Text Retrieval Software for Microcomputers and Beyond: An Overview and a Review of Four Packages.

Software for textual files have seen active development in the last few years as the need for such packages grows. An in-depth review is made of 4 such packages: 1. Concordance, from Dataflight Software, 2. Concept Finder, from MUMPS Medical Information Management Systems Inc., 3. Personal Librarian, from Personal Library Software, and 4. Topic, from Verity Inc. Concordance is an easy-to-use package with a well-designed user interface. It offers the standard search features needed for text retrieval and includes integrated editing features and a report writer. Concept Finder's strength is in its multifile capabilities and control over data. Complex relationships can be set up among data fields in multiple files. The search methodologies in Personal Librarian are well suited to ad hoc searching by end users. Meaningful results can be obtained without knowledge of Boolean logic. Topic is marketed primarily to organizations with large networked or time sharing systems with large amounts of text being added at various places on the system.