Computer buffs have thousands of exotic software packages to choose from, but most of them still use their machines largely for five basic tasks: writing, calculating, drawing graphs, organizing data and sending messages over telephone lines. Until recently, the biggest news in software was the arrival of programs like Ashton-Tate's Framework or Lotus' Symphony and Jazz that can do all five jobs at once. Now, however, programs designed for quite different uses have begun to catch on. Among them:
ELECTRONIC ART. MacPaint, which works on the Apple Macintosh, seems to have opened up a new artistic world on personal computers. Using...