Lotus 1-2-3's Web tables also allow users to bring live, Web-based information into the spreadsheet to perform analysis functions. Cell data can be extracted from tables and spreadsheets and saved in HTML format. WordPro's "click to enter text" templates provide direction for even the most novice users. Additionally, 1-2-3 release 9.6 offers users improved compatibility with Microsoft Excel.

Lotus Organizer 5.0 has an uncluttered interface that allows the user to tab between e-mail, calendar, and other useful categories. Organizer now includes synchronization with mobile phones as well as standard PDAs. And the EasyClip utility lets people send selected text in any Windows application directly into the organizer, even if it isn't running.

Lotus FastSite 2.0 is a Web publishing tool that enables users to build a complete, customized Web site within minutes. With FastSite, users can quickly and easily convert groups of files from 25 different file formats, including documents created in Microsoft Office and Lotus SmartSuite to HTML and move them to any Internet, intranet, or extranet site with a mouse click. FastSite also includes dozens of pre-formatted Web SmartMaster looks for creating customized sites. In addition, FastSite offers Verity HTML publishing capabilities that allow users to publish documents created in applications that are not resident on their systems. However, release 9.6 emphasizes ease over power. Instead of including a full-scale Web editor like Office XP's FrontPage, Lotus offers its FastSite program for converting existing documents into low-tech Web sites. This provides for quick postings on the intranet, but lacks the more robust Web-editing capabilities.

Lotus Word Pro's customized version of the IBM ViaVoice engine also features improved speech recognition. Additionally, Word Pro 9.6 offers improved file compatibility with Microsoft Word including Word 97 and Word 2000.

Freelance Graphics provides support for Web-based presentations but lacks the gee-whiz Animation Schemes of PowerPoint. However, Freelance Graphics users can now read and write presentations within a PowerPoint file without opening the Freelance application.

Lotus Approach: Support for Lotus Notes R5 allows users to directly access their Notes-based data without leveraging their IT departments. Approach 9.6 offers IBM DB2 database compatibility for printing and improved query features. With these additions, Lotus Approach has built-in Internet/intranet capabilities, that provides users the ability to manage, analyze and seamlessly connect to all data, whether it is stored in Lotus Notes, dBASE, DB2, Oracle, or almost any other database format.

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