WordPerfect InfoCentral 1.0 for Windows Ships; Intelligent Personal Information Manager Changes PIM Paradigm

April 11, 1994 — WordPerfect Corp.’s consumer products division Monday announced the company’s new intelligent personal information manager for Windows, WordPerfect InfoCentral, is now shipping.

WordPerfect InfoCentral, part of the WordPerfect Main Street consumer product line, takes advantage of object-oriented technology to help users organize people, places, things and events.

InfoCentral (previously code named CIA) is a personal productivity tool that lets users organize and manage their daily information and contacts. The PIM offers calendaring, address book and task features — all of which are integrated with patent-pending iConnect technology, in an easy-to-use, intuitive interface.

“We’ve delivered a truly intelligent information manager that’s designed to work the way users think,” said Sam Yee, product marketing director, consumer products division. “We’ve allowed the user to take control of the program and manage all of their information. Now users can organize people, places, things, and events through iConnect technology.”

iConnect. InfoCentral intelligently connects information between people, places, things and events and then allows the user to maintain additional information pertaining to the connection. The information manager automatically sorts in-formation into an easy-to-read outline view.

A person, for example, works at five different companies over a 20 year period. “iConnect” allows the user to track the person’s titles over those 20 years, when those positions were held, areas of responsibility, etc. Other PIMs only track current relationships without regard to a person or company’s background.

Related File Launch. Through related file launching technology and OLE 2.0, users can now manage any type of in-formation produced in any Windows applications including word processors, databases, spreadsheets, presentation pro-grams, etc.

As an example, to write a letter to Fred Cameron, the user simply finds Fred’s name in the PIM, clicks on the Related File button and WordPerfect InfoCentral automatically launches the user’s Windows word processor. Within seconds the program automatically organizes a letter with Fred’s name, address, opening salutation, closing, name of the document and the dates it was created.

After the user completes, saves, and closes the letter, WordPerfect InfoCentral takes the user back to Fred’s name in the PIM where a “document” entry appears. By clicking on the document entry, the user can find the letter and any other documents that are connected to, or associated with, Fred Cameron.

Bob Hunt of Wilshire Commercial Brokerage in Mesa, Ariz., uses InfoCentral to manage and organize his daily tasks and correspondence. “This program truly is ‘Information Central’ for me. InfoCentral makes it easy to keep my information — records, correspondence, appointments, etc. — up to date,” said Bob. “In fact, it’s the main application I use. I organize all of my information from other applications with InfoCentral.”

Mail-enabled. The PIM is mail-enabled through WordPerfect Office or any e-mail application that supports VIM or MAPI standards, so users can send e-mail from within InfoCentral.

Enter Information Once. WordPerfect InfoCentral is unlike traditional contract and information managers because users are only required to enter information once. WordPerfect InfoCentral intelligently reuses information which eliminates the redundant entering of data and saves users valuable time and hard disk space.

If a users knows two people that work for the same company, they can enter the first person’s name, the company in-formation, and then connect the person and company to each other. When the user enters the second person’s name, they only need to connect them to the company. The information has already been entered for the company and is available for other people, places or events that are tied to that company.

Tabs. Tabs, similar to file folders, allow users to keep information they refer to most often in an organized, easy-to-use format. Information updated in one tab is automatically updated in all tabs.

WordPerfect InfoCentral also lets users access information through three convenient views: Outline View, Calendar View and Address View.

Outline View. The Outline View presents information in an easy-to-understand outline format, making it easy for users to see how all of their information is interconnected. InfoCentral automatically does the outlining — not the user.

Calendar View. The program’s Calendar View provides daily, weekly and yearly views. The Calendar view makes it easy to schedule appointments and tasks — users simply drag and drop appointments onto the appropriate day or week. WordPerfect InfoCentral also prints information in all standard planner sizes for users to carry their information in hard copy format.

Address Book View. The Address Book View allows users to instantly access names, addresses, and any phone or fax numbers of related persons and places.

Information Bases. Another unique benefit of WordPerfect InfoCentral that sets it apart from other PIMs is the four information bases, or iBases, that ship with the product. The four iBases include information on the top 500 consumer product companies; computer hardware and software companies; world business travel information; and wines of the world.

All four iBases provide users with an instant reference and an excellent starting point for adding their own information. WordPerfect Corp. will continue to develop iBases and work with other content providers to give users updates and additional iBases.

Newton Compatibility. With Apple Computer Inc.’s forthcoming Newton Connection Kit v2.0 for Windows, users can exchange information easily between the Newton MessagePad and InfoCentral. InfoCentral users can use the MessagePad to take information with them on the road, and any information they add can then be exported back to their desktop systems without rekeying any data.

Templates and Quick Tours. Templates and quick tours will help users quickly get started using WordPerfect InfoCentral. “iBase” templates for home, gardening, auto, compact discs, videos, contacts, parties, real estate, and stamp collecting are included to help users begin entering and connecting their information right away. Quick tours take users step-by-step through various functions of the PIM.

Coaches. Coaches are included to take users step-by-step through InfoCentral features they may be unfamiliar with. Coaches serve as the users own on-screen assistant.

System Requirements and Pricing. System requirements for WordPerfect InfoCentral include a 386 processor or higher with 4M of RAM, Microsoft Windows 3.1 or later, and 5-9M of hard disk space. The PIM can be used with any pen-based computer using Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing. InfoCentral is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $139 US/$169 CAN (a).

WordPerfect InfoCentral is one of 19 products in the WordPerfect Main Street consumer product line to be released in the first half of 1994. Several new products are expected to ship during 1994 to meet the computer software needs of the home and small business user.

WordPerfect Corp., headquartered in Orem, Utah, is a privately held company that develops business software to help people process, share and present information across a wide variety of computer operating systems. Among the company’s key products are the world’s best-selling word processor, WordPerfect, as well as WordPerfect Office, WordPerfect InForms and WordPerfect Presentations.

Recognized for its leadership in providing outstanding customer support, WordPerfect Corp. is represented throughout the world by 57 international affiliates serving 117 countries with products in 28 languages.

(a) Canadian pricing subject to change in accordance with daily exchange rate.

NOTE TO EDITORS: All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT:
WordPerfect Corp., Orem
Blake Stowell, 801/228-5063; Fax: 801/228-5077
or
McLean Public Relations
Sarah Kavanagh, 415/513-8800; Fax: 415/513-8810