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This article discusses the innovative applications created over the years by great designers. One example is Agenda from Lotus. This personal information manager offered a dazzling array of flexible features and views. Lotus also created Improv, a next-generation spreadsheet. Introduced as a showcase piece of software for NeXT platform, it was as different from anything that had come before it as spreadsheets were from paper ledgers. The author then relates how today's programs are either too simplistic in functionality or too arcane for people. He relates his boredom for the complex hardware and software and emphasizes the need for innovation.

The article reports that Bea Systems Inc. has launched the AquaLogic Interaction Process computer software in the U.S. The updated tool allows multiple people to use and manage documents and project information through portals. Red Bank vice president of software development Andrew Reid plans to use the updated Bea tool to automate the paper-based-processes for granting user access to restricted applications and data. The new tool will create the company electronic records. It also allows business analysts to model and design a business process and to designate the roles for participants.