Introduction - a little bit about us and our philosophy ....
 
 Please click and download our comprehensive info pack ( in Word 97 format )
 

TBSC - The Blue Software Company - develops practical software tools and provides consulting services for the small business and the individual computer user.

We are concentrating on some important matters for them: data processing and information retrieval to support the decision making process are one example. These tasks should no longer be only something for the bigger enterprise. It is esp. important for the smaller business to give them also a competitive advantage.

There is however a world-wide problem: the necessary and often basic skills have not been taught or training is/was not available. Things are beginning to change now thanks to the possibilities the Internet is offering us - but some tips and guidance for our target group are certainly in order.

Our approach is based on the REALITY the small business and the individual user are in - we are actually working with them every day !

This experience makes a big difference. Our customers want to take part in the IT revolution but they also want to progress from what they have now in place to manage their office environment to something what delivers convincing improvements for them.

Example:

The development of writing from hand writing over type writing to modern word processing

Handwriting -> Typewriting (manual, then electric) -> simple correction facilities -> word processing with the creation of serial letters on more sophisticated typing equipment in the seventies and eighties -> computer based word processing (where we could actually see the full page layout in front of us) -> less expensive word processing on PCs (at first DOS based) -> with the development of the graphical user interface (MS-Windows, Apple Macintosh) we had finally some kind of great and simple word processing (i.e. the internal simple word processor which came with MS-Windows 3.1 / 3.11 called MS-Write).

Having our target group in mind we often recommend to install the original MS-Write word processor (if they still have the older version of the MS-Windows operating system). In most cases it covers all their needs (and has some advantages over the later versions which came with Win95 etc.). It is one of the pieces where we can wholeheartedly say: this is progress over the electric and electronic type writer - it was the next step !

Of course - there are more sophisticated word processing software packages available (esp. for the creation of serial letters or if you are the author of a book) - however often we have to ask ourselves: would an upgrade really benefit us, esp. every two years so ?
 

The development of the graphical user interface in the eighties, further developments in hardware / software technology and the Internet have changed the world - but also left many of us with more questions than answers.

Esp. the Internet has led to a flood of data and information never seen before - we have all the knowledge of the world at our fingertips; what will it be in ten, twenty years time ?

It is however a fact that many of us are not coping with the flood of data and  information nor can they keep pace with all developments. We need new ways of learning for future generations - starting at the earliest age possible. We need to learn how to deal better with data and information, how to gather it, how to structure and how to process it.

The foundations we are building on at the moment are formed already at primary school level: we have learned how to write, read and count. Further teaching in mathematics allows for the development of logical thinking and taking a structured approach whatever we are doing. Reading and writing are expanded over the years when we have grasped the basics - writing an essay for example.

It is not only the amount of data and  information to process but also the individuals ability to take in things. The tools available two or three decades ago were not many (apart from typewriter, slide ruler and calculator). Nowadays we have much more tools available: software applications of all kind, the Internet and the PC itself.

What is mainly taught nowadays is how to use these new tools. What is NOT taught is how to deal with the flood of data and information, how to gather it properly, how to structure data and information and how to explore it further.

And then we have the gap - not only on a national level but also internationally between those who have (the right) information and those who have not (this gap will be worse for many countries than the lack of natural or financial resources).

The technology might have been expanded a hundred times - our overall ability to cope with the amount of information and how to take things in is still the same as it was twenty years ago. We think with our practical tools, support and resources we can help the individual user to cope a little bit better.

Please click and download our comprehensive info pack ( in Word 97 format )

Please continue with the introduction and read the following pages:

 A general introduction to our approach, methods and supporting applications ...
 An introduction to practical computing in the SMALL business ...
 

 Please visit our page dealing with the "knowledge" subject / intelligence

 [ On this page you will also find the remarkable story of   CHRIS LANGAN  - one of the most intelligent people on earth. ]
 

Some resources on the Internet regarding the SMALL BUSINESS and IT can also be found at:

 The web site of Dan Bricklin  (he has a focus on small businesses in the United States - but worthwhile a visit with so many
                                               resources)

[ Dan Bricklin - "who" ?  you might ask. Who is this guy ? No, he has not invented "PostIt" (this was a chap with 3M)  but he has invented the SPREADSHEET in the late seventies; YES, that's right: the FIRST spreadsheet called "VISICALC"  -  Multiplan, Lotus 1-2-3, Excel came years later.

On a personal note:

the author of the "introduction" you are just reading has had the chance to introduce the staff of a medium sized bank branch in Europe to this TOTALLY NEW and EXCITING tool in the early eighties. People - the bankers - couldn't believe their eyes what I was showing them on screen !!

I mention DAN BRICKLIN here because his developments are of similar importance like a development some years before by Dr. Edgar Codd (a scientist with IBM at that) who has designed the rules of what we call a RDMS - a relational database management system.

[  Many things that have developed over the last fifteen years or so - like the graphical user interface, the Internet are more or less related to hardware developments.  On a personal note: I don't value them like the developments of Dr. Codd or Dan Bricklin. ]

Please click and download our comprehensive info pack ( in Word 97 format )

Please read also the following pages within this introduction:

 A general introduction to our approach, methods and supporting applications ...
 An introduction to practical computing in the SMALL business ...
 

 Please visit our page dealing with the "knowledge" subject / intelligence
 [ On this page you will also find the remarkable story of   CHRIS LANGAN  - one of the most intelligent people on earth. ]