From: zwsd06@trc.amoco.com (Bill Davis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re: Fair Witness?
Summary: Nice Software
Date: 5 Nov 92 22:01:17 GMT
Organization: Amoco Production Company, Tulsa Research
X-Checksum-Snefru: e457564b 0013d102 d0e57baa 490d0024

In article <1992Nov4.112320.20541@rdg.dec.com> catlin@iosg.enet.dec.com (Ian Catlin) writes:
>I'm interested in any information anyone has on Chena Software's Fair
>Witness.  It sounds good, but I've yet to see any independent
>information/review...

As another poster mentioned, this is a creative software package (the 
"packing" along is somewhat unique as well :-)

Fair Witness seems to be one of several brainstorming/note-take/idea-capture
tools around, although I've not used others nor have heard a review of them.
I did see a review of Fair Witness in the October 1992 MacUser (see
"Staying On Time", p. 94).  The tool is review in a project management
article (an inappropriate comparison, IMHO).

Quick summary:

1) I've just started to use the tool, but am farily impressed with its
   ability to facilitate brainstorming.

2) it's a nice outlining/rearranging tool.

3) the outlining portion flows into an "information relationships" traking tool
   -- the outside of the box actually calls the product an "information
      spreadsheet."  This is an accurate representation as one of the
      ways of viewing your ideas is via spreadsheet cell-like components which
      can contain not only numbers, but also text, icons, lists, graphics,
      movies, and about anything else on can cut & paste.

4) once ideas are available, there are very interesting 
   rating/scoring/ranking/voting features by both individuals and groups.

5) there is a more free-form, "electronic whiteboard" (my term) mode which
   serves as another brainstorming tool.

6) there is the ability to "jump" (a la hyperlink) to other ideas in the
   document, as well as other files/programs.  One of my documents uses the
   "info chart" (see #3 above) to group series of numerical data, uses
   "subscribe" to dynamically collect the data from my Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet,
   and has a hyperlink which allows me to jump from that numerical category
   to the spreadsheet which derived the numbers if I want more detail.

7) Perhaps the best feature of this tool is the wealth of examples that 
   comes with the tool.  This isn't because there are so many of them
   (and there are), but that they themselves convey the wide range of
   abilities the tools offers.  There is a very well crafted story that
   goes with each example, and a nice guide which indicates the "lessons"
   conveyed by each.
   Perhaps it was because I had such a vague idea of what Fair Witness could
   do that I was so impressed by this example set.  It's more educating than
   the example sets of any other software I've ever used.  My first
   experience with the tool was to spend an afternoon "playing" with the
   various examples.  I'm sure I haven't explored half of them.

8) A couple of negatives:
   a) the tools does a lot of things.  Like other tools that deal with 
      "the big picture" of information, it does many things but not to
      great depths.  For example, there is some numeric spreadsheet
      capability, but very limited in functions (so you subscribe to the
      data from your real spreadsheet).  As a project management tool, it
      will help you display a Gantt chart and associate people with tasks,
      but use your (albeit impoverished) real project for PERT charts, CPM,
      etc.
      I'm a novice user, so perhaps as one gains experience these 
      shortcomings can be overcome by using it as an integrator of other
      tools via publish/subscribe/hyperlinks.

   b) The name is silly an unintuitive.  They should change it (read the
      introduction to learn what it means.



Just the opinions of a relatively satisfied user (and no one else, including
my company).


   
-- 
Bill Davis                      bdavis@trc.amoco.com
Amoco Production Research       (918) 660-4129
P.O. Box 3385, Room 1A10         fax  660-4163
Tulsa, OK 74102
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps