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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KDLadage" data-source="post: 2009335" data-attributes="member: 88">updated on 22-NOV-02Overview...To paraphrase Obiwan Kenobi, "This is not the software you have been looking for."When the Mastertools Software package was first announced, I was excited. When that project was delayed, rethought, delayed again, renamed, delayed yet again and so forth, I kept a sizable amount of hope that it would keep some degree of professionalism about it. And in the end, I was wrong. There are at least a dozen electronic aids available for free that make this software appear sub-standard, at the very least.SpecificsNo being able to make it to GenCon, I purchased the software from my Friendly Local Game Store. The cost was $31.95 plus tax. So far, I am finding that this, as far as prices go, is a little higher than some have paid for the software. This is par for the course with this store, so I am not surprised.The software came as a single CD, in a flat package. No books, documentation, registration cards, advertisements or anything else. I was a little shocked and surprised at the same time. First, most of those things end up in the garbage for me (with the notable exception of the books and/or documentation) and second, this lack of dead-tree material certainly did not cut back on the cost of the software any. I would not think that the production costs could be very high...After taking the software home, I had no trouble getting it to run. That made me happy. But not for long. Using the software is another thing entirely. Without a book or software documentation, the menu icons were far from intuitive. A Norse helmet? A lightbulb? A goblinoid(?) face? Same three icons with what appears to be a 6, 10, and 12 sided die in front?Normally, Windows software will have some sort of context help (such as small text banners that will appear over icons when you leave your mouse pointer there to give some clue as to what they are used for), this software has nothing like this. The help screens (once you can get to the right ones) are of very limited use. All functions of the software seem to be written with the assumption that you have been using this software for years. In other words, nothing is straight forward or intuitive. Most functions, although powerful and free of annoying software errors or glitches, are less than useful in the fact that you spend a lot of time trying to find them, or figure out exactly what the software engineer was thinking when it was designed so that you can follow the same logic in using it.After a few days of toying with the software, it is my opinion that this was not be making a permanent home of my computer. I have found far too much good software for free on the net to allow myself to justify a $32+ purchase of this low a calibre.e-Tools has potential. Perhaps in v2.0 they will have something I can consider "professional" level work. But for now, it appears that, after all of those delays, they have produced something a 1st year V-Basic Programming student could have made. This is not final software, it is an  Alpha- (or perhaps a Beta-) release at best...</blockquote>

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