Path: cdrom.com!barrnet.net!decwrl!decwrl!tribune.usask.ca!canopus.cc.umanitoba.ca!newsflash.concordia.ca!utcsri!utnut!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!news.cac.psu.edu!news.pop.psu.edu!psuvax1!news.ecn.bgu.edu!willis1.cis.uab.edu!news.cs.uah.edu!malgudi.oar.net!wariat.org!config!info From: info@config.com (config.sys, Inc. Information Account) Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom.reviews Subject: CD-ROM Review; Software Toolworks's World Atlas V 4 Message-ID: <768107460.50snx@config.com> Date: Thu, 05 May 94 03:11:00 GMT Organization: config.sys, Inc. Reply-To: info@config.com Lines: 142 CD-ROM Review: Software Toolworks' "World Atlas, version 4" by John Husvar jhusvar@nimitz.mcs.kent.edu Around the world in 80 minutes, more or less, but Passepartout and the balloon somehow got left behind. Really, this is quite a nice little CD and more informative than you might think at first. It's nowhere near as complex as DeLorme's Global Explorer but it doesn't present itself as such a large reference, either. Installation is typical Windows: run SETUP, tell it where to put the HD files, get out of the way. The program creates a group and icons. Open the group, double-click on the World Atlas icon and your plane is departing on time. So far, it's ahead of the new Denver International Airport by a mile. I found World Atlas' Audio Helps a real boon. This is a feature that other CD-ROM publishers would do well to imitate. There are a lot of us out here who have mild to moderate visual impairments and help files seem traditionally to be set up in the smallest possible type. It's nice to click on Help and have an audio option ready to use. Now if they'd offered that option for the information files, they'd really have had something! Software Toolworks does, though, take pretty darn good advantage of sound technology. The toolbar has a sound enable button that makes each selection speak. Click on a country name and you hear it pronounced. If you turn on the anthem button, you get the national anthem of each selected country as well. You can turn off these options at any time and clicking on another tool button will stop the sound playback so it doesn't slow down a search or other work. The CD offers a fair selection of videos linked to certain cities and includes sound here, too. Another feature is that many selections have associated still pictures of some landmarks. Informationally, there's a good quick-reference type overview of each country's geography, land and people, agricultural and manufacturing numbers, health statistics, political structure, languages, religions, even crime statistics where available. This is one of those places I'd have liked either a sound option or larger type. Of course, I could just go and buy a larger monitor. Hey! Any old excuse will do, won't it? That's not a criticism of this particular CD; it's a pet peeve. It could be better. Only a few major cities in each country have associated information files or the other additions. I'd have been better pleased with a little more data and larger screens overall. Back on the plus side, topographical maps add a nice touch but are limited to the region level. There is a graphing function that allows comparing countries' various statistics, and there's a nice flag picture for each nation. World Atlas isn't the be all and end all of geographical information programs. Neither does Software Toolworks present it as such. What it is, though is a nice, solid little package that would serve well for students up through middle school and into the earlier high school years. The information is current to the publication date if perhaps tending toward minimal chance of offending anyone. No matter the publisher, I'd always advise a student to check the information against other sources. The whole world> may be on this CD but all the available information about it isn't. Bottom line? It's nice, it's quick, it's a well put together package, and it's a handy quick reference. It's not, and doesn't seem intended to be, the complete geography of the world. Besides, the kids will probably love it. No need to read 50 pages of manual to start playing with it. (It doesn't even _have_ , or seem to need, a manual as such.) They'll probably even learn something before the idea creeps up on them that that's what they're supposed to do. For adults, it's a useful quick reference. There a> re bigger and, presumably, better but this one covers the basics solidly enough for general use. I tested the Windows version which has modest system needs: 386 or higher, 2 MB RAM, MPC sound and CD drive, SVGA recommended, Microsoft-compatible mouse recommended, DOS 3.1 or better, Windows 3.1, and MSCDEX 2.2 or higher. Not terribly exacting requirements these days. *************************************************************** Who's the reviewer? John P. Husvar (jhusvar@nimitz.mcs.kent.edu) Art Historian at-Large, Kent State University (Yes, THAT Kent State!) I come neither to praise nor to bury Caesar, just to talk about him. (Sorry, Will!) Reviews are my opinion only and should not be taken as an inducement either to purchase or not to purchase any item reviewed. Comments and criticisms about this and any of my reviews are welcome. I want to be fair and I'll be the first to admit I don't know everything about anything. I'm certainly not so expert that I couldn't possibly miss something. So fire away. I'll reply, assuming I have time and I'm not in a snit. (See below) I even occasionally enjoy warming my hands at an intelligent flame. (The rude, obnoxious and snotty ones are routed directly to /dev/null, though.) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> APPENDUM NOTICE <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< This review was provided by the author along with authorization for redistribution by config.sys, Inc., in an unedited state above this appendum. 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