| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 73.1 | make that $114 | EPIK::FINNERTY | | Tue Mar 03 1992 08:51 | 13 |
|
The $55 deal turns out to be for the database + manual + one year of
quarterly updates only. It does not include current price downloading,
which only comes with a membership in the association.
The full package costs $114 (per year, I believe), which is still
pretty reasonable. They were less than clear about their pricing
policies, which is a troubling sign, but perhaps this is typical for
low-overhead, non-profit institutions.
/Jim
|
| 73.2 | update | EPIK::FINNERTY | | Tue Mar 17 1992 08:41 | 16 |
|
after a bit more playing around with the database, my opinions about it
have steadily improved. there are a few problems, but the most
important of them are being addressed in the next release of the
software, and the others can be worked around.
some of the features of the database package are innovative and very
valuable; for example, there is a rating system which considers both
growth and consistency of growth of earnings, sales, price, ..., and
with a bit of hacking it is possible to define almost any conceivable
screening criteria.
i just wish i'd had this package last December...
/Jim
|
| 73.3 | SMD update | VIZUAL::FINNERTY | The bug stops here | Wed May 27 1992 15:53 | 25 |
|
their new number is (305)-491-5100
There have been continued problems with delivery of the updates, and
reaching their support person by phone is extremely difficult.
Their product really seems to have potential, and their support person
is quite helpful when and if you manage to reach him, but it sure feels
like they're getting in over their head with support issues. My database
is now 5� months stale, and they've just promised to 'send it out
tonight' for the second time in two weeks.
One bizarre "bug" is that earnings are not calculated correctly (what
could be a more serious bug?)... it is calculated as the 12 month
earnings ended LAST fiscal year, which is almost completely irrelevant
for comparison shopping between stocks... near the end of the fiscal
year you'd be using earning that began 2 years prior and ended 1 year
prior.
Anyway, I still think it's a neat product, but you might want to 'wait
and see' if you were considering buying it. Maybe in 6 months or so
they'll have some of these support issues and bugs worked out.
/jim
|
| 73.4 | | DECWET::DEROSA | I = not(number); | Mon Jun 29 1992 12:10 | 2 |
| So, how has this service been since May? I'm thinking about signing
up. Have the bugs in the system been excised?
|
| 73.5 | you can decide | VIZUAL::FINNERTY | The bug stops here | Mon Jun 29 1992 14:34 | 35 |
|
Some have been fixed, others not. I haven't checked to see how
earnings are calculated in the latest version, but since I didn't
submit a written request to change it, I doubt the problem has been
corrected.
The communications problem has been fixed.
If they had a mechanism for downloading historical price quotes, it
would be a much more useful system... typing in price histories from
Barron's or the WSJ gets pretty tedious after a while. On the other
hand, if you subscribe to Compuserve or Prodigy you can get
this service (for a download fee).
I had to make extra requests to get my quarterly updates, which is
not easy (as you know if you've tried to call them). When I did get
them, there were disk errors (just like the previous time) and I had
to request a second set of disks. I've never had problems reading
disks from any other source except the AIA.
Another thing that's unsurprizing but limiting is that price watches
may only be set in one direction... i.e. it assumes that all positions
are long positions, and that you want to buy when the price dips below
some value and sell when the price goes above some value. This
reflects their basically fundimental philosopy of investing. If you
happen to think that you should sell when the price *drops* below, say,
a moving average, then you're pretty much out of luck. Seems pretty
Dwayne Blamaged to me, but I probably seem that way to them, too. ;)
oh.. and when you update with your quarterly update disks, it appears
to clear out your portfolio. =8O Nice, eh? Perhaps there is some
way to avoid this, but there were no instructions to this effect.
/Jim
|
| 73.6 | one more bug | VIZUAL::FINNERTY | Sell high, buy low | Wed Sep 16 1992 17:02 | 8 |
|
update... The latest version allows free nightly downloads of _all_
their information, including the latest quarterly earnings in addition
to price data... so you can get up-to-date data whenever you want it for
just the cost of the phone call.
I bothered them again about fixing the way they calculate earnings; as
of about a month ago it still wasn't fixed.
|
| 73.7 | demo disks | VIZUAL::FINNERTY | Sell high, buy low | Thu Oct 29 1992 13:08 | 9 |
|
If anyone would like a demo disk of the SMD stock database, I can get
one for you.
...but if you come up with any successful stock screens, you've gotta
let me know about'em ;)
/jim
|
| 73.8 | Update on info-service | JUDYL::SWARTZ | | Tue Feb 09 1993 13:19 | 6 |
| Jim,
Any new information about this database and software ?. What the latest
on software updates/features ?
Ed
|
| 73.9 | status quo, still happy | NOVA::FINNERTY | Sell high, buy low | Fri Feb 26 1993 14:49 | 16 |
|
Hi Ed,
Pretty much the same. They've made some minor improvements in the
portfolio section, which I don't use. The modem-download feature has
made this an immesurably better product... the data is updated daily,
and you can download this whenever you wish at no charge.
I can create a demo disk for you, if you like. (but if you sign up,
tell'em I sent you so I get an extra months' subscription).
/Jim
p.s. the P/E ratio is still bogus. I have no idea why they haven't
fixed such an obvious problem.
|