● Electronically zip messages to other computers and people across the country.
● Be word processors, doubling some writers’ production.
● Prepare spreadsheets, which help businesses quickly calculate the future costs of providing products or services.
● Keep records electronically.
● Help you whip up jazzy charts to whet your boss’s interest in your work—in a nice way.
This book will tell you how to make the best use of portables and other business computers wherever you are—large company, small, or on your own. Big bureaucracy is here, also, complete with the Case of the Missing Cafeteria (explained in Chapter 7).
Instead of hearing just about computers in the abstract, you’ll learn about them in life. Arthur C. Clarke, the world-famous science-fiction novelist who wrote 2001 and 2010, will tell how WordStar software made him “a born-again writer.” And the FBI, top consultants, and a felon named Captain Zap will warn against electronic crooks.
There’ll be computer tips, too, from obscure but savvy business people, such as a New York real estate executive whose micro skills lead to his six-figure income.
You’ll also hear from some stars of the industry, including WordStar’s creators, and you’ll learn how their lives and philosophies tie in with the products on sale at your local computer store.
We begin with the Ten (Micro) Commandments: