Vista is here and so are all the problems that go with a major operating system upgrade.  If you are thinking of upgrading and your system is mission-critical, our experience indicates that waiting until the kinks are worked out is advisable.  When working, it is a beautiful product, however even we continue to encounter dozens of individual issues.  See below for important information on our products and Vista compatibility.

This Month's Newsletter

In this month's newsletter we provide a Vista update and we ask for your input again on how to improve our products with a few specific questions to stimulate thought.  We have the answer to last month's puzzler as well as the name of the winner of a copy of DebtCalc.  This month's Fun Fact deals with Valentine's Day. Again we have tips and offers that we hope will be of interest to you.  Here's what's covered in this month's newsletter:

• We Need Your Input
• Windows Vista and Slateboard's Products 
• About our Software Subscription Plans 
• What You Are Missing If You Haven't Updated Your Software
• Tip Of The Month - How to fake an Interest Only loan in QuikCalc Home Edition
• Fun Fact - Valentine's Day
• Last Month's Puzzler Answer
• This Month's Puzzler Contest

The staff at Slateboard Software hope you find our latest newsletter interesting and thank you for your business.

Last month we introduced the method below of providing links you only need to click on to indicate your interest in a particular feature.  It proved overwhelmingly successful.  We surprised to see how popular the idea of us supplying perforated Payment Coupon paper was.  We are having the paper custom made as this newsletter goes out and it will be ready for you to purchase directly on our site soon.  See next month's newsletter for details and pricing.  As a result of the popularity of the idea, we will be adding the Payment Coupon capability to the Plus! and Premium Editions of QuikCalc rather than reserving it for the Office Edition.

Here are some of the latest things we are considering, as well as some repeats for our new readers. Please read the items below that we are considering and let us know if you are interested in any of them.  Simply clicking on the link should send us an e-mail that is preformatted with the feedback.  You of course can add any more info you would like.

Custom-Branded CD-ROMs: We are looking at offering a custom-branded CD-ROM version of QuikCalc.  This would have a silk-screened image approved by you and the Courtesy Edition of QuikCalc on it.  The Courtesy Edition includes a custom splash screen, web links to your site, your contact info and your image/logo across the bottom for users to see the entire time they use the product.  Does this interest you?  Yes, this interests me!  What about business-card sized CD-ROMs? Yes, this interests me!

Read-Only Office Edition: We have had a suggestion submitted that we add a new "read-only" version of QuikCalc that allows people to connect to a QuikCalc Office installation and view the data, but not edit it.  This would be available at a discounted price due to the limited features.  Does this interest you?  Yes, this interests me!

1098 Form Generation: This seems to be a popular request, especially at this time of the year.  Does adding this to QuikCalc interest you? Yes, this interests me!  What about 1099-INT Forms? Yes, this interests me!

Loan/Schedule Emailing: We have had several variations on this theme.  One is to be able to e-mail loans or schedules to other QuikCalc users.  Yes, this interests me! The other is to be able to generate a PDF of a report and then e-mail it.  Yes, this interests me!

Multiple Database Support for Office Edition: Some people have multiple businesses and want to be able to keep their information separate.  Would you like to be able to have multiple databases within QuikCalc that keeps your data completely separate? Yes, this interests me!

These are just a few of the things we are looking at for the coming year.  Please let us know what interests you!  And if you haven't already, try the new version of QuikCalc and see how suggestions from people like you led to the most significant facelift QuikCalc has ever received that has people raving.  Then, upgrade to any edition, no matter what you owned before, for 50% off.  Just visit our secure order site.

As many are finding, Windows Vista has broken many if not most older applications.  We are pleased to announce that QuikCalc V6.0 is Windows Vista compatible.  In order to use the help-system in QuikCalc V6.0, you must go to your Help menu and select Check for Updates and install the latest update shown.

The upcoming versions of DebtCalc and VehiCalc will be Vista compatible as well.  We had hoped to have these ready in time for Vista's release however this proved impossible due to reasons beyond our control.  We will announce in this newsletter when they become available.

All older versions of QuikCalc (versions 1.0 to 5.0), are not compatible with Vista.  If you decide to upgrade your operating system to Vista, you will need to upgrade to the latest version of QuikCalc.  You can do so for 50% off by clicking here.

As you read above, QuikCalc V6.0 is our most successful release ever.  If you haven't seen it yet for yourself, visit our website to try the fully-functional demo, or use the links below to see screen snaps of what QuikCalc V6.0 looks like:

Solve for Missing Number Calculator, Amortization Schedules Plus!, Loan Manager,
Client Manager, Payment Grids

For more information, click here.  We encourage you to try out the demo at https://www.slateboard.com/info_demos.htm.

To make sure you enjoy your 50% discount as an existing customer, visit: https://www.slateboard.com/ORDERSITE/cat3_1.htm

QuikCalc Plus!, Premium and Office Editions all offer the capability to do Interest Only loans.  But what if you have the Home Edition?  All is not lost.  Simply create a schedule like you normally would then note the interest portion for the first payment.  Enter this amount in the Payment Amount field above and click Recalculate.  This will replace the payment amount in the schedule and since it is the same as the interest due for the first payment, results in an Interest Only schedule. 

This tip actually came to us from a user like you!  If you have any tips that you would like to share, click here to send it to us.

Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day is on February 14. It is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other; sending Valentine's cards or candy. It is very common to present flowers on Valentine's Day. The holiday is named after two men, both Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines." Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.

In the United States, the marketing of Valentine's Day has tagged it as a "Hallmark holiday." A recent trend has been to refer to February 14 as Singles Awareness Day.

On the ancient Athens calendar, the period between mid-January and mid-February was the month of Gamelion, dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera.

In Ancient Rome, February 15 was Lupercalia. Plutarch wrote:

Lupercalia, of which many write that it was anciently celebrated by shepherds, and has also some connection with the Arcadian Lycaea. At this time many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck, believing that the pregnant will thus be helped in delivery, and the barren to pregnancy.

Lupercalia was a festival local to the city of Rome. The more general Festival of Juno Februa, meaning "Juno the purifier "or "the chaste Juno," was celebrated on February 13-14. Pope Gelasius I (492-496) abolished Lupercalia. The pope also declared in 496 that the feast of St. Valentine would be on February 14.

Saint Valentine of Terni and his disciples. 14th century France. Richard de Montbaston.

The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Parlement of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer:

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese [chose] his make [mate].

This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. A treaty providing for a marriage was signed on May 2, 1381. (When they were married eight months later, he was 13 or 14. She was 14.)

Using the language of the law courts for the rituals of courtly love, a "High Court of Love" was established in Paris on Valentine's Day in 1400. The court dealt with love contracts, betrayals, and violence against women. Judges were selected by women on the basis of a poetry reading.

The earliest surviving valentine dates from 1415. It is a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife. At the time, the duke was being held in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.

Last Month's Question

A jar has 4 amoebas in it to start. Amoebas split their cells in two (therefore doubling in size) once every minute. The jar will be completely filled in 10 minutes. How long would it take to fill the same sized jar if had 8 amoebas in it to start?

Answer

9 minutes

And This Month's Copy Goes To...

This month's copy of DebtCalc Home Edition goes to: Lisa Gay of Kansas.  Congrats!