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the Beta File


Welcome back to the Beta File, your source for the latest breaking news in OS/2 beta development. Every month we scour the OS/2 world to bring you interesting news of OS/2 software in development. If you have a product that you're sure is going to be the next killer app, or you want a little free exposure for your beta test drop us a note!

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Following up on last month's Beta File, Netscape and IBM have officially commenced their public beta test of Netscape Navigator v2.02 for OS/2. As Netscape officials said last month, this is, "the most public," beta test possible -- anyone with OS/2 (Warp 3 or Warp 4) and an Internet connection (to download the code) is welcome to participate.

Late in September, IBM released the first betas of Navigator and Internet connected users of OS/2 flocked to the web site to grab a copy. Both beta 1a of Navigator itself and the Navigator Plug-in Toolkit are available for download on the site.

Those of you wondering about the chicken and the egg dilemma, don't worry, you can use WebExplorer (or any other browser) to get to the WWW site where you can download Netscape.

As promised, the betas are free for the taking and there are no plans to charge for the final release version. Expect a "final" version 2.02 of Navigator some time within the next month or so.

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Sticking with the Internet, Interdart is testing their Forms Mail and Fax software for OS/2. The Interdart Mail'nFax program will accept data from a WWW Form (or from a URL with ?arguments) and produce a formatted message for transmission by e-mail or fax. The program features extensive validation capabilities, and will send HTML formatted error replies to the client, including the capability of parsing the input data back into the form, ready for re-submission.

Mail messages can be queued for transmission through an SMTP mail exchanger (sendmail) or through FaxWorks Pro. Or, an alternative option available is to pass the formatted message to a REXX script for further processing, bypassing the mailing process altogether. The program is driven through templates which define the validation rules, error message, mail message and reply message formats.

The Mail'nFax program can be accessed from any OS/2 cgi compliant web server, using a REXX cgi interface program (supplied). It does not have to reside on the same machine as the web server, and one instance of the program may be used simultaneously by many servers.

The current version and documentation can be viewed on Interdart's web site. The Mail'nFax program is running live on a number of sites, including:

http://gazetteer.interdart.co.uk/subscrib.htm
http://clemchur-bmihealth.co.uk/noframes/fixquote.htm
http://www.ip7.co.uk/edme/comments.htm

The Mail'nFax software has been live for nearly 12 months. This latest version adds fax capability, and has been being tested for two months now. There are currently about twenty beta testers and the beta will remain open until the final version is produced -- just grab the code from the web site above and get going. Intended availability for "Version 2" Mail'nFax is Mid October 1997 and the price will be from 30 British pounds (US$45) to 100 British pounds (US$150) depending on size of implementation.

The product will be shipped as time limited shareware, with 90 days from installation for evaluation.

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Moving on, Software Technologies has begun testing its new software, MultiNote. MultiNote is a text/document manager. It is meant to be useful for collecting all your unrelated (or related) texts in a single place. Each text is placed in a page in a notebook and has a title attached. Full drag/drop import/export and fonts/size settings are available through standard OS/2 actions.

The public beta started late in August, but the product has been used internally at Software Technologies by three people for more than two years. The beta is free for download from the company's web site and will also be available on Hobbes. To become a registered beta tester refer to the documentation included in the .ZIP file.

Primary developer, Martin Alfredsson, tells us the final version will be ready near the end of this year, but Software Technologies will decide a date for sure when they gather all the feedback from their testers. This product will be based (as much as possible) on what users want.

The price will be around US$20 and the software will be shareware. This product is hard to describe in words so feel free to download a copy and see for yourself -- the beta is free.

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And finally this month, keeping with the "organization" theme, we have The Think Tool Personal.

At the time of this writing, Peter Martin and Robert Blake, founders of an OS/2 specific software company, Phoenix Software, had just wrapped up testing this package that they are calling a Personal Information Manager PLUS (PIM+). To some degree The Think Tool Personal cuts across traditional product boundaries to integrate a PIM product, a database product, and a communications product.

The Think Tool Personal has all of the typical features of a PIM such as a calendar, planner, contact list, etc., but also has the following features: completely user configurable interface, sound and image multimedia capability, an object oriented database, fax and e-mail connectivity, security features at the object and database levels, interoperability with IBM Works, and drag and drop support.

Presently, no WWW site is available but one should be up within the next few months. The beta test consisted of 20 testers over a period of two months and Phoenix Software is not currently seeking any more beta testers. However, the company is interested in any questions, comments, suggestions, or feedback that people might have -- please feel free to contact them with the link above.

The developers have promised a firm ship date of November 1. The MSRP of this commercial product at release time will be US$197.00, and the street price is expected to be around US$160.00.

The Think Tool Personal does not take advantage of Warp 4.0's voice navigation, dictation and other upgrades, but the next version (to be available in less than a year) most certainly will. The Think Tool Personal is not network enabled, but again, within a year the company will make available the Think Tool Groupware which will be. The Think Tool Personal requires a minimum of 12MB of RAM, with 16 or more MB recommended. It also requires 30MB of hard disk space (25 for the product and 5 or more for the contents of the database).

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