A person who turns on a personal computer for the first time usually finds a strange world of words and punctuation, symbols and pictures.
But now the company that sells more PCs through stores than any other has a way to make using one seem like walking down a hall.Packard Bell Electronics Co., the nation's fourth-largest PC maker, this week introduced a new version of its Navigator software, which categorizes and manages programs more simply than the industry standard Microsoft Windows system.
The program lies on top of Windows, which uses simple symbols and icons to identify commands but still requires some training to understand.
With the new Navigator, Packard Bell hopes to distinguish its products further in the consumer market, the fastest-growing in the PC business but also the most difficult for manufacturers to cope with.
Instead of Windows' picture of a desktop, Navigator displays buttons that categorize software by games, education and work along with the programs that run the machine.
The menu can be changed to look like a hallway with games programs in the kids room, work programs in the office and education programs in the library. A parent could add a password to prevent the kids from using their financial software and the door to the office would close.
"It sure makes it a lot less complex visually when you first look at the system and try to figure out what to do with it," said Martin Reynolds, analyst at Computer Intelligence InfoCorp in Santa Clara, Calif.
In addition, the new Navigator presents a simpler way to store and re-open files without going through the steps of starting a program, such as a word processor or spreadsheet.
"Navigator gives Packard Bell desktops a unique personality," said Richard Zwetchkenbaum, analyst for International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass. "It ultimately leads to brand loyalty, good word of mouth and repeat buying."
The program will be standard with Packard Bell desktop models starting next month. Later in the year, the company will sell it as software that can be added to any PC.
However, the software takes between 30 and 40 megabytes of space on a computer's hard drive, a relatively large chunk of storage capacity. However, Ransom said Packard Bell no longer sells any desktop PCs with a hard drive below 170 megabytes and most have 210 megabytes or more.