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Stepping into the Windows presentation graphics field shortly after Lotus' Freelance, Harvard Graphics for Windows has arrived to bring the popular DOS product to a graphical platform. It's about time, because the desktop presentation market is now glutted with competent Windows packages such as Aldus Persuasion, Claris Hollywood, Freelance Graphics for Windows, Micrographx's Charisma, and the pioneer, Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows. (See product comparison, September 16, 1991, page 61, and review of Freelance Graphics for Windows, December 30/January 6, 1992, page 78.)
This Windows version breaks no new ground, but it is a solid package that is an easy move for Harvard Graphics users, and it does not sacrifice any of the DOS version's capabilities.
FEATURES:
Unlike its predecessors, Harvard Graphics for Windows is a true desktop presentation package, abandoning a chart focus for the top-down orchestration of your entire presentation. It has an outliner for establishing the flow of your presentation, a sophisticated charting facility, a solid batch of clip art, and more than 50 chart templates preformatted for color scheme, type styles, and chart positions. Among the competition, Harvard Graphics for Windows shines in its range of chart types, math skills, and screen-show facility.
We tested Harvard Graphics for Windows on a 33-MHz 486 system with 256K cache, 8 megabytes of memory, 800-by-600 Super VGA adapter and monitor, and Epson EX-800 dot-matrix and HP LaserJet 11 printers. We installed DOS 5.0, with Adobe Type Manager, Version 2.0 (which does not ship with this product).
Scores are based on the criteria we used in our last presentation graphics product comparison.
PERFORMANCE:
PRESENTATION ORGANIZATION: In previous DOS versions you had to assemble separate chart files; now all your work in a presentation--data, charts, colors, etc. --goes into one presentation file. This not only eliminates hard disk clutter but also makes tailoring several versions of your presentation especially convenient.
You can start up Harvard Graphics in one of three main views--Outliner, Slide Editor, and Slide Sorter. Each view is best for a different task. Adding a slide is simply a matter of popping up the "Add Slide" from the Slide Editor window and choosing the slide type (e.g., text chart, data table, or numeric chart). If you want to make organization or bullet charts, you...