Program Puts `Personal' Back In Pc

Where do you "live" in your computer?

Some people live in their word processors. Most of what they do is writing. The other things - mailing lists, expense account sheets, contacts and so on - are a subset that their word processors handle clumsily, but well enough to get by.

Others live in their spreadsheets, writing letters in a single cell. Data-intensive folks live in their database managers, and users who like to hang out on CompuServe or the Internet live in telecommunications programs.

Now comes a new program out of Kirkland that promises to change where you live. It may create a whole new emphasis for computers - putting the "personal" back in PC.

The new program is Ecco, from Arabesque, a small start-up with strong bloodlines.

Ecco, which runs under Windows, is a personal information manager (PIM), but that's like calling Michael Jordan a basketball player. The company has trademarked the term "SuperPIM" for use with Ecco.

Although not spelled the same, the program is an "echo" of your day, week, year, whatever. Anything you do with your time can be recorded in Ecco.

You have a friend named Jack. You met through a kayaking class, play on the same softball team. He has referred some clients your way. Your wife works a block away from his wife, and the two often get together. He has a timeshared condo you've been to a couple of times. Etc., etc.

You get lots of information in a relationship like Jack's - phone numbers, addresses, contacts, mutual friends, family members, businesses, meetings, clubs. But because such information is gathered over time, in bits and pieces, it seldom gets organized usefully.

You might have memorized Jack's work phone, but not his home phone. His birthday's in June, but what day? And who was that real estate agent he told you about?

With Ecco, any information entered at any time automatically becomes potentially linked. The disparate elements can be drawn together for a quick take on all information related to an individual or event.

The PIM category isn't new. Lotus' powerful but difficult Agenda helped launch the genre several years back. MicroLogic's InfoSelect, Polaris' Packrat, IBM's Current, Now's Up-To-Date (for the Macintosh), Calendar Creator from PowerUp and Lotus' new Organizer are other well-known PIMs.

All of these programs do a few things well. Where Ecco adds to the landscape is in putting together all of your information in a tightly integrated, linked environment.

There's a phone book for entering names, addresses and various contact numbers (fax, cellular, etc.) that can be dialed straight from Ecco. The twist: You can add notes, ideas, references or whatever in text form under every name entry, so you have an automatic "dossier" on each person in the directory.

A powerful outliner comes as a separate application in Ecco.

Brainstorming a project? Sketching out a speech? You just call up the outliner and start banging away. You can cut and paste, add or subtract entries as you go along. You can also copy outlined info into a person's phone book file, or the Ecco calendar.

The real genius of Ecco is that every feature has built-in outlining, with easy collapsing and expanding. Say you've scheduled an upcoming meeting. Every time you enter data that might have some bearing on the meeting, you can copy it over to the meeting field itself. Don't worry about the field taking up too much space - it collapses with a click of the mouse.

The day of the meeting you go through the entry and organize it with the outlining features. Then you just print out the notes and you're prepared with an instant agenda.

The calendar has day, week and month views. A thermometer chart lets you know at a glance how your day, week or month is filling up and informs you of conflicts. There's a "tickler" to-do list pegged to begin and end dates.

Ecco's most innovative feature is Shooter, a mechanism that allows you to "shoot" defined data into Ecco from a word processor, database, spreadsheet or whatever.

There's no cutting and pasting to a clipboard, then copying into the application. It just pops over with a click on an arrow that sits at the top of the Windows header.

You don't have to "shoot" information from or to Ecco. You can go from WordPerfect, say, to InfoSelect. It's one of those features that seem so logical you wonder why all programs don't have it.

Ecco, which is selling for $99 initially ($395 after 90 days) is a deep and subtle program that takes time to learn. But its features are so sensible, and the program ends up doing so much for you, that the investment is well worth it.

After a few days you'll find yourself living in it.

News bytes

New from Cellular One: Customers can get Department of Transportation traffic information and accident reports as well as weather and temperature by pushing #, 1, 2, 3 and SND. . . . Out of five violation notices issued by the Federal Communications Commission against IBM "clone" dealers March 24, four were in the Puget Sound area. They included PC Fixx and Kemo's General Store of Seattle, Rose Computer in Bellevue and ACN Networks in Lynnwood. The notices are issued for computers that may violate radiation regulations. . . . AIDS Avenger (Raya Systems, $39, 1-800-874-1993) is an IBM-and-compatible game for teaching 10-and-older children about HIV and related health issues. A portion of sales will benefit the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Good music, fair graphics and superior content.

Tip of the week

Before shutting off their computers, DOS 6 users may want to clear out the Smartdrive cache by typing SMARTDRV /C at the DOS prompt. In rare cases, if the cache isn't cleared out, data may be lost. (Thanks to Chris Devoney of Seattle.)

User Friendly appears Tuesdays in The Seattle Times. Paul Andrews is a member of The Times staff.