Software Reviews : Pc-File/R Staff review Publisher: ButtonWare,Inc.,P.O. Box 5786,Bellevue,WA 98006 (telephone: 800-J-BUTTON or 206-454-0479) Year of Publication: 1985 Materials: Unlocked program disk;150-page spiral-bound manual;plastic case Price: $149 plus $5 shipping;quantity discounts negotiated Machine Specificity: IBM PC and most MS-DOS machines,including Tandy 2000 System Requirements: 128K memory (256K if built-in word processor used);printer recommended Effectiveness: Excellent User-Friendliness: Excellent Documentation: Good

Abstract

This is the powerful successor to PC-FILE III, the user-supported software with an installed base of a quarter million users. Now sold as a conventional copyrighted product, PC-FILE/R is an inexpensive, powerful, fast, and user-friendly database manager which is also relational (43 databases may be open simultaneously, compared to 10 for dBASE III). Though PC-FILE/R can be run with only 128K of memory, it will take full advantage of additional memory up to 640K. It supports 32,767 records, 42 fields per record, and 1,665 characters per record. It has an integrated form letter package with a mini word processor, plus two standard report options. Data may be exchanged with LOTUS 1-2-3, dBASE III, and VISICALC, as well as with MAILMERGE, WORD, WORDPERFECT, and PEACHTEXT. Pop-up help screens are available at all times. If you can get by with 42 fields and don't need a built-in programmable database language, this package could be more attractive than dBASE III, the industry de facto standard. (Future versions may eliminate even these drawbacks.)