Home-Computer Software Lags

By Peter J. Schuyten
The New York Times

November 26, 1980

For those who think they might like to own a personal computer but are unwilling to go through the trials of learning to program one, off-the-shelf, or ''canned,'' software is available to make a system function.

Literally thousands of programs are sold by mail order and at local computer stores, including all manner of games, home or personal finance programs and educational and instructional software.

While it would be nice to report that much of what is available is useful, entertaining or just plain functional, the fact is that the personal computer industry has not yet done a good job in providing users with adequate software.

In fact, with some notable exceptions, software intended for the consumer market is either poorly executed, flawed by programming errors, or inexorably complicated to master.

''There's not a lot out there to rave about,'' laments one supplier, while another explains, ''The people who design software often believe they are selling it to their peers, or other programmers, not the general public.''

Costs Are High

Moreover, software, which comes on tape cassettes, Mylar floppy disks and plug-in cartridges, is expensive, and can greatly add to the cost of owning a personal computer. Individual programs cost from $10 to several hundred dollars, with the bulk of them in the $20-to$40 range. In the six months of owning an Apple II computer, I have purchased some $400 worth of programming for a system whose basic cost was $1,334.

Software is at the same time both the boon and bane of the four year-old personal computer industry: Boon in the sense that, without it, the market would never have moved beyond the hobbyist stage; bane in that many of the programs being sold today do not fit the average user's needs.

A popular income tax preparation program, retailing for $25, for example, does nothing more than compute a tax return from the same set of numbers requested by the standard 1040 long form. It makes no provision whatsoever for filing additional schedules, such as Schedule A for itemized deductions, Schedule C for income in addition to salary, or other special situations.

But the problem is larger than that, since it is not so much a question of what can be done with off-the-shelf software, but rather what is worth doing. The offerings run from the sublime to the technological trivial, with perhaps the most useful category being in the realm of business-oriented software that has been adapted to household finance applications.

Compiling endless computerized lists of telephone numbers, recipes or record albums is generally a waste of both the user's time and the computer's power. Similarly, using the computer to balance a checkbook quickly takes on make-work characteristics.

Useful for Instruction

On the other hand, computers are particularly suited to ''how-to-do-it,'' or instructional, software. One program for teaching typing, for example, not only drills the user in the various keystrokes, but evaluates his progress before passing him on to a higher level of difficulties.

For those willing to invest the time and effort, business software - that is, programs developed for the professional person or small business man, can be adapted and used for a variety of home finance and management chores. Data-base management programs, often called electronic filing cabinets, not only allow the user to store financial information, but to manipulate it in useful ways as well.

Another useful software tool designed primarily for business but equally suited to home use is something called Visicalc, which in effect turns the computer into a powerful electronic worksheet that permits the user to store, say, a household budget in the computer and then project or extrapolate the effects of inflation on such home operating costs as heating or electricity over time on a month-by-month basis.

Finally, some well-designed word-processing software programs are beginning to appear on the market that can turn the computer into a full-fledged text-editing machine, although they are expensive, at $100 or more per program, and require an additional investment in hardware. A letter-quality printer, for instance, costs between $1,000 and $3,000.

Large Array of Games

Still, the overwhelming majority of software on the market today is composed of games, particularly space games having such derivative names as Star Wars, Star Trek, Steller Trek and, of course, a multitude of versions of the popular arcade game, Space Invaders.

But for the more serious minded, there are also strategy games such as chess, checkers and backgammon that pit the user against the power of the computer. One such game, Microchess, reportedly the industry's first ''gold cassette,'' or million-seller, offers the occasional chess player a challenging match, although the program sometimes takes up to five minutes to make a move and plays a decidedly weak endgame.

Games are fine, fun and an absorbing way to fill up idle time, but in the end they hardly justify an investment in computer hardware that can easily run to $3,000.

Then, too, there are such mindless programs as the one that allows users to compose music on the computer, simulate an airplane landing or pretend they are operating a nuclear power plant, called, what else, Three Mile Island.

Software is the nation's newest industry, with both fledgling companies and individuals operating out of their homes acting as suppliers. So a word of warning when you buy: Computer stores often know no more about the software they stock than the novice user does.

Further, be certain that the program you purchase is ''written'' in a language your computer can understand. There is nothing more frustrating than buying a program written in Pascal, a new, faster and easier to use programming language, for a machine that only understands Basic, the standard microcomputer ''tongue.''

Finally, since software is a particularly labor-intensive product that is sold in relatively limited quantities, there is usually a close correlation between usefulness and price. In other words, you generally get what you pay for.

GRAPHIC: Illustrations: Photo of a home computer and a computer program