416 LOTUS FREELANCE PLUS and LOTUS FREELANCE MAPS

Staff Review
Publisher: Lotus Development Corp., 55 Cambridge Parkway, Cam-
bridge, MA 02142 (telephone: 800-345-1043)
Year of Publication: 1986
Materials: FREELANCE: Eight disks, two 3-ring binders, fabric case, tem-
: 14 disks, 31-page guide, file directory, vinyl case
plate ; MAPS
Price: FREELANCE: $495; MAPS: $395 for U.S. complete set, $145 each
for U.S. counties, cities/MSAs, and zip codes and for continents and
countries
Availability: IBM PC/XT/AT and compatibles
System Requirements: Two drives (or hard drive); 384K memory (640K
recommended); graphics adapter; graphics printer, plotter, or inline
camera
Effectiveness: Excellent
User-Friendliness: Excellent
Documentation: Excellent
Summary: LOTUS FREELANCE PLUS is the graphics toolkit supplied at ex-
tra costby the manufacturers of LOTUS 1-2-3 . It provides for creating and
editing charts (pie, bar, column, line) and text displays (sign, form) with
a library of about 500 symbols. One may also create freeform drawings
with a mouse (MICROSOFT, Mouse Systems) or graphics tablet (SUMMA-
SKETCH, Kurta Series One). The LOTUS FREELANCE MAPS option works
with FREELANCE PLUS to provide maps of U.S. counties, three-digit zip
codes, major cities and MSAs, and U.S. congressional districts. A library
of continent and country maps is also available, but it is not a mapping
package. Although no more powerful than a number of other graphics
products, several less expensive, this set comes with the familiar "look
and feel" of LOTUS and Lotus’s usual outstanding documentation and
online help; its basics can be learned in a couple hours.
The usual graphics-editing options are available, such as changing
size, shape, color, fill, line style, points, markers, and text in a drawing.
Objects can be moved, copied, deleted, and zoomed. Charts include ver-
tical bars, horizontal bars, stacked bars, line charts, scatter charts, and
pie charts. Three-dimensional charting is not supported; even exploded
pie charts are not. The entire program operates from a LoTUS-like menu
bar at the top of the screen, with complete prompts displayed on line 2.
Although FREELANCE does accommodate user-drawn images, for
most users its value will derive heavily from the supplied library of
about 500 symbols. These include, for example, about 20 types of arrow
(curved, split, left angle, etc.), 7 borders, 15 perspective grids, 20 com-
mon objects (e.g., light bulb), 25 computer-related images, 19 diagrams
(squares, blocks), 11 word balloon enclosures, 20 flowcharting symbols,
38 geometric shapes, 32 industry symbols, 26 markers (stars, checks), 15
office objects (e.g., telephone, paperclip), 23 text boxes or banners, 12
title templates, 17 transportation symbols, Greek letters, currency sym-
bols, 13 common flags, 11government symbols, 23 human forms, 14 in-

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417 temational pictograms, 20 map legends, 20 math symbols, space plan-
ning symbols, weather symbols, U.S. map with and without state
boundaries, and others. There are also 24 fonts, for a wide variety of text
appearance. In the more expensive MAPS collection, all maps may be
drawn with or without labels.
The MAPS option provides a large library of map overlays. To these
map images one may add internal boundaries (e.g., county lines), labels,
city points, and so on, to create as detailed a map as desired. The impor-
tant point to note is that this option is simply a set of symbols that hap-
pen to be maps; it is not a mapping package. That is, it does not work
with LOTUS I-2-a spreadsheet data to color-code geographic areas accord-
ing to the relative presence or absence of some variable
The FREELANCE system can import and export images created by
LOTUS 1-2-3, SYMPHONY, and GRAPHWRITER. It can also import ASCII text
files as a basis for word charts.
A wide variety of output devices are supported, including the Epson
FX-80, MX-80<, and RX-80 printers; the HP Laserjet and Laserjet Plus;
the IBM color graphics printer, color jetprinter, graphics printer, proprin-
ter, and Quietwriter; the IDS Prism; and the Okidata Microline 82 and
92. Plotters supported include the HP 7470A, HP 7475, and HP 7550A;
IBM //xy/749; CALCOMP M84; and Houston Instruments DMP-29. Cam-
eras include the Polaroid Palette, Matrix MVP, and Videoshow 150/160.

Up to 36 drawings may be batched at a time.

In summary, FREELANCE and its MAPS option are not as powerful or
good a value as several other packages that have been previously re-
viewed. Nonetheless, it is a user-friendly package that does a wide range
of basic things well. For users familiar with LOTUS and for whom sim-
plicity and saving time are key, these packages may well be preferred.
Experienced users, however, will probably opt for more complex graph-
ics and mapping packages.

LOTUS HAL

Reviewed by Charles Zeugner,

Duke University
Publisher: Lotus Development Corp., 55 Cambridge Parkway, Cam-
bridge, MA 02142 (telephone: 617-253-9150)
Year of Publication: 1986
Price: $150
Availability: IBM, COMPAQ, AT&T, and 123 certified compatibles
System Requirements: 512K RAM, two floppy drives or a hard disk
Effectiveness: Good
User-Friendliness: Good
Documentation: Good
Summary: HAL is a front-end addition to LOTUS 1-2-3 that uses English-
like commands instead of regular LOTUS commands. HAL seems ideally
suited for the inexperienced computer user or LOTUS novice. The most

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