Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Interactive Workshop

A REMARKABLE PROGRAM

A Review of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Interactive Workshop

by Ron Enderland

When a man decides to take up the art of critiquing, he sets certain ground rules for

himself. In my case, I decided that I would never, under any circumstances, give

out a five star review. “Surely,” I thought to myself, “I can find some sort of fault with

anything!”

Well, friends, may I present the first perfect product that I’ve ever reviewed. “Men Are

from Mars, Women Are from Venus” Interactive Workshop, henceforth known as M/V, is

a flawless offering.

Where do I begin? Let’s start with the program interface. The AVI movies ran silky smooth

on my 486slc2-66 with Windows 95, 8 meg of RAM, and a quad-speed CD-ROM.

In addition, the program is laid out simply enough that computing novices can find their

way around with no problems whatsoever. This allows all to concentrate instead on the

message presented: Men and women are fundamentally different, here’s how to get along.

Included are some looks at relationships portrayed in old Hollywood movies, video clips of

Dr. John Gray’s lectures, and the complete text of the book “Men Are from Mars, Women

Are from Venus.”

Gray’s message is clear, concise, easy to understand, and it makes sense.

The user is prompted into taking a personality analysis in the form of a few questions. This

may be completed by the man and woman separately, or together as a couple. When your

analysis is finished, you are given a selection of scenarios to view. Each scenario presents a likely problem area in your relationship, the wrong way to handle it, a better way to handle it, and various other options to consider.

The scenarios are presented in the form of movies and sound clips. You view a couple

named Michael and Megan, a typical middle-class dual-career husband and wife. They

don’t look like my wife and me, but oh! How familiar the confrontations in which they

often find themselves!

For instance, Megan gets mad at Michael one evening because she is describing a problem she had at work that day, and he is wanting to offer an instant solution. “A Better Way” describes what Megan really wants: Michael’s sympathetic, listening,

nonjudgemental ear.

M/V is even an improvement on the excellent book on which it is based. The book stayed

on the New York Times best seller list for weeks on end, and for good reason. The

improvements that Dr. Gray suggests don’t take the man’s or the woman’s side, they are

simply sensible compromises that work.

The advantage to the interactive program is that seeing the solutions implemented makes a

much stronger impression on you than simply reading about them. The images are set more permanently in your mind, where you can apply what you’ve learned to your daily life.

I heartily recommend this marvelous program to the happily married, to couples having

manageable problems, and to those contemplating splitting up. It will save some marriages, it will strengthen others. It definitely won’t do any harm.

Multimedia Cafe Scorecard

Product:	Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Interactive Workshop
Company:	Multicom Publishing 1100 Olive Way, Ste. 1250 Seattle, WA 98101 1-800-850-7272 http://www.multicom.com
Cost:	$49.95

System Requirements:

PC or compatible running Windows:
386/33 processor (486 recommended)
4 MB RAM required (8 MB recommended)
Video for Windows 1.1d or later
640 x 480 SVGA monitor, 256 colors
Double speed CD-ROM drive
DOS 6.0 (DOS 6.2 recommended)
Windows 3.1 or greater
Sound Blaster or Sound Blaster-compatible sound card recommended

Macintosh:
Macintosh with 25 MHz 68030 or better processor
System 7 or higher
4 MB RAM (8MB or higher recommended)
13″ 256 color monitor
Double-speed Macintosh-compatible CD-ROM drive
with appropriate drivers.
Keyboard and a Macintosh-compatible mouse

Breakdown:

Entertainment Value 5
Educational Value 5
Concept 5
Depth 5
Interface 5

Overall Score: