A new version of the Ultracalc spreadsheet has now been issued by BBC Soft which has a number of improvements. In particular it meets the two major criticisms made in my comparative review with Acornsoft's ViewSheet in Beebug Vol. 3 No. 3. Firstly, it can now operate in any screen mode allowing an 80 column display. Secondly, portions of the spreadsheet can now be sent to file and thus be incorporated into a word processing program. Ultracalc 2 now represents a highly competitive spreadsheet program that has a number of advantages over ViewSheet.

The display changes mean that mode 3 (or mode 0) can be used to see the maximum amount of the spreadsheet at a time, whilst mode 7 is still available for spreadsheets requiring the maximum amount of memory. However, great care is necessary in changing from mode 7 to other modes because, if the model is too big for the available memory in the new mode, it is completely lost. This is a serious defect in a professional spreadsheet program which should really first check itself whether the requested mode change is feasible, and not allow it to be made if there is insufficient memory available. Other improvements have been made which allow inter-column gaps to be supressed on both the screen display (except in mode 7) and on the printed output.

Output can now be sent to a file as well as direct to the printer, so that tables can be prepared for insertion into documents. This is an important feature which appears to work satisfactorily with both View and Wordwise. In addition, commands can now be sent directly to the printer to set up appropriate type and line spacing, albeit in a somewhat unfriendly manner (e.qg. an Epson printer requires the sequence "/>&0F" to select condensed print!). The £ sign can also be defined so that it prints out correctly on a given printer.

A further feature is that Ultracalc 2 now automatically relocates as HICALC when used with a 6502 second processor. Use of a second processor allows the full memory to be used whatever the screen mode selected. This relocation facility gives Ultracalc 2 a worthwhile advantage over ViewSheet which requires a different chip for each system. The manual also claims that Ultracalc can be used with an Electron, provided that a ROM board to Acorn specifications is used. Finally, Ultracalc 2 also includes a brief HELP facility which displays a list of the most commonly used commands.

In conclusion, Ultracalc is now fully competitive with ViewSheet. It does not have ViewSheet's screen windows, but does have variable width columns. Although significantly slower both in recalculation times and in saving models to disc, it has a somewhat wider range of commands. In my opinion, it is easier to use because it does away with the need to refer to any function keystrip, although some users may prefer this. Unfortunately, it is rather more expensive (£80 in comparison with £60) so, for many users the choice will be finely balanced.

Both programs represent good value for money and compare well with those available on other computers at several times their cost.