Folio VIEWS 2.1 is a document indexing and retrieval package for DOS text mode. In the terminology of this software nodes are folios and collections of folios are infobases. An infobase consists of the original text plus full text indexing. The total file size is about half that of the original text, due to some clever file compression. Folio refers to this as "underhead" technology.
As one might expect, the searching facility is powerful, supporting Booleans, wildcards, and proximity criteria. Reference links may be made to other folios, external programs, PCX graphics, or audio files in RealSound format. Nodes may be grouped in clusters to facilitate organization and comparisons between groups. Text editing features include block operations and highlighting. Over forty file formats may be imported; 2GB of text may be stored in all. The interface is based on a window paradigm and supports a mouse. On-line help is available.
Folio VIEWS is priced at $695. A personal edition, which has full functionality but cannot create new infobases, is $295. The runtime module allows read-only access. An unlimited not-for-profit license is $1995. Licenses for those who wish to sell their infobases are also available.
The price structure and limited hypertext functionality restrict our interest in this otherwise capable product. A Microsoft Windows version is now available.
2000 update: All Folio DOS programs have been retired. Folio is now part of Open Market