I confess that I waited until I both had some vacation time and had acquired my first pair of bifocals before undertaking a review of this 924-page behemoth. I knew I needed to be at my best for a book which reviews “Over 625 disks, over 12,000 disk files.” I’m glad I waited, because I found this book to be informative, even if the book and its contents are a bit overwhelming.
The Introduction is complete and well-written. In this overview, the author discusses:
What free software is.
Where it is obtained from (and how).
The major categories of free software, listing the better known (and often better) programs (e.g., data bases: PC-FILE III; file compression: SQ; directories: SDIR; and many application categories: games, math, education, accounting, taxes).
Bulletin boards, including a sample session.
An overview of the catalog and directories that follow.
The catalog section (348 pages) contains a listing of the complete contents of the 625 disks obtained from six major groups. The leader is the PC-SIG collection: 221 pages covering 390 disks with about 8,000 files (I didn’t check). Each entry has the file name, author, language, a few keywords, and a brief description. Unless you like thumbing through page after page of a big book, you will use the following five directories to the catalog (filling 461 pages):
each keyword,
programming language,
author or group source,
program title, and
file name.
The directories are excellent, and their use is obvious. Their utility is limited only by the quality and consistency of the raw data, such as keywords. You can even find obscure items with little difficulty. It took me only a few seconds to find mailing list programs, menu utilities, and song programs. The programming language and author directories are of limited value. The BASIC categories go on for 21 pages, divided among the BASIC dialects. Other than tracing where a piece of free software originated from, the program title and file name listings aren’t of much value either. A quick analysis of the latter does indicate that there is some duplication among the disks, proving that good programs get passed around.
Two additional directories have 23 pages of bulletin board names and phone numbers (organized by area code) and computer clubs (by name and zip code).
This book can provide a hundred lifetimes of rainy day activities. Shopping, testing, and sharing is the computernik’s equivalent of hunting for antiques. At the rate of change of PC software and hardware, many of the entries described will soon be antiques. The first category to go that way is the 20 disks of CP/M items.
The author is high on free software. It’s very true that there is some great stuff out there, but there is also a lot of poorly designed, coded, and tested garbage, which is unreliable. If you select software for a multinational conglomerate, you can’t take a chance on the quality of free software. You’ll miss out on some things, but you’ll sleep nights also. Now, if you need to maintain your bowling league membership list on a minimum budget, the free software market is right up your alley.
The author invites readers to send him corrections and--get ready--desirable additions. His address is Box 34, Jericho, N.Y. 11753, or you can call his bulletin board: 300 baud is (516)496-4432, while 1200 baud is (516)496-4434. Maybe I’ll send him a copy of this review that way.
