Computer Tips December 1994
Ron Sodos
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Responding to a remark from a fellow Realtor who was considering
attending my class and said he did not need to learn DOS commands as he
was "Going to be working with Altaira for Windows", I must say to this
individual and to others that feel this way, that Windows is absolutely
not an alternative to learning about computers. Of course if you are one
of the "I don't want to know!" types that I encounter everyday, thats okay.
However, somewhere along the line someone needs to load the software and
maintain the computer. If you are lucky enough to be in an office where
your management has someone, or you have an assistant that does it for you,
more power to you. The point I would like to make is that it is a mistaken
assumption that Windows is an escape from all that. When your computer
locks up and says something scary like "Windows is Out of Memory", or "File
Not Found", and you have to hire someone like me to come and try to find
a month or more of your lost data, you will become painfully aware of the
need for proper training. Working in both DOS and Windows environments
requires that a computer user know file management and many other processes
that help keep the information organized so that the computer remains an
effective tool. Personally speaking, I am not an avid fan of Windows. To
me it is the difference between driving a stickshift and an automatic. I
prefer having more direct control. But don’t get me wrong, I use Windows
and some of the best software comes in Windows applications. The Drag &
Drop graphics features as well as the Windows Cut & Paste, are absolutely
unbeatable. The point I am making has nothing really to do with the
individual benefits of either of the two environments. The PC user needs
to continue learning and not think of Windows as an alternative to becoming
educated. There are many regular requirements that are very much like
changing the oil in your car. The hard drive needs regular defragmenting
and backing up. Installing software and removing no longer needed files
along with configuration and memory management is also required. If you
are using a computer on which none of this is being done, you have a
surprise in store. Computers must be given regular checkups regarding
memory and hard drive maintainance or a crash is inevitable.
Another point I must make is in reference to the approach some
management people are taking in their attempt to educate their salespeople
about computing. In the last year while teaching my class I have made a
concerted effort to learn how to instruct newusers so as not to frighten
them with all the jargon. I have tried to share this new technology with
agents who for the most part are resistant. It is important to understand
that the desire to learn must be nurtured and cannot be forced on someone
that has been doing things a certain way for a period of time. The way
not to do this is to take an individual who has never used a computer
before and tell them they need to now use one exclusively. A program
like Top Producer can do amazing things to make tracking clients and
customers more efficient. However, this program and others like it
involve using the program almost exclusively. It is silly to think a
salesperson that has never really used a computer before (except for MLS)
is now going to blindly jump into a $2,000+ computer and a $500+ program
that they know nothing about. First of all Top Producer is not nearly as
compatible as some of the other programs on the market. For example, I
can take a complete database file with thousands of records and use the
file in many programs. Most of the Microsoft programs and Borland
programs have import and export capabilities that allow this. To my
knowledge Top Producer cannot use files from other formats. I recently
purchased a program called Sidekick for Windows that cost me $29 at Egghead
Software. This program has a built in calendar as well as a complete
database. It is an amazing little program that actually imports and
exports database files between all of the state of the art software.
The cost of the program and the compatibility makes it a not so risky
proposition for real estate people who haven’t even learned how to
program their VCR’s. Don’t get me wrong, I do not mean to insult the
people that are afraid of computers. What I would advise the new user
to do is to start slow. Use some smaller, more inexpensive utilities that can demonstrate the benefits of computing without the difficulty factor and
without spending all your money.
I am consistently pointing out the importance of compatibility
whenever I discuss computer software. I am sorry if I sound repetitous,
but I cannot stress this point strongly enough. In my class I touch
on the different file extensions. The concept of *.txt files is an
important one. I explain how information can be extracted out of MLS
and sent to a file instead of to the printer. This concept has many
advantages to the way we search. Of course as an owner of a real estate
company I hate to see boxes of paper going in the trash. As a Realtor
saving your searches as a text file allows for many new ways of
manipulating your information. These text files are readable in both
Windows and Dos applications. The *.txt file or ASCII file is the American
Standard Code for Information Interchange. The use of this concept has
been available in the software market for years. It allows files to be
imported and exported between different applications. It is a common
practice among the computer literate community. Our Stellar program
in the Xtalk environment has done this since its beginnings. However
some of the new Windows based software is not allowing us to do this.
Software developers for real estate are offering us software that use
file extensions that are only read by the software itself. Other
applications have no way of reading the files. I do not blame the
developers as much as I blame the users. Developers are only creating
programs that the public will use. If we learn to understand these
programs and how they work, the companies will be under pressure to
create software that meet our needs. As long as we remain ignorant
of what these programs are capable of, we cannot make these demands.
My complaint with Top Producer, Altaira (which I own and use),
and certain other programs is that these programs are not compatible
with other programs. The database I use has a *.dbf file extension.
This format can be read by most every database program on the market.
This means I can copy my files from a DOS based program into another
PC and install it into a Windows based program, have my assistant work
with it and then reinstall it back to my notebook PC. The file format
the program uses allows me to take it back and forth between computers.
This issue of format becomes important when upgrading. As software
changes and new programs come out, files can only be installed in the
new programs if the files are compatible.
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