AMI PROFESSIONAL WORD PROCESSING A Sneak Preview from Samna Corporation February 1, 1989 This document is designed to acquaint the reader with the similarities and differences between the currently released version of Samna's Ami and Ami Professional, currently under development and scheduled for release in Summer, 1989. The features listed for Ami Professional are subject to change without notice, and additional features not listed here will be included in the final product. Ami Professional Word Processing by Samna Corporation BACKGROUND In December, 1989, Samna Corporation released Ami, the first affordable, fully-featured WYSIWYG word processor for IBM PC compatibles utilizing the Microsoftr Windows graphical interface. Priced at just $149 through March 15, 1989, Ami has attracted considerable attention from the computer industry press, individual users, and corporations because of its true word processing power combined with formatting capabilities usually associated only with powerful (and cumbersome) "desktop publishing" programs. FASTER THROUGHPUT THAN WITH CHARACTER BASED WORD PROCESSORS The ability to easily produce attractive and professional looking documents is the obvious benefit of Am¡. More important is the increase in productivity Am¡ offers... it enables the user to produce anything from a basic memo to a complex multi-column report utilizing integrated graphics, rules, multiple fonts, and the like in as little as a quarter of the time required by conventional, character based word processors. AMI DESIGNED FOR THE "INDIVIDUAL" USER Ami is designed for the individual word processing user, and as such contains a rich core feature set required by all users, and especially those whose primary concern is individually producing memos, reports, newsletters, and similar documents quickly, easily, and professionally. It deliberately did not include the more "department" oriented features like merge, or the selection of "power" features that any given user may or may not need such as more complex header and footer capability, indexing, tables, and built in drawing capabilities. AMI PROFESSIONAL WITH "POWER" FEATURES Recognizing that corporate and business users and many individual users would want an Ami with even more power, Samna has announced its intention to ship an expanded version, Ami Professional (suggested list price $495) by summer, 1989. Incorporating Ami's rich foundation of core features, Ami Professional includes the power features needed for sophisticated departmental word processing. Retaining Ami's friendly personality, Ami Professional adds the features needed in a workgroup environment. WHY TWO PRODUCTS? There are basically two types of users of word processing -- those who primarily need a product with the basic features, and those who need a wide range of more "specialized" functions. For that reason, many businesses generally have "power" users working with a more expensive and complex "high end" word processor, while others within the same company have a simpler, less expensive, easier to use word processor. Different Needs, Different Interfaces and File Formats...Until Now! The problem, until now, has been that these distinct needs have to be met with two word processors with different file formats and different interfaces, and moving users or documents from one to the other is virtually impossible. The existence of Am¡ and Am¡ Professional will, for the first time, make it possible to have a single interface and file format of word processors in a company, while at the same time meeting the needs of both types of users with products offering superior performance. A user of Am¡ can easily use Am¡ Professional for the basic functions he needs (and because the product is so intuitive, quickly learn the more advanced features), and an Am¡ Professional user can move back and forth between the two. WHY NOT JUST BUY AMI PROFESSIONAL? A good question, with no definitive answer. Ami Professional is the product for the users that want one package that has everything they might ever possibly need, regardless of price. However, Ami offers unparalleled word processing power for the Windows environment now. And Samna includes a $100 rebate certificate in every copy of Ami. If an individual user -- or company -- decides that they want to move from Ami to Ami Professional once it is available, Samna will give them $100 back on the Ami purchase, and let them keep their original copy of Ami. This assures users that they will have an easy upgrade path, not just in terms of a consistent interface and file compatibility, but also financially. No Retraining between Ami and Ami Professional And that's an important consideration for companies adopting Ami now, in anticipation of Ami Professional. They can bring their users up to speed on Ami, then move them to Ami Professional without extensive retraining (users will already know the interface and the core features, and can quickly learn the advanced features). USERS SHOULD ONLY PAY FOR WHAT THEY NEED However, in offering two versions of the product, Samna has also indicated its strong belief that there is a very real need for the more inexpensive ($199) Am¡ for one group of users, and for the more powerful and costly Am¡ Professional ($495) for the other group...and that "casual" users should not have to pay for features they don't really need. AMI VS. AMI PROFESSIONAL Both products, operating under Microsoft Windows, offer an almost identical interface, the primary difference being the addition of several menus to Ami Professional and the addition of a number of features that can be selected within menus. These features are summarized on the following pages.