SOFT SOFTWARE SALES

Software sales increased by 8.8 percent in the second quarter of 1989, but that's far less than last year's 32-percent increase.

These figures, from the Software Publisher's Association (SPA), showed that word processors, graphics, and spreadsheets boasted healthy increases. But integrated software, desktop publishing, and entertainment sales dropped when compared with 1988 figures. There was also a wide variation between different machine formats. Macintosh software enjoyed the greatest increase with MS-DOS not far behind. Apple II and Commodore 64/128 sales were sharply down.

—RICHARD C. LEINECKER