What I found - software comparison

[Patti Mount]

Hi List,

I am sending you this "rebuttal" at the BOTTOM of this e-mail because I have been reviewing the different software that is currebtly available. I have spoken directly with the Producers of RADAR in California and Belgium (Archibel Software Manufacturers). Please know that this reply at the BOTTOM of this email was written in the Spring of 2003 before the LATEST addition of IHA, Homeopathic Physician, New England Journal of Homeopathy, and many other unique and valuable titles which is expected to be released approximately Decemver 15th along with RADAR version 9 which will now include 22 Repertories including Synthesis AND the Complete Repertory too. It will now be possible to have up to 762 volumes of books in Encyclopedia Homeopathica and these are Full Texts not just a few extracted cases. With RADAR 9 the integration capabilities between RADAR and EH are "way ahead of anybody else" according to the manufacturers which I have already seen the Beta Versions in working order at both the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy annual seminar and the NASH Conference in October 2003.
I am making the Manufacturers response public because an invalid Comparison Document was sent to me and many others recently by a fellow List Member, which was originally released by KHA and continues to be disseminated which is completely INVALID since it compares the newest version of RefWorks with a 3 year old version of EH and RADAR.
I have also received permission from Dr. Will Taylor to send you his following quote regarding the soon-to-be-released in December 2003 of RADAR 9:
I'm absolutely elated with the new Families features in Radar 9. The

Families Selection Window provides easy and clear access to the multiple

ways a remedy can be classified in family groups - taxonomic groups,

periodic table classification, miasms, related remedies, even the

concordances of Boenninghausen. Together with the completely re-worked

Analysis by Families display, this allows us great flexibility in examining

an analysis with attention to the many ways in which remedies are related

to one another.
One of my favorite new features is the ability to find synonymous or

related rubrics directly from the repertorization chart. Perhaps

Anacardium comes up well in an analysis, but it is missing in the rubric

you chose to represent the patient's need for order in their life - [Mind,

disorder, sensitive to]. Right-click on this empty waffle block in the

analysis, and choose "Repertory extraction of remedy in related

rubrics". Radar proceeds to find any mention of Anacardium in rubrics of

similar meaning - and returns with [MIND - REST - cannot rest when things

are not in the proper place]. There it is.
And with the new analysis graph displays, the power of Radar is matched

with equal prettiness of display. And all this backed with the reliability

and comprehensiveness of the Synthesis Repertory. And the Complete

Repertory. And Boenninghausen's Therapeutic Pocketbook ... the Vithoulkas

Expert System ... the Herscu Cycles & Segments Module ... It just doesn't get any better than this.
Will Taylor, MD
AND from the Manufacturers/Developers of RADAR:
Dear Homeopath,
You may have recently received a homeopathic software comparison (created by KHA) contrasting Encyclopedia Homeopathica 1.0 and Reference Works 3.1. Unfortunately, this document is riddled with fundamental inaccuracies and gross distortions of truth. We are both surprised and confused about why misleading information would be distributed in this manner and about the intention behind such an act.
The overriding error committed by KHA is that they have compared the newest version of ReferenceWorks to the very first version of Encyclopedia Homeopathica, released in August, 2000. This three-year-old version of our software has been superseded by numerous Free Upgrades, the most recent being the release of Encyclopedia Homeopathica 2.0 in December, 2002. Contrasting their most current model with our outdated version seems silly at best, deeply misleading at worst. Our comments are therefore directed to the current features of Encyclopedia Homeopathica 2.0, which were inaccurately described in the KHA article. We will avoid focusing on the weaknesses and limitations of ReferenceWorks or even the numerous unique advantages and benefits of Encyclopedia Homeopathica that were not mentioned in the KHA review. To find out more about the unique capabilities of our software programs, please visit our website or contact the local RADAR representative in your country.
For the purposes of brevity, we will focus on the first grouping of Encyclopedia Homeopathica "minus points" described in the KHA article. The pattern of misrepresentation continues through the entire article, just as it does in these first points.
KHA comparison - "If you perform a search on a remedy [in Encyclopedia Homeopathica], the results come up so that you can see all the books in which the remedy appears but to "jump" between them is a VERY laborious job."
Truth - to navigate through the results of any remedy search that you perform in Encyclopedia Homeopathica, simply click the remedy name in the Analysis Window to take you to the results for that remedy. Then use the Control key plus the 'Down' arrow to go to the next result, or Control and the 'Up' arrow to see a previous result. This is an intuitive process and actually much faster than solely using the mouse. To read the results in a different book, just click on its title, or hit the forward slash "/" key and the first few letters of the title you wish to see. The whole procedure takes just a few seconds and is simple and obvious.
KHA comparison - "The graphics of the program are very poor. There are only two types of graphs: a bar graph, where the remedy is shown as per hits in the search, and a two dimensional pie graph, which shows many divisions, with the % they scored in the search. The pie graphs are not clear nor easy; it takes 8 clicks to find the Liliaceae family (and this only when you know where to look for it...)."
Truth - Our focus has not been on graphics, pretty pictures or homeopathically useless but visually appealing images. Through our immense coding efforts, we have worked to make the historical and contemporary treasures of our homeopathic literature accessible in a way that has never been possible before. The analysis graph we do use is completely functional and has the added advantage of separating the symptoms of each of the remedies into a distinct color, an essential feature not found in other programs. The pie graph does have limitations, but this is a moot (not relevant) point since it had been supplanted with the new Families Selection Window, which provides complete information on taxonomical, miasmatic and relationship of remedies groupings. In our program it is possible to see the exact taxonomical hierarchy of our homeopathic remedies in their entirety, which makes locating any family level extremely easy.
KHA comparison - "Families don't appear to follow the better known systems. Some plants fall into several families?"
Truth - Encyclopedia Homeopathica currently utilizes the most modern botanical taxonomic systems including the foremost three - Cronquist, Dahlgren, and APG (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group). Placement of a plant in a family reflects a scholarly understanding of the sophisticated complexities of taxonomy. For a for complete description of Dr. Will Taylor's groundbreaking work for the Encyclopedia Homeopathica families database, please visit his on-line article at:
http://www.wholehealthnow.com/homeopathy_pro/wt15.html
KHA comparison - "EH can not display several windows simultaneously; every function is a different screen so that there is no possibility to see the books at the same time as the analysis graph."

Truth - A user can open Encyclopedia Homeopathica more than once giving them tremendous flexibility in terms of window placement, size, and information displayed.

KHA comparison - "Although it is possible to limit results to a specific author or book, it is very very laborious (especially if the author's name begins with a letter late in the alphabet)."

Truth - It is very easy to limit results to an author(s) or book(s). Simply type in the code for the specific source you want to search and begin your search. The results you get will be limited to only what you want to see. You can also type in the first few letter of any author name and go immediately to that title. You can also manually select any number of titles and save that group for a later search, or search through existing groupings such as History, Journals, Clinical Information, Materia Medica, Provings, Repertories, Philosophy, or information up to a certain date in our homeopathic history.

KHA comparison - "The option to search for a rubric from the repertory program is not there in Radar-EH."

Truth - Not only is this totally incorrect, but with RADAR and Encyclopedia Homeopathica a user can search for multiple rubrics from their repertorization in Encyclopedia Homeopathica and produce a comparable analysis graph that allows the user to compare the top remedies from their repertorization directly in the materia medica texts. This feature permits the homeopath to perform the most fundamental activity in the process of finding the best remedy for the patient in a powerful and easy manner. We find it interesting that the KHA article states we do not have this capability since we feel it is one of the strengths of our software.

KHA comparison - "Library includes many pamphlets."

Truth - Encyclopedia Homeopahtica encompasses over 616 volumes of homeopathic information with more materials being added all the time. Some sources are small, most are large. In any case, it is not the size of a book that determines its usefulness for homeopathic practice and study, but the quality of the information within. The first edition of the Organon was published in pamphlet form. One very important difference in the materials of Encyclopedia Homeopathica is that the information is presented just like it would be in the printed form. This means you can read the introduction to the Organon and the Preamble to Materia Medica Pura or the entire Organon Journal from beginning to end, as opposed to a selection of articles that are presented out of context.

Finally we would like to address the KHA article's discussion of the number of search results in Encyclopedia Homeopathica for the word 'cockroach'. The KHA comparison claims that searching for that word in Encyclopedia Homeopathic brings up 51 results, whereas in truth, a search for that word in the most recent English database actually produces 131 results. And, this does not take into consideration that we have numerous titles in German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.

We could go on and on. Actually, very little of the KHA comparison is correct. We are concerned that such a blatant attempt to misinform the homeopathic community has been attempted without concern for fairness and honesty. Of course an argument could be made that the author and distributor of the KHA comparison was not aware that they were reviewing a three-year-old outdated version of our program. However, this seems unlikely in light of the fact that we have been taking out full page ads in Homeopathy Today and Simillimum for the past 6 months advertising EH 2.0, and promoting it through our website for even longer than that. Even if this was an oversight, it is irresponsible to distribute this type of information without checking it carefully. The comparison does mention that six RADAR users were consulted for accuracy. We would like to know which version of our software they were using.
In closing, we hope you understand why we felt the need to respond to KHA's misleading comparison. Just like you, we would rather focus our energy and resources into promoting and growing homeopathy. We will continue to strive to provide the homeopathic community with the best homeopathic software, service and support available. Thank you again for all of your support.
Best wishes for a great year,
Kim Elia

Rheinhard Rose

Rene Otter

Phil Edmonds

Dale Emerson

Frederik Schroyens
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