Software Publishing Corp, of Mountain View, California, is now shipping its $500 PFS:Professional Network in the US. Professional Network is a companion product for the PFS:Professional Series designed to provide concurrent network access to PFS:Professional File, PFS:Professional Write and PFS:Professional Plan. The Professional Series products run individually in a network, but Professional Network provides for five additional user assignments to any one of the programs or to any combination of the programs and Software Publishing claims that it provides a significant cost saving and convenience over separate, multiple purchases of the programs. To install Professional Network, one copy each of Professional File, Professional Write and/or Professional Plan is copied onto the network server, the word install is keyed, and user assignments are given simply by typing in user names. Professional Network automatically sets up a personal sub-directory that protects individual system configurations, macros and personal dictionary files for each user, and these cannot be overwritten accidentally by other network users. It also includes file locking but data files can be created for the sharing boiler-plate word processing text, spreadsheet templates, and file data for reports and mail merge. It runs on the IBM Token Ring, IBM PC Network, 3Com 3+, Novell Advanced Netware/86 2.0 or higher, and Tandy ViaNet. It needs 512Kb and PC-DOS 3.1 or higher, and must be installed on a server with a hard disk. Additional memory may be needed if the server is also used as a workstation.
