sufficient information for this section to work.
Overall, this text is helpful. Its size can be somewhat intimidating to a beginning student, but the book uses a fairly large font and the text includes plenty of white space for quick reference while seated at a computer keyboard. The text includes plenty of examples and figures extracted from a computer screen. It will work best in an introductory or survey course for business school students.
