David le Page
Product: HYPERHEALTH: CD-ROM database on health and aliments supplied by Hyperhealth/ Protech Systems Requirements: Windows 3.1/95/98, 4Mb RAM, CD-ROM drive
Surfing the Internet can give insight into what poor quality badly packaged information looks like, and what poor quality over- packaged information looks like. The Hyperhealth CD-ROM database is high-quality information that is inexcusably badly packaged.
At start-up, “Hyperhealth!” screams from the monitor. “Twenty thousand ways to: live longer, think clearer, feel better, prevent disease, retard aging.” The words are arranged around two graphics – a woman in a leotard and a bodybuilder – in a style reminiscent of those sophisticated 1980s computer graphics, but without any stylish retro design intentions. The introduction is amateur, ugly and out of date.
Pressing on I found a surprisingly rich and complex medical and biological database, searchable through broader topics such as the human body, toxins, orthodox medicine and complementary therapies. In fact, the database seems to cover everything we do – smoke, breathe, snort and suffer.
Recreational drugs are covered in detail and with great objectivity, and the sections on male sexual ailments were everything I had hoped for.
Given the quality of information, it is inexcusable that so little thought has gone into the presentation. I am not asking for more colour or more pictures, of which there are none besides Leotard Lady and Muscle Boy.
It has not been carefully indexed – the contents list contains references to previously unheard of health topics such as “above mentioned”, “about” and “above”.
If you are besieged by a list of ailments that medical specialists cannot deal with, or simply prefer the DIY approach to health, this may be an essential purchase. Otherwise, do not expect too much from this excellent but ill-formatted resource.