Whereabouts of SteveMcClintock

[Susan Kline]

At 11:03 PM 01/05/2000 -0600, John Formsma wrote:
>Greg,
>
>You wrote:
><<I wish I had the time to figure out how to use the office suites to do
>this
>stuff. I'm afraid it would simply take too much time to build.>>
>
>The office suites are fully capable of a great database.  You just have to
>know how to make it work, and that takes precious time.  After finding out
>that PTBiz was $300, I decided to take the time to figure MS Access out for
>myself.  I am endeavoring to do tailor a database for my needs.

Back in 1994, when I bought my 486, I didn't want to spend a lot of money
on programs. I also was quite new to computing. The store people steered me
to MsWorks, and I struggled for a few days learning to build databases
and spreadsheets. Pretty soon it came very naturally, and I built forms
for invoices, estimates, etc. I have a database for customer records,
with an estimate form as page 2, so I can print from it. I can sort by
many topics, and I can search easily.

It really wasn't that hard. I don't think it was any harder than it would
be to buy someone else's program aimed at piano tuners, and learn it and
adapt it to individual needs. Certainly I didn't spend $300 worth of time
on it, and I still use it, almost unchanged, after 6 years.

MsWorks is fairly small as programs go, but cheap. I've heard Quick Books
praised, also, and it coordinates with Quicken and TurboTax, which would
be handy.

Go for it!

Susan