Borland International of Scotts Valley, California and Borland International UK Ltd, based in Twyford, Berkshire, are now shipping version 2.0 of the flagship Sidekick product. It provides five interoperable applications – Time Planner, Address Book, Communications, Notepad and Calculator – all integrated under a windowing user interface with full mouse support. The software requires 40Kb of memory, and the Time Planner, Address Book and Communications applications now use Borland’s Paradox Engine and have standard Paradox file formats. The file formats support data exchange with Borland’s Paradox and Quattro Pro, and enable third-party access to the Sidekick applications. The Time Planner maintains diaries and a prioritised To-Do list enables users to set warnings and due dates. The Reconciliation feature enables two Time Planner files to be compared and to co-ordinate group schedules on a local area network, or to merge a schedule on a laptop with one on a desktop personal computer. Files can be printed in formats to match appointment book organisers, and the Time Planner automatically tracks and executes functions such as sending MCI Mail messages or activating a pager. The Address Book maintains names, in an Rolodex card format, and the Communications application is used for data calls to online services and uses the same formats and speed dial feature as the Address Book. The Notepad is designed for writing quick memos that can be attached to other items and it has adjustable margins and tabs, and automatic word wrap. The Calculator provides four types of calculators – simple, business, scientific and programmer’s. Borland says that the UK version has been translated from American English and comes complete with a spellchecker and thesaurus. However, when demonstrated, Sidekick showed some embarrassing anomalies such as color rather than colour, and commas rather than decimal points – well Philippe Kahn is a Frenchman. Borland was unsure whether the failure was human or technological. In the US, Sidekick 2.0 is $100, available for a limited time at $70. In the UK, it costs UKP80, and dealers can buy three copies for the price of two. Borland and Sharp Electronics will jointly market Sidekick 2.0 in the US, and current users of the Sharp Wizard organiser will be able to buy Sidekick at half price.
