Software Reviews : MACRO*TRACK,Versions 2.0 and 2.1 Reviewed by William P. Yohe,Duke University Publisher: Black River Software,118 N. Marshall,Suite 150,Winston-Salem,NC 27101 (telephone: 919-924-6389) Year of Publication: 1983 (Version 2.0);1986 (Version 2.1) Materials: Demo,program (copy-protected),program back-up,data,monthly update disks,newsletter for one year Price: $299.95 (Version 2.0),$499.95 (Version 2.1),$125 per year for monthly data-disk renewal Availability: IBM PC,XT,AT,compatibles System Requirements: DOS 2.0 or later,128K RAM,two drives,dot-matrix printer Effectiveness: Good User-Friendliness: Excellent Documentation: Excellent

With a database containing more than 10 years of observations of some 75 quarterly and monthly time series (updated monthly) covering major macroeconomic, financial, commodity, and stock market indicators, MACRO*TRACK uses basic techniques of time-series analysis (regression and triple exponential smoothing) to make short- and long-term forecasts and turning-point forecasts of all variables at user-selected probability levels.