GreatWorks is the first of several packages to breathe new life into the integrated software arena. An amalgam of eight applications, GreatWorks succeeds in delivering impressive value, but the level of integration among the program’s modules is almost nonexistent and is clearly no match for the integration of another newcomer, ClarisWorks, which features a high degree of functionality among modules as well as within them.
How Great Is GreatWorks?
At a price of $299, GreatWorks combines a word processor, an outliner, two graphics applications, telecommunications software, a database program, and a spreadsheet program with charting. No set of comparable stand-alone applications gives you so much functionality for so little money. Despite the sturdy tools GreatWorks offers, it isn’t designed to compete with powerful stand-alone products such as Microsoft Word and FileMaker Pro.
GreatWorks also saves money because of its relatively minimal hardware demands. It requires less than 600K of disk space and runs in just 1 megabyte of RAM. Within that megabyte, we could open six documents simultaneously, each from a different module, which is great news for owners of Classics and LCs equipped with minimal RAM and small-capacity hard drives. Integrated software should also be easy to use, and GreatWorks meets this need with well-designed commands and dialog boxes that don’t overwhelm users with a wide variety of options.
But the capabilities of modules are only part of the integrated-software story. Integrated packages should offer more than the sum of their parts. Ideally, separate modules should work together in a way that separate applications can’t. In this regard, GreatWorks fails. True, all the modules are contained within a single application and you open them from a single dialog box. This is an advantage for users who aren't using MultiFinder or System 7. Also, all the modules share GreatWorks’ Core technologies of search-and-replace, spell checking, thesaurus, and all font and style options. Similarly, the Paint, Draw, Chart, and Database modules all use a similar graphic Tool palette.
What's missing from GreatWorks, however, is the ability to share data seamlessly between modules, to automatically update shared data, and to work effectively with more than one module at a time. GreatWorks’ charts, for example, aren't updated when you change the linked data in the spreadsheet program. To do so, you must manually select an Update Chart command every time the data in your spreadsheet changes. But at least the Update Chart command is there. In most othdr respects, GreatWorks provides no way to link modules. If you change the data for a chart that has been pasted into a word-processing document, forexample, you must repaste the chart after you’ve updated it. This would also be true if you pasted the chart into a stand-alone word processor, but that's the point: GreatWorks fails to exploit its inherent advantage over stand-alone applications.
Similarly, GreatWorks' Paint and Draw modules don’t interact with each other or any other modules. You can't get a combined view of the two graphic layers, as you can with SuperPaint or UltraPaint, and the only way to transfer graphic objects is via the Clipboard. Even integrated software old-timer Microsoft Works includes a “transparent" drawing layer that lets you place objects directly into documents residing in other modules. Overall, when it comes to integration, ClarisWorks is far superior to GreatWorks, allowing you to use tools and features from one module even as you're working within another.
Other GreatWorks drawbacks are its lack of a macro function and absence of support for System 7 features such as Apple events and publish-and-subscribe, both of which may have helped circumvent some of the program's integration shortcomings.
What’s Inside
GreatWorks' Write word-processing module is among the package's best features. It provides most of the functions of a good midrange word processor, including formatting controls, style selection, and multiple columns. Notably missing are footnotes and search-and-replace based on text style attributes.
The Outline module is a plus, especially considering that neither ClarisWorks nor Microsoft Works provides one, but you can’t send outline text to the word processor (or vice versa) except via the Clipboard.
GreatWorks’ Database module is easy to use. Form design is flexible, with a style and range of options suggestive of FileMaker Pro. You may attach any number of forms to a file. GreatWorks also includes predesigned templates for labels and envelopes. Creating reports is limited, however, because you can't calculate subgroup totals and summaries. Sending data from the Database module to the Spreadsheet module is also a hassle, because you must first save the data as a text file and then import it to the Spreadsheet module.
With an outward appearance that resembles Microsoft Excel's, GreatWorks' Spreadsheet module is serviceable and should meet the needs of most users except those who rely on macros. The program also lacks split-window and freeze-pane options.
Although GreatWorks' Chart module lets you create good-looking charts quickly and easily, its lack of hot links to other modules makes it one of the package's weakest applications. Moreover, it allows little text editing, a drawback compounded by the module's inadequate labeling system, which carries data over from the spreadsheet. The only way around this drawback is to copy and paste charts into the Draw module for editing.
The Paint module, reminiscent of MacPaint, is restricted to black-and-white, despite the availability of color in other GreatWorks modules. On the other hand, the object-oriented Draw module supplies all the essential tools you need, with the added bonus of a 256-color palette.
GreatWorks' Communications module succeeds at simplifying what is often the most arcane of general-purpose computer applications. In an especially well-designed set of dialog boxes for configuring the VT102 emulation mode, it uses icons to explain options to users. What's missing are a macro capability for automating log-on procedures and a wider selection of file-transfer protocols, such as Ymodem or Zmodem, Symantec claims that new protocols will be available from third parties via Apple Communication Toolbox plug-in modules.
Finally, in addition to the common Core features mentioned above, GreatWorks modules share format translators based on Claris' XTND technology for importing and exporting files. The program provides both a complete on-line help reference as well as Balloon Help under System 7.
The Bottom Line
Based on a module-by-module feature count, GreatWorks consistently outperforms veteran Microsoft Works, sometimes by a wide margin. Moreover, budget-conscious users will be attracted by GreatWorks' solid value; Its word processor, outliner, and database and spreadsheet programs are good enough to make it a better choice than midrange stand-alone packages for less demanding users,
GreatWorks misses the mark when it comes to integration among its modules, however, leaving little to recommend it over ClarisWorks..., ClarisWorks is clearly the best choice among the three packages if you are looking for integrated software that optimizes its modular design.
Landau, Ted. (February 1992). GreatWorks. MacUser. (pgs. 48, 50).
Symantec Corporation
Applications
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Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
