askSam Can Help Businesspeople Get Organized

by George Cook

The Times-Union - Jacksonville, FL - Sunday,  August 24, 1997

Republished with Permission of George Cook

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     It seems daily we hear of reports from the media regarding a phenomenon called “Information Overload”. Usually these reports tell us since the advent of computers we have access to more information than those who lived before us. Indeed, the rise of the of the Internet has opened the floodgates to this information. We can find out about anything from apples to zip files and anything in between right from our own desktop. But how do we manage this information? There have been many solutions, but most have been unsuccessful. Until now, they lacked the ability to be flexible and easy enough to adapt to different types of information- until askSam Professional 3.0.

     askSam Professional 3.0 from askSam Systems is a database “for the rest of us”. This database is flexible for most needs and simple enough to use that most computer novices can use it.

     The requirements of askSam are very modest by today’s standards. You will need a minimum 386, 4 MB of RAM, 4 MB of disk space, and either Windows 3.1/95/NT or OS/2. I tested askSam on a system with an AMD K6 166 MMX, 32 MB of RAM and Windows 95. The installation of the program went as planned and the program occupied under 5 MB of disk space.

     askSam is hailed as a comprehensive information manager and that is a very good description for it. This program can work with all kinds of information. It can catalog text, scanned documents, graphics, sounds, video, web pages, e-mail from your online service and more. This program will allow you to catalog whatever data that can be archived and will provide an excellent way to manipulate it; all without knowing data structures and programming languages.

     Like other databases, askSam can work with data in a structured environment. For example, to keep track of your contacts you would have a screen with input fields for your data: name, address, and phone number. When using askSam, the interface you work with looks like a word processor. In this interface, you can design your “front end” by simply typing in the fields where your information will be stored and then switching into data entry mode to enter your information- it can’t be any easier!

     Where askSam really differentiates itself from other products is through its ability to handle data in a freeform method. Using what appears to be a word processor, you can enter your data into askSam and the program will treat this data as a separate record complete with fields gleaned from your data. I used this example by importing e-mail from Netscape’s e-mail program into askSam. I was able to define what type of data I was importing and used a special option to make each message a separate record. Using another handy feature in the program allowed me to define fields based on the text in the database. The result was a complete and comprehensive database of all of my e-mail that was fully customizable.

     Aside from the shear power and functionality of the program the manual is presented well and topics are covered thoroughly. I would suggest to anyone to use the tutorial first when getting started with askSam. The program is easy to use but it is not as intuitive as one would think.  Is there anything about askSam I didn’t like? Well, askSam is not a native Windows 95 program. While this is not a serious problem, the ability to use long filenames is not supported and would be a very nice enhancement. The program doesn’t contain any wizards or a step-by-step guide to help you while you are in the program. I believe this would be good for those people who would like to build their database without searching all over the program for different commands, which brings me to my next point. I would like the program to consolidate menu commands in more intuitive places.

     Other programs on the market today tout their ability to handle all kinds of information. I have not seen any that can match askSam in its breadth or depth in handling data in such an effortless manner. Another feather in the program’s cap is the fact it does not hog precious disk space and it runs very fast on modern PCs. Despite some of its shortcomings, this program is worth what you pay for it. It is important to note that askSam does have a “lite” version. One of the differences the “lite” version has is it is not as robust in searching and indexing records.  For professionals who need to archive their information in a program that doesn’t require a degree in Computer Science, don’t even think about it, get askSam.

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George Cook is President of Digital Insight and Instructor at Florida Community College at Jacksonville.  His e-mail address is  krellamp@mediaone.net