SCOUG OS/2 For You - September 1996

SEAL BEACH - I took a Clearlook out over the Mesa, and smiled with Relish.

Dr. Randell Flint didn't want to do this interview. After all, he thought it might be, well, self-serving. People might think there was some hanky-panky going on.

So, right up front, here's the disclaimer: Dr. Randell Flint, President of Sundial Systems, is a member of SCOUG. Rollin White, Product Manager (and programmer) at Sundial Systems, is President of SCOUG. Carla Hanzlik, Vice President of Marketing at Sundial Systems, is Editor-In-Chief of this very publication, a SCOUG product. But I don't work for Sundial. I paid cold, hard cash for my Clearlook, and I paid cold, hard cash for my Relish. Besides, Dr. Randell Flint didn't want me to tell anyone that he has a Ph.D., so if there was ever a chance I'd get a free copy of Mesa 2, I've blown it now.

Why wait?

Clearlook is absolutely the fastest word processor on OS/2. You can also choose DeScribe, or Word Pro for OS/2, or even Microsoft Word 6, but if you want speed and don't like to wait, it's Clearlook all the way. A few years ago I was privy to an expensive study about computer response times. The Fortune 100 company that funded it wanted to know what the effect of slow response was on its computer users. The most striking finding of that study was that the users would slow down as their computers slowed down. They would type faster or slower, update data fields faster or slower, move around in a file faster or slower depending on the amount of "delay" the testers were putting into the systems. Oh, one more finding. 0.25 second delay was as good as a zero-second delay, but anything more started the human slow-down process. Give them a 1/3 second lag and, boy oh boy, work output dropped noticeably.

Speed is important. Very, very important.

The study didn't measure after-effects, but I'm sure there are some. Spend three hours "lagging" at a slow terminal and then go straight into an important meeting, and I'm convinced you won't be back up to speed for 15 or 20 minutes. Hop straight into a car and increase your accident risk by 5%. Make a phone call and be more likely to say something stupid.

Clearlook is a speed demon. Download the free demo and compare it to what you're now using.

Seen any good snowflakes lately?

Now then, think about your shoes. All those shoes in the closet, under the bed, out in the garage. Dress shoes, casual shoes, tennis shoes, work shoes and, if you're north of Manitoba, snowshoes. Different shoes for different purposes, right?

Same with word processors. There ain't no "universal word processor" application. There's a time for a DeScribe, and there's a time for a Microsoft Word. But for most usage you need a lightning-fast tool at your fingertips, and there's only one. It's Clearlook.

History Class

Sundial was formed in the spring of 1987, the same week as the premier OS/2 announcement. Randell saw, as other visionaries did, that a platform as sophisticated as OS/2 would require sophisticated programs, and eighteen months later he shipped what became Relish. Did I tell you that Dr. Flint got his Bachelor of Science in Information and Computer Science at UC Irvine, that he did it in three years instead of four, and that he graduated magna cum laude? Oooh, he's going to hate me.

Bill Gates himself made a hearty announcement of Relish at COMDEX '88 in Atlanta, since back then Microsoft was associated with OS/2. Microsoft, unbless its soul, went a different way, and Relish is only an OS/2 product. Why? Because neither Windows NT 4.0 nor Windows 95 have enough interprocess communication to support the multitasking and multithreading that Relish offers, and as for NT 3.x and Windows 3.x, well, forget it.

Quick! What's 15% of the check?

Sundial also has one heck of a spreadsheet in Mesa 2, originally created by Athena Design. This spreadsheet is second to none -- match it against Excel if you want, or 1-2-3, and you'll find a three-way tie on functionality and a furlong winner in Mesa 2 for getting your work done. You don't need an "office suite" here, because Mesa 2 knows your OS/2 desktop apps already function as a suite. The desktop and the program are already integrated; you don't have to rely on somebody writing a couple of programs so they talk to each other. OS/2's Presentation Manager does this already.

I don't call a cardboard box into which is tossed a few programs a "suite". They've got to be able to communicate back and forth, and this is already built into OS/2. (The good doctor said "No comment" when I asked if Sundial would ever have a "suite".)

Mesa handles all spreadsheet file formats with the exception of Excel 5, which will be supported as soon as they can get the code out the door. Download the free demo. You'll be delighted.

Did I mention that Dr. Randell used to be a professor at Cal State Fullerton? Filling the minds of the young and naive with the likes of this two-liner: "Microsoft is always saying 'This is what's coming, and it will solve all the world's problems.' As users begin to get the idea that there's a flaw in the Microsoft marketing machine, they'll tire of being burned." Now, now, Professor Flint, you didn't want me to mention your classroom lectures, either? It must have just slipped my mind.

I'll never be late to the donut box again

I'm constantly amazed at what an OS/2 program can do that a Windows program can't. Relish is network-ready; put the databases anywhere at all. It's both faster and more effective than equivalent Win 3.x and Win95 apps because the "design point" is different. For example: in Relish, reminders pop up as scheduled (in Windows, you have to run the program each time you want to see your reminders!). OS/2 is different, the desktop is different, and Relish is therefore always "running". Multiple views of data are allowed in real time - change one entry and all views instantly change, even on other terminals - because OS/2 manages the messages. It works great, and always has, on remote terminals over networks. Relish tasks don't have to "poll" for updates; there's no polling anywhere. (Mr. R.F. didn't want me to tell you this, because it's a "trade secret", but I don't mind sharing such a small little tidbit with my friends.)

US Air uses Relish to schedule all their in-flight entertainment. Help desks use Relish to schedule their call-backs. One major telco used it to schedule customer callbacks. Here's a great one: oil field production reports were generated automatically at a specific time by Relish with the program scheduling feature. And with the new Relish Web, you can access, view and update your own Relish files from any browser on any platform. Great for on-the-road updates from someone else's machine, and especially if you're using Relish for a group scheduler or project management which requires access by several people. Run it on your LAN as an Intranet. Any change you make shows up instantly on every other user's screen that has a Relish view.

The Relish code is essentially bullet-proof. One of Randell's favorite stories is about a user who lost an entire disk cluster out of the middle of a file (done by an errant Windows program, no doubt), and Relish kept working. File integrity is constantly checked, and there's a maintenance program to run if you ever have a really big disaster.

Sundial is certainly time-oriented, and I might even be able to print out the CalTrans Traffic Map and Report every morning at 7:35 with Sundial's new Triple Scoop which schedules updates to often-accessed web sites.

I hope that's birdshot

Sundial, in fact, is the foremost OS/2 software vendor in terms of breadth of product line. They're also one of the oldest, since they and OS/2 were born together. They're not expensive - in fact, their apps are priced similar to Windows apps which don't (and can't) do what OS/2 apps do. All of their products have free demos available for download. And they have free tech support by phone, fax, CompuServe, BBS, Web, and Email.

Randy really opened up during this interview, and told me lots of stuff I never expected. Not only did he tell me things he didn't want printed, he also told me things he never thought someone would bother printing. For example, he even told me his birthday and year of birth. It's ¤>.¤>.¤>. Yes? Please come in! Why, Mr. Flint, so good of you to drop by so unexpectedly! Sit down, make yourself comfortable, and while you do, could you lower the barrel on that shotgun?

Sundial Systems Corporation, 909 Electric Avenue - Suite 204, Seal Beach, Calif. 90740, 562-596-5121, FAX 562-598-9851, http://www.sundialsystems.com, sales@sundialsystems.com.

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