Mouse Calc. (evaluation)

Mouse Calc is a delightfully easy-to-use spreadsheet package designed for novice and intermediate Apple II users. Unlike most spreadsheet programs, Mouse Calc makes extensive use of the mouse-user interface with its pull-down menus and flexible windows, as opposed to the sometime-cryptic commands and hefty manuals that seem to have become commonplace.

Originally released in France under the name Version Calc, Mouse Calc has been brought to and translated for the United States by International Solutions, a trading company located in Sunnyvale, CA. The Mouse Calc spreadsheet consists of 63 columns by 254 rows for a total of 16,002 cells (every bit as large as the popular SuperCalc3a). Each cell can hold an alphanumeric label, a numeric constant, or an arithmetic formula based upon the contents of other cells. For example: the contents of cell A2 may be multiplied by B2 and the product placed in C2. The construction of such a formula is as simple as point-and-click thanks to the mouse. Mouse Calc users can construct formulas with rounded and formatted results, as well as take advantage of logical functions such as And/Or and True/False.

For the novice, Mouse Calc comes complete with a thorough tutorial which painlessly introduces the powerful features of the spreadsheet. After an hour with Mouse Calc, even the most timid user can create color bar and line graphs and send them to a printer for hardcopy (Mouse Calc supports the Imagewriter and Epson printers). Mouse Calc can read files created previously with VisiCalc, AppleWorks, and other programs that utilize the standard DIF format.

Mouse Calc is an excellent example of what Apple software will be like in the future--powerful, yet easy to use. Keep your eyes open for new additions to the International Solutions series of mouse-based, integrated applications.

Products: Mouse Calc (computer program)