One application that I caught in my net looked interesting, but didn't really fit into the shoot-out. Traveler 1.6, shareware by Bill Ezell, available from http://www.mv.com/users/wje/pilot.html, is aimed at international travelers who need to convert currencies and time zones. While you can easily set it up to calculate tips, it isn't really intended for that, and has a number of rough edges.

Another application that doesn't quite fit is Go Dutch! 0.5, a freeware application by Shuji Fukumoto. This application addresses Japanese dining situations, where tipping isn't an issue (you rarely tip in Japan) but does have clever help for splitting the bill among the diners and collecting the money. I've included it in the survey anyhow, since it is an innovative contrast.

The PalmPilot's built-in calculator
Like I said, calculating tips isn't rocket science. If you can calculate tips in your head, that's probably the cheapest, simplest way. Or, you can take advantage of the PalmPilot organizer's built-in calculator. This can compute the tip amount for you. What it won't do is:

• Subtract out the tax, if you are given only a total including tax;

• Round off the amount

• Help you easily experiment with different tip levels

So, now we know what we're looking for, on with the show!

TipMaster
Tip Master 1.5 is a US$7 shareware application by Andy Sackheim. It provides a single, clear display, which shows the tax, the tip, and the running totals. You can see this display in Figure A. This figure is a little out of date, since the most recent version has convenient up and down arrows for rounding off the total. As you adjust the total, the tip amount and percentage follow. Finally, you can enter in a number of persons, and see total divide evenly among that number. It's not clear why the number of persons has a decimal point, since the digits after the decimal appear to be ignored. There isn't a way to adjust what individuals pay; it's one rate for everyone.

FIGURE A

TipMaster provides a clear and easy-to-understand display.

Unfortunately, TipMaster appears oblivious to currency and number formatting preferences. Even if you want to see BF 123,45, TipMaster will show you $123.45.

TipMaster arrives as a .ZIP archive with the application and a simple but clear text file of instructions. Instructions are also available from a menu, but they aren't quite up-to-date and have some awkward formatting. However, the documentation is quite sufficient for such a straight-forward application. The documentation and the application are available only in English.

Quick Tip
QuickTip 1.0 is a $7 shareware application by Brad Cleveland. It's support for global diners is outstanding; it displays the currency and number formatting right as specified in the preferences. I was impressed to see my 123,45 Belgian Francs listed flawlessly.

It provides solid computation of tax and tip. There are two displays. In Figure B, you can see how the main display is laid out. There are little menus which let you see and enter the meal total with or without tax, and either the tax rate or amount. There is an alternate display which shows you all fields at once, at the cost of a little more crowding and the loss of the title bar at the top of the screen. Even though you can switch back and forth easily, I found this dual display a little confusing.