[Judy Cook is an accredited American Orchid Society judge. She lives in Gunter, Texas.]

“ORCHID WIZ ORCHID ENCYCLOPEDIA - WIZ indeed – it has taken quite a WIZARD to create this program. I have been using most of the orchid database programs that have come out over the last 10 years, and there IS nothing, HAS BEEN nothing, to compare to this program. It was developed by a person with a tremendous experience in the utilization of computer software on a global scale, who has now turned his skills to his newest passion – orchids – and has taken orchid programs through a ‘quantum leap’ to create a program that almost exceeds the ability of adjectives to describe it.

This program so far exceeds prior programs that it is almost unbelievable. Think of what you would want in orchid research -- - and the only thing this program really lacks is a total tie in with the awards photo library of the AOS, RHS and other awards groups. This program is an incredible contribution to the International Orchid Community!!! It is incredible that someone so new to Orchids could do so much so quickly – to incorporate so much material in so short a time – but what is truly amazing is the database manipulation he has incorporated to allow extraction of so much really useful data with such incredible ease.

For anyone with a serious interest in orchids, especially judges and hybridizers, this is THE MUST HAVE PROGRAM. It lists, in true encyclopedic fashion, pretty much all the orchids out there, and cites something like 1,368 reference sources which are tied to specific plants, their descriptions and/or their photos. (OK, a lot of those are AQ’s, but that still leaves a lot of other references, many of which are pretty esoteric.)

If you have a species at the judging table, you can enter its name, and if it has 10 other names, they will all be listed, the current ‘appropriate name’ will be listed prominently, and the awards can be accessed with rapid ease. Want to know where it came from, how it grows, when it blooms? Want to see its progeny???? Just another quick few keystrokes - and you can list even the 23,000+ offspring of C dowiana!!!

Want to know where pictures of it are located in the literature? - Easy to research. Want pictures – a good chance some will be available, and that part of the program is growing. Want to look up awards – things have never been easier – it will give awards and descriptions – and then you can get all the comparison data in table format – again with rapidity and ease. AAAANNNDDDD you can adjust it as you please – sort by date, size, and score. Researching plants for awards has never been easier!!! Every time I use this program I find more wonderful features.

Just to be fair, let me list the negatives about this program. It does not contain pictures of EVERYTHING - YET! It does not have access to the AOS (or other award organizations) database of award photos or paintings, although between his own photography and the contributions gleaned from others it is off to a wonderful start. It doesn’t list the file numbers for the AOS award photos; It doesn’t compare in columnar form the number of flowers on each award (this is in progress) It hasn’t gone out in the jungle and identified plants on its own and named new species!!!!!!

I am not one to ‘gush’ over much of anything, but this program is a database dream come true - done by someone with true mastery of how to take this kind of program and make it sing and dance. I have listened to discussions for years of what can and can’t be done and why, and what many of us would like done – and this program pretty much exceeds all of it, and its developer is a creative person open to helping integrate it with other programs that will make it all more beneficial for all of us.

Just as a stand alone program, with nothing extra added – this is the most incredible orchid program out there - and the price is even reasonable!! I have the greatest respect for all the programs that preceded this one. I have used most of them and wished they would do much more than they did, but they were wonderful, pioneering efforts that were a great start toward getting things into the digital age. But the Mega leaps taken with this program are about like comparing my musical skills with those of Beethoven (i.e., there is no comparison).

This is truly an orchid ENCYCLOPEDIA – not just an awards listing or compilation of a few photos – and it wonderfully credits all the other resources from which it has drawn so comprehensively. It is an encyclopedia that is PRACTICAL, COMPREHENSIVE and EASY TO USE. It makes Orchid Research simpler than could have even been imagined 10 years ago. I can’t wait to see what further developments will come from this very creative software developer.

Judy Cook, M.D.”