NeXTSTEP users have new options for organizing and displaying information with two innovative applications that shipped in January.
NoteBook 1.1, from Millennium Software Labs, combines an outline processor for creating lists of information with a visual notebook metaphor for managing these lists. A powerful indexing capability lets users rapidly locate and view cross sections of information.
NoteBook's ability to store, organize, and retrieve unstructured information makes it suitable for a range of personal and group information-processing tasks. It can serve as an intelligent notepad for jotting notes and ideas; a scrapbook for e-mail messages and other documents; or a project log for tracking tasks, agendas, and meeting notes.
"Other NeXTSTEP applications are exciting in how they work, though not necessarily in what they do. NoteBook represents something that I've never seen in another desktop environment Ð the foundation for a collaborative file system," said Pete Farkas, a beta tester at Logicon Ultrasystems, located in Chantilly, Virginia.
NoteBook was developed in just nine person-months, said Millennium chairman Jayson Adams. "That's an impossible accomplishment with any software-development environment other than NeXTSTEP," Adams said.
NoteBook 1.1 has a suggested retail price of $495.95.
Diagram! 2, from Lighthouse Design, is a feature-rich enhancement to the popular general-purpose graphics tool. Based on a drag-and-drop drawing meta-phor, Diagram! 2 provides tools designed to create and revise graphics far faster than conventional illustration products.
The new features, which the company said are the result of extensive input from customers, include automated line labels, rotation capabilities, a parsable file format, a button ribbon, rulers, and infinite undo and redo.
Diagram! 2's file-linking facility allows users to link drawing objects to files created in other applications. For instance, an organization chart could reference a financial document or a shell script could be run from inside a CASE drawing.
"With this release, Lighthouse Design brings the same level of innovation and creativity to business graphics as it brought to presentations with its Concurrence product," said NeXT CEO Steve Jobs.
Diagram! 2.0 is $499. A professional $799 version with a substantial collection of clip art on Diagram! palettes is planned for release this year.
Lighthouse Design: 415/570-7736, 800/366-2279; or e-mail: wiley@lighthouse.com.
Millennium Software Labs: 415/321-3720; or e-mail: info@ millennium.com.