by M. Sean Fosmire

It includes a features comparison chart, a collection of screen shots and a table of vital statistics.

This review was originally posted at the Chorus Reviews site in April 1996, at a time when Zoot was known as InfoSnatch, and was available in version 2.1. Since that time, it has seen a number of sub-releases, through the current version 3.1.

This page has been updated (contemporaneously with the opening of Chorus Reviews in its new home) to cover the current version of Zoot. MicroLogic has recently also issued version 4 of InfoSelect, but the coverage provided under this review has not yet included that version.

Databases allow a business to keep all of the varied bits of information about its products, its inventory, its customers, etc., in computerized format, and to bring up the information quickly when it is needed. The problem is that databases are built in a rigid, hierarchical structure. Each item of information must fit into a field, the field must be defined in advance, and the data can not vary from the field as defined in any way. If a vendor has two different addresses, the database cannot include both unless two address fields are provided for all entries in the database. The retrieval of the information from the database requires the advance construction of a form, called a "query", specifying the fields and how those fields are displayed for the final user. By necessity, the query must be designed and created in advance by a knowledgeable user. The end user -- the store cashier, the sales clerk -- would know how to call up the information but is unable to look for anything not defined in the query.

For some business uses, a database is well-suited to the task of quick information storage and quick retrieval. In a number of respects, database programs have serious shortcomings, particularly to the individual or small business user without a full-time database programmer on salary.

Into this void, a group of information management programs has evolved. These programs are commonly referred to as "personal information managers" and with the acronym "PIM". This terminology is somewhat misleading, because they are widely used for business and professional purposes. There are a large number of programs that are described with the term "PIM", but many of them have quite narrow purposes, such as contact management, listing addresses, or personal or business calendars and diaries. The term "information managers" as used here is intended to refer to programs which try to handle a wide array of information from a broad range of sources. These programs take a number of forms, depending on how much the program's creator wishes to impose a structure onto the data being stored. More structure means that the data can be manipulated and compared in different ways, but often at the price of utility and flexibility.

Examples of highly structured information managers are Lotus Agenda (an old DOS program with a small cadre of loyal users, and still one of the best of its kind around), Ecco Pro, and Commence. The true database programs themselves are, of course, highly structured.

(We have provided some further discussion of the difference between the free-form and the structured products.)

Most of the information managers attempt to simplify entry, processing and retrieval of information. The best of the structured ones have provided a number of tools for what we call information "sifting"--the capability to sort information (alphabetically, by date, by price, etc.) and to filter it (e.g., limiting the display to items costing less than $4.50 or produced since last Tuesday) before it is displayed. The price of that capability is the need to learn the commands for effective sorting or filtering, which can tend to be complicated.

A couple of programs have headed in the other direction. They impose relatively little structure, but excel at ease of entry and retrieval of data. Two such programs are the subject of this review. (For a quick breakdown, see the Features Comparison.)

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Product information

See also the comparison listing of vital statistics.

InfoSelect

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Screen Capture:
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InfoSelect

Zoot