Let the installations begin! 
Now please, don’t think you’re blind if you can’t find installation requirements on the box, because they don’t exist. All the box reads is “requires Windows 95/98, 2000, NT4, XP” – a very broad requirement which doesn’t address system capability requirements. I finally found some decent system requirements, they were in the Houdini help file. To install Instant Architect, you’ll need a minimum 486DX or Pentium class processor, 16Mb RAM, 18 Mb hard disk space, a 256 color SVGA video card @ 800x600 resolution, and one of the previously stated Operating Systems. Instant CAD symbols and Instant Estimator didn’t state any further system requirements. Instant Architect and Instant Estimator’s installs were quick, easy, and included customizable options. Instant CAD Symbols broke this pattern. Its install did not allow for choice of symbols to install, so the full operation took 11 minutes, ZzZzZz.

Instant Architect – Who said this is easy?
Instant Architect is advertised as an easy to use architectural program. Really it is a 2-D CAD program with a few adjustments added. You can draw lines, arcs, circles, polygons, and text fairly easily. Colors, patterns and fonts can enhance your drawings. For the “Architectural” part of the program there is a double line drawing mode, tool for drawing doors/windows, and a symbol browser. Unfortunately, designing full houses and buildings in Instant Architect takes a lot of time; it’s easier to fly a plane than to use this software! One of the time consuming flaws of this program is its inability to deal with uncertainty.  For example, If you place a door in a wall and then decide to move it, you must manually delete a new portion of the wall for the door and draw a new line over the existing spot where the door was. This is unlike other home architect programs which do this automatically. Whoever said change isn’t easy must have been talking about this software. Also, you should get your glasses checked before using the program because it is blessed with the power to garble your drawing after you’ve spent hours working on it. I found this program’s help file thorough but hard to navigate, making it harder to find answers. What we have here is a failure to communicate! Bottom line: If you need an inexpensive 2-D CAD program, this has it all, but if you want an easy, user friendly, full – out architect program, try a 3D Architect title (such as from Broderbund or Sierra). The little bit of extra money is better spent on a product that can translate your 2-D masterpieces into 3-D models. If you’re brave, Instant Architect sells individually for $19.99 at CompUSA despite the manufacturer’s $79.99 suggested retail price.

Instant CAD Symbols – A great collection.
Instant CAD Symbols is a collection of 1000 scalable 2-D and 3-D symbols. These symbols come in the three CAD formats *.CD, *.DXF, *.DWG. Although this program takes time to install, it has a great symbol collection that includes Architectural, Industrial, Electrical, Business, Travel, Music, and many other symbols including a full group of 3-D symbols. These symbols can be previewed in Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer and then can be opened through a CAD program or from their install folder. 

Instant Estimator – Pass the bug spray.
Instant Estimator is based on a simple idea: To make and print a list of parts and their costs, labor charge, quantity, and markup and send it to your contractor or customer in the form of a bid. It also includes the ability to make and print customer and construction lists. Now take that simple idea and blow prices out of proportion, and insert little script errors into it and you’ve created Instant Estimator. Instant Estimator’s biggest flaw is its inability to prevent itself from being thrown into a loop. I was trapped in this loop when I deleted all the customers from the default customer list. Now every time I start the program and switch to either the Customer or Construction list, The program displays a script error and exits. This bug cannot be fixed except to re-install the application…and I thought mosquitoes were annoying. 

I couldn’t find Instant Architect Suite in stores or on Upperspace’s Web site, but Instant Architect is available separately. Instant Architect Suite isn’t something I’d recommend unless you are skilled at using and enjoy using CAD-related programs. I personally wouldn’t spend money for this software given the difficulties I encountered. The difficulties were encountered on a reliable 450Mhz AMD K6-2 based computer system that outperformed the minimum software requirements, but these results might not be typical on all computers. 

Upperspace
600 SE 49th street
Pryor, OK 74361 
(800) 233-3223