The best of Europe.

Who creates the best European software? Earlier this year, we teamed up with Ziff-Davis Europe to help showcase little-known "best of breed" European products. The Ziff-Davis European Software Excellence Awards attracted 192 nominations, which the judges--senior technical editors from Ziff's French, German, and U.K. magazines--whittled down to 60 finalists and 15 category winners.

Somewhat to our surprise, most of this year's winners (who will collect their trophies during the SPA Conference in Cannes, France) turned out to be American companies (or European republishers) that nominated localized versions of U.S. products. That's dramatic evidence of how effectively U.S. developers have penetrated the European market, despite cultural and 1ogistical obstacles. At the same time, however, it's worth

_ noting that a respectable number of European products managed to win awards head-to-head against the best U.S. titles. (The distinction between U.S. and European software isn't always obvious; for example, several winners--including Superbase 4, Omnis 7, and Timeworks Publisher--were originally developed in Europe and later acquired by U.S. publishers.)

Anyway, here are this year's winners:

Grand Award for Technical Excellence: .DR DOS 6.0 (Novell Desktop Systems) Finalists: .DOL (CCP Software Grabil, Germany); .Automator for Windows (Direct Technology, U.K.); .Fox Pro 2.0 (Fox Software); .Visual Basic (Microsoft}; .QEMM 386 (Quarterdeck}

Grand Award for Design Excellence: .GeoWorks Ensemble (GeoWorks) Finalists: .Quattro Pro 4.0 (Borland); .Ami Pro (Lotus); .Windows Draw (Micrografx); .Word for Windows  (Microsoft); -Norton Utilities (Symantec}

Best Consumer Product: .Autoroute Express (NextBase, U.K.) Finalists: .Total Chess with Fritz (Boeder AG, Germany); .GeoWorks Ensemble (GeoWorks); .myHouse (RAIR Computer, Hungary); .Symantec Game Pak (Symantec)

Best Education Product: -Mathcad 3.1 (MathSoft) Finalists: .PC Mensch (M&T Software Partners, Germany); .TINA  (RAIR Computer, Hungary)

Best Communications Product: -LapLink Pro (Traveling Software) Finalists: -BitFax for Windows (Bit Software); .WinLink (East Coast Software, | Ireland); .cc:Mail (Lotus); .Carbon Copy for Windows (Microcom); .Major BBS

Best Network & Workgroup Product: .Lotus Notes (Lotus) Finalists: -Packrat (DAT Informationssysteme, Germany); -Lansmart (D/Link Systems, Taiwan); .cc:Mail (Lotus); .WordPerfect Office (WordPerfect); -Quetzal (Workgroup Systems Ltd., U.K.)

Best Utilities Product: .Norton Utilities 6.0 (Symantec) Finalists: .PC Tools 7.1 (Central Point Software); .LapLink Pro (M&T Software Partners, Germany); .QEMM 386 (Quarterdeck); .Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit (S&S International Ltd., U.K.), .XTree Gold 2.5 (XTree Company)

Best Environment Product: .Windows 3.1 (Microsoft) Finaljets: .GeoWorks Ensemble (GeoWorks); .PFS:Window Works (Frame Informatique, France); -DOS 5.0 (Microsoft); .N/JOY (Vienna Software, Austria)

Best Publishing Product: .Timeworks Publisher 2 (GST Software Products, U.K.) Finalists: .Publisher for Windows 4.0 (Microsoft); .Page Plus (Serif Europe Ltd., U.K.); .Ventura Publisher 4.0 for Windows (Ventura)

Best Presentation & Graphics Product: .Micrografx Designer 3.1 (Micrografx) Finaljets: -Aldus FreeHand 3.1 PC (Aldus); -Animator Pro (Autodesk); .Freelance Graphics 4.0 (Lotus); Renderstar (Modern Medium B.V., Netherlands); *Harvard Graphics for Windows (Software Publishing Corp.)

Best Text Management Product: -Ami Pro (Lotus) Finalists: -Adobe Type Manager 2.0 (Adobe); . Facelift (Bitstream); .Word for Windows (Microsoft); .WordPerfect for Windows (WordPerfect)

Best Data Management Product: .Fox Pro 2.0 (Fox Software) Finalists: .Paradox 3.5 (Borland); .dBase IV 1.5 (Borland); .Forest & Trees (DAT Informationssysteme, Germany); .Excel 3.0 (Microsoft); .Superbase 4 Windows (Software Publishing Corp.)

Best French Product: .Winfax (BVRP Software, France) Finalists: .Decisionnel Cartes et Bases (A.D.D.E., France); -Larousse Francais (Softissimo, France)

Best German Product: .Star Writer 6.0 (Star Division, Germany) Finalists: .Screen Machine (FAST Electronic Grabil, Germany); .Europa 3000 (Rotron Software AG, Switzerland); .Multiterm 2 (Trados Grabil, Germany)

Best U.K. Product: .WinMail (Finansa Ltd., U.K.) Finalists: -Omnis 7 (Blyth Software, U.K.}; -Designworks (GST Software Products, U.K.); .RM Net/LM (Research Machines Ltd., U.K.)