MacWorld9906June1999

1: MACWORLD LAB TESTS 33 21-INCH MONITORS, P. 80 he pete ESSENTIAL MACINTOSH® OVER 200 PRODUCTS! S~& The USB Universe YOUR ULTIMATE GUIDE Sy Wy, —” INPUT DEVICES Ww DIGITAL CAMERAS DRIVES SCANNERS / PRINTERS ' GAME GEAR AND MUCH MORE! Y; 99 U.S./$8.99 a 70992 — www.lacie.com/mwbu.htm toCie Tope Bock-Up™ and the LaCie logo are PROTECTION. You can never be too careful when it comes to backing up your ideas. That's why LaCie Tape Back-Up has a wide range of sizes, speeds and formats. Each will protect your ideas from hazards like crashes, viruses and production interns. LACIE | Mode for ideas. 2 JUNE gt see Features Cover Story USB from A to Z Got a new Mac crying out for peripherals and accessories? Find nearly every USB product under the sun in Macworld’s comprehen- sive directory. 68 TES 80 Think Big ui BY STEPHEN BEALE AND MICHAEL Gowan If your current moni- tor is cramping your style, it’s time to go bigger. Macworld Lab tested 33 nice and roomy 21-inch monitors for general users and graphics pros to help you get more eyeball space. 89 The Macworld Web Merchant's Companion 8Y TOMNEGRINO Soyouwant to make a fortune on the Internet? Before you hang out your e-shingle nd navigate the untamed road of e-commerce, learn the do’s and don'ts from our expert guide. Whether you're a spreadsheet jockey or 1 prepress pro, we've found a big monitor for you, page 80. ON THE COVER Photograph by Kevin Canthand: digital imaging by Stephen Suge June 1999 MACWORLD GWOr Incorporating MacUser ‘Command Photoshop's masking tools like an expert, page 107. Create Workflow 103 Don't Sabotage Your Professional Print Job Learn p your service bureau project from tanking. Graphics 107 Master Photoshop's Masking Tools BY DAVID BLATNER Become an expert user of Photoshop’s powerful digital masking tape. Graphics 112 Turn Snapshots into Art ey JANET ASHFORD Mak beautiful illustrations with just a few found photos. Developers are plugging into Adobe's new InDesign software, page 28. News 27 Apple's Open Source Gambit Apple once again surprises the computer industry by releasing the source code for key parts of Mac OS rver. 28 Plugging Into InDesign Plug-in developers add potent capabilities to Adobe's new page- layout software. 29 Welcome Back, Canon After a two-year hiatus, Canon is back in the Mac market with a new ink-jet printer. 30 Product Watch New products for your Mac, including Adobe Acrobat plug. and an upgrade to Linker Sys tems’ Animation Stand Pro 4.0. 30 Color Management for the Masses New software makes it easier than ever to create profiles for scan- ners, printers, and displays. Opinion 17 Letters 23 The Vision Thing BY ANDREW GoRE The search for Sherlock, Apple’s Internet sleuth. 63 The Game Room BY CHRISTOPHER BREEN How orite games. to cheat at your 180 The Desktop Critic Numbers lie—and that’s the truth. BY DAVID POGUE 10 How to Contact Macworld ‘The new Palm V means the Mac finally has a truly usable handheld organizer, page 34. Secrets 97 Common Problems, Affordable Fixes BY TED LANDAU vare to straighten out the in your Mac. 99 Quick Tips ey Lon PooLe ‘Tips, tricks, and shortcuts. ‘Make nice with your service bureau, page 103. 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 40 41 41 45 47 49 50 52 54 56 58 60 Reviews 88% 3Com/Palm Computing Palm V Handheld personal organizer 89% MacPac2 Palm-compatible desktop PIM 8880% form-z 3.0.2 3-D modeling and rendering software $$ Aatrix Accounting 3.0; $988 ~M.Y.0.B. Accounting Plus 8.0 Small-business accounting software $988 Epson Stylus Color 900 Ink-jet printer $¢¢% FastTrack Schedule 6.01; $988 Job Manager 1.5; $48% JobOrder 7.02 Job-management software $%%¢ Epson Expression 800 Color flatbed scanner 988% ImageAXS Pro 4.0 Image database $86% PC MacLAN 7.2 for Windows 95/98 PC-to-Mac networking software $888 Olympus P-330 Snapshot printer $8%% PhotoScripter 1.0 Scripting tool for Photoshop $984 VectorWorks 1.0 CAD software $896 Unity Ds-1 Software-based digital sampler $89 LaCie electron24 24-inch monitor $8%% Action GoMac 2.0 Navigating and launching utility $8 VSE HTML Turbo 2.0 Web-page optimizer 889% Printdesk 2.5 Print server software $$ Umax Technologies UGate I! Internet-access server $9%$ BrainForest Professional 1.0 Outline and project-management tool www.macworld.com June 1999 3 BUY YOUR MAC FROM APPLE BUY YOUR PRINTER DIRECT FROM GCC. p= — antes H ERE’S WHY. oe We're GCC Technologies, and our printers are sold direct against some of the most famous names in the computer industry. This creates a buying opportunity for those who understand a basic principle of free enterprise: Selling direct is better for the manufacturer and buying direct is better for the customer. Therefore, we sell our printers direct, eliminating many prosperous middlemen, and lowering your costs. We also provide direct technical support, eliminating other middlemen who can’t solve your problems. And we are compassionate hand-holders. We offer unlimited free technical support, not just on business days, but on Saturdays too - throughout the one-year warranty period. If during that period you have a problem that our technical support people can’t solve, our Platinum Exchange program guarantees you a replacement printer by the next business day. We invite you to buy your next printer direct from GCC and join our growing family of satisfied customers. All GCC printers come with an unconditional thirty-day money-back guarantee. For complete details, call the 800 number below. And, for the record, yes, our printers have wonderful technology too. It’s just that you don’t have to pay extra for it. ELITE 12 |: Series ELITE XL 20 Series [ ELITE XL 8 Series 12¢ pages per minute 20 pages per minute 8 pages per minute Maximum Print Area: 8.5" x 14" Maximum Print Area: 12.6" x 35.1" Maximum Print Area: 11" x 17" Letter/A4, legal, envelope letter/A4, tabloid/A3, legal, envelope, poster _Letter/A4, tabloid/A3, legal, envelope 250-sheet Universal Tray 500-sheet Universal Tray 250-sheet Universal Tray PostScript® Level 2 compatible, PCL 5 PostScript® Level 2 compatible, PCL 5 PostScript® Level 2 compatible, PCL 5 35 PostScript fonts, 15 PCL fonts, 35 PostScript fonts, 15 PCL fonts, 35 PostScript fonts, 15 PCL fonts, 45 downloadable fonts 250 downloadable fonts 45 downloadable fonts RAM expandable to 64 MB RAM expandable to 64 MB RAM expandable to 64 MB Ist year Platinum Exchange Warranty Ist year Platinum Exchange Warranty Ist year Platinum Exchange Warranty EtherTalk®, Localfalk®, TCP/IP EtherTalk”, LocalTalk®, NetWare”, TCP/IP EtherTalk®, LocalTalk®, TCP/IP Ethernet (10 Baset), Bi-directional Parallel Ethernet (10 BaseT, AAUI), Bi-directional Parallel Ethernet (10 BaseT,10 Base2), Parallel 2nd Paper Feeder* 2nd or 3rd Paper Feeder* 2nd Paper Feeder* (Includes 500-sheet Universal Tray) Add $299 (Includes 500-sheet Universal Tray) Add $299 Includes 250-sheet Universal Tray) Add $319 (Includes 500-sheet Leter/A4 Tray) Add $419 ELITE 12/600 $999 ELITE XL 20/600 $1799 ELITE XL608LcC $1399 600 x 600 dpi resolution 600 x 600 dpi resolution 600 x 600 dpi resolution 8 MB RAM expandable to 64 MB 16 MB RAM expandable to 64 MB 8 MB RAM expandable to 64 MB 2nd year Platinum Exchange Add $ 99 2nd year Platinum Exchange Add $179 2nd year Platinum Exchange Add $139 Business Lease $50 Month/24 months** Business Lease $63 Month/36 months** Business Lease $50 Month/36 months** ELITE 1212 $1199 Evite xL 20/800 $1999 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution 800 x 800 dpi resolution 16 MB RAM expandable to 64 MB 24 MB RAM expandable to 64 MB “The Elite 12/600, Elite 1212, and the Elite XL 608 LC 2nd year Platinum Exchange Add $119 — 2ndyear Platinum Exchange Add $199 gidione paper lode spor no osston ey ang Se Business Lease $59 Month/24 months** —_ Business Lease $69 Month/36 months** _ by independant leasing companies to qualified customers. Lease payments based on 24'month and 34-month terms, Lease forms subject to change without notice or cbligation, ELITE XL 20/1200 $2199 *" jes iso iad trademark of GCC Technologias, Ine. 1200 x 1200 dpi feouaion Be ie, Ee 1212 Ei 1.408 16 Ele XL 20/600, Bite XL 64 MB RAM installe ‘ond the Elite cre trademarks o 2nd yeor Platinum Exchange Add $219 atin Aloe vedere oy egured rodenoks Business Lease $76 Month/36 months** To order call 1-800-422-7777, or visit our web site, www.gcctech.com Choose 43 at www.macworld.com/getinfo ‘6 NTHROCARTS June 1999 Take Control of Your Space! Configure your AnthroCart to fit your space and hardware. We'll be happy to work with you so you have just the right solution. Call us! LIFETIME WARRANTY * DOZENS OF SHAPES AND SIZES * OVER 75 ACCESSORIES * TOUGH AS NAILS CALL FOR A FREE CATALOG! 800-325-3841 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM PST, M-F ANTHRO CORPORATION® TECHNOLOGY FURNITURE® & TUALATIN, OR 97062 r © FAX: 800-325-0045 | ANTHRO JAPAN: 03 (TOKYO)-3947-2735 www.anthro.com Lifetime Warranty. Dozens of shapes and sizes, over 75 accessories. Since 1984. Prices from $299. GSA contract. Available for OEM applications. MACWORLD ‘Macworld DITOR W CHIEF Andrew Gore EDITORIAL roirox Michael Penwarden, ston torron/news ano eviews Stephen Beale SEMIOR COITOR/DEPARTMENTS Naney Peterson Semon LOITORIFEATURES Jason Snell SENIOR ASSOCIATE (O1TORS, Allyson Bates, Linda Comer, Scholle Sawyer ASSOCIATE (OITOR Brooke C. Wheeler ASSISTANT COLTORS Michael Gowan, Jonathan Seff CONTRIBUTING EDITORS David Bi Fraser, Ted Landau, Deke McClelland, Rik Myslewski, ‘Tor ny, Henry Borman, Christopher Breen, Bruce Negrino, David Pogue, Lon Poole, Stephan Somogys, Franklin N. Tessler | INTERNATIONAL EDITORS | Steven Noble, Australia, Bernard Le Du, France; Andreas Borchert, Germany; Enrico Lotti, Italy; Yoshio Moriya, Japan; Tomase Bitner, Poland; Daniel de Blas Spain; Lennart | Hakansson, Swed si vl Jame, Ta an Hahattin Apak, Turkeys on Jary, United Kingdom tan enmteat okeron Jef Pictkaw Lan ointeron Kristina De Nike S08 LAN anaurTs Jetfy K. Milstead, Kevin Mitchell ASSOCIATE AaB ANALYST Gil Loyola wintoty coonowaron Ulysis Brave cory epir = awacine ro1r08 Claire H. Breen ASSISTANT MANAG¥NG tD1TOR Paul-Michael King cory cmt Jon Zobenica stwor corr toitox Flissa Rabellino ART AND DESIGN xsion omecron Eleanor Leishinan any omntcron Sylvia Chevriee ASSOCIATE OxsiCNtRS Martha Katt, Michael Rattary otsicn ASSOCIATES Jackie Goodman, Jonathan Woolson ONLINE VICE PRESIDENT. SALES, & PURLISNER Matt Sweeney intron av conttnt Matthew Rothenberg, Sth1OK ONLINE COITOR Philip W. Dyer content twcinten Jeff Cheney AsHisTANT CONTENT ENGINUUR Jessica Graves DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR ONLINE Nicholas Harvey ‘OMLINE AB PRODUCTION MANAGER Steve Spingola WYSIWYG: Video From Any Source. r.. “I 0 = cool.moy @ REC | ee Mafe7a9 Baath a = =H From Video Source... .to QuickTime Movie. What You See Is What You Get. Introducing InterView, interactive imaging for USB Macs. Makes video for your Macintosh as easy as 1-2-3. This one simple device transforms any USB enabled Mac or Power Mac G3 into a true media machine. InterView accepts video from almost any source, from a camcorder, a digital camera, a VCR, to a full-blown S-Video Satellite system. The newest version of Strata” VideoShop ensures that you'll have the tools you need to build your InterView captured video into high quality storyboards, web movies, or just about any form of visual, full motion communications. You can even create QuickTime movies that you InterView* ships with the full version of can email to Grandma or post on a webpage! Stnita’s VideoSbop, for penverfill yet For more information on the new InterView, or the MACh Speed Performance Package, visit itive video exiting ; rae sNMeOONE wow x\e8,com, oF Call 888-XLRSTOR today! Available from distributors and resellers worldwide. www.xlr8.com 1-888-XLR8TOR Py BUNTEREX® Available now. Did we mention it’s only $99? NLRS by Interex, Inc. * 8447 E. 35th St. N. * Wichita, KS 67226 * 316-636-5544 * 316-636-4639 fax ven 1990 Inerex, te (tne brana and product names ar trademarks or registered trademarks of thr respective talders 8 aN OCC amen Project Scheduling Made Easy! Tm nota project Most of my time tool thats easy, fast, and flexible FastTrack Schedule 6 01 fils the bill. t keeps me organized and in control cisplaying all my project details in rich, colorful timelines. FastTrack Schedule provides just the right amount of power because i's more sophisticated than day-planners, but easier to use and half *109 =- The presentation-quality schedules clearly illustrate project objectives and deadlines keeping team members and clients informed and up-to-date. Ina single schedule, | can outline multiple projects, make assignments, track cash flows, up dependencies— even add graphics. ‘Whether | use it ‘once a week or every day, FastTrack Schedule makes project scheduling easy. For the free Demo CD, more info, or to place an order call 800-450-1 982. z FastTrack Try it today! Download the free demo June 1999 management expert, but everyone thinks am. is spent completing tasks, so I need a scheduling the price of traditional, high-end project set- FastIrac Version 6.01 be apn Schedule Tomorrow's Success Today.” Al 4 E = Cc “A Choose 203 at www.macworld.com/getinfo MACWORLD Macworld PRESIDENT AND CLO Colin Crawtord Aswstant 10 tHE cto Sharon Sanderson ‘vate rivaNciat orrices Stephen Daniels eusiness Manacen Eos de Feminis AccouNTiNe COORDINATOR Ronda Bittner srassistant Christian Semmet DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RLSOURCES Sue Murphy HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER Marisa Chow DISPLAY ADVERTISING SALES ‘VICE PRESIDENT. SALES, & PUBLISHER Matt Sweeney ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Steve Plevin (415/243-3509) sAues a uaneerinc coomoiwaton Karla Kyrias (415/278-8542) SALES ASSISTANT Jennifer Russell (1 NATIONAL ACCOUNTS MANAGER Jessica Ross (415/243-3583) Account executive Coretta Wright (415/243-3615) NATIONAL ACCOUNTS taNAGER Sara Culley (970/327-1499) Margaret Level Green (415/2 account exteutwt 3582) castean amventisng pintcrox Cynthia Ramsey (973/243-1197) avionat accounts manacer Paul Bonarrigo (508/533-4020) account extcutive Jo Zontarelli (516/277-4134) SHOPPER ACCOUNT MANAGER Niki Stranz (415/245-3664) smorren account manacte — Carol Johnstone (415/243-3691) sworren aonisrrarive assistant Alissa Mach (315/243-3628) RESEARCH SEMOR RESEARCH ANALYST Phillip Hibbert MARKETING MARKETING MANAGER Francesca Koe ONLINE MARKETING MANAGER Kelvin Gee {TRADE SHOW/EVENTS MANAGER Naney Galanty MACWORLD GLOBAL PRODUCT SUPPORT CENTER coonoinaton Sharon Sanderson PRODUCTION Vice PRESIDENT OF MANUFACTURING Anne Foley mropuction omecto# Cynthia Neustadt MANUFACTURING TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Clayton Haberman DIGITAL AD COORDINATORS Russ Nordmeyer, Mac Seott 1D SALES COOROINATOR Rick Sandoval Unsurpassed Color Accuracy For A Wide Range Of Applications. If Your If you're fanatical about color accuracy, Mitsubishi has just what you need. SpectraView isa color calibrated display system providing the ultimate solution for a Ww | wide range of color-critical applications such as pre- On-Screen Color (Rae eies ss SPECTRA ' IE W and CAD. And, with SpectraView you can color f conference by sending files electronically between COLOR CALIBRATED DISPLAY’ SYSTEM Isn’t \ Vhat It’s remote locations for maximum efficiency and convenience. Featuring award-winning 21-inch or 17-inch L AONDTRON™ CRTs (19.7-inch and 16.0-inch DVI", respec- | on-screen color measure- Be, You Need SpectraView tively), SpectraView hieves precise color calibration by act nsor™ colorimeter and ments using a high-speed custom software. Color adjustments are made in the moni- tor electronics, giving you the maximum number of colors available. Plus, cross platform color matching capability ensures monitors can be matched identically on Maes and PCs. For true color matching, the solution is as easy as Electronics. cracking an egg — SpectraView from Mitsubishi Contact Mitsubishi today for complete information. USA: 800-843-2515 + Canada: 800-387-9630 » QWIKFAX: 800-937-2094 SCOT MLVELEEIOSTSONPME Work! Wide Web: wwwemitsubishi-display.com/pblmwdiov a= MITSUBISHI DISPLAY PRODUCTS | Innovation On Display,, MacOS — Gatnjurer tne. *t Be coger Choose 261 at www.macworld.com/getinfo Introducing the amazing VST FireWire Hard Drive Simply amazing. They're designed for those who want the most convenient, lightweight, small and durable hard drives on the market. In fact, the drives are so small they fit easily into a purse, briefcase, or even your pocket. And with data transfer rates up to 400 Mbps and the ability to hot-plug, these drives have it all - speed, performance, portability and good looks. Just plug cone into any FireWire enabled PC or Power Macintosh® G3 and you are ready to work or play. Currently available in 268, 4GB and GB Ys, capacities, these hard drives can easily be linked — together in a chain with no device ID's or termination. ‘Amazing? We think so. Visit our website for more information, TECHNOLOGIES Incorporated| | FireWire www.vsttech.com 125 Nagog Park, Acton, MA 01720 (978) 263-9700 Marte a mgt rater Age Cone ne Mane tig, 1394 FireWire port ‘Kensington lock Optional power input 1394 FireWire port Choose 73 at www.macworld.com/getinfo TRAPEZE furniture for the way you do business 10 june 1999 MACWORLD Choose 265 at www.macworld.com/getinfo Macworld HOW TO CONTACT MACWORLD Subscription Services Prone 800/627-2247 oF 303/665-8930, North America oly 303/604 outside North America US. mas Macworld Subsenption Services PO, Box 54529, Boulder, CO 80322-4529 World Wide Web rae adnet.com/sdsubs/macword/service Subscription Rates The one-year (12-tnue) subscription rates $34 97 in the United States and ‘$55.97 in Canada and Mexico; for al other counties, send ether $5497 {er surface mal ot $103.97 for ar mail The two-year US. rate is $59.97, and the three-year vate is $79.97. Checks must be made payable in US. currency to Mcwod Pease alow 6 to 8 weeks to receive your ist nue. Back Issues of Macworld Back sues (eubect to avallablty) are $8 per issue for US. delivery ($12 ‘outside the United States) prepayment in U.S. currency to Macworld is required. Send check or money order to Back Issues Department, Zi Dav ine. PO, Bo» $3731, Boulder, CO 80322-3131 Reprints and Permissions You vst have permasion before reproducng any mater from Alacworid Write to mscwoeld Reprints and Permissions. 301 Howard St, 16th FL, San Francisco, CA 98105: include a phone number. To order reprints of your compny’ edtonal coverage, call Repent Services at 809/217-7874 (0 651/582-3800, 'x 651/633-1862 Newsstand CD-ROM Subscribers interested in receiving CD-ROMs monthly should call 303/665-8930 for nore information Mailing Usts We peniodeally make Iats of out customers avaiable to malers of goods and services that may i est you. f you do not with to receive such smalings, please wrte to us and include a copy of yout malig label. ‘Macworld on Microfilm Macworld avaiable on microfilm and microfiche from UMI, 300 N Zee RA. Ane Arbor. MI 48105-1346, 734/761-4700 ‘Macworld Editoral The editor of Macnord welcome your tips, compliments, of complaints Stones and product reviews from past sues can be located at www smacworld.com We ate unfortunately unable to look up stores rom past lesues; recommenc products: or diagnose your Macintosh problems by ‘phone, e-mail, of fax. Contact Apple toll-free at 800/538-9696, ext. 500, for information on usergroups in your area ur offices ate located at 301 Howard St, 16th FL. San Francisco, CA 198105; 415/243-0508, fax 415/842-0766, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Deect al comments and suggestions regarding any aspect of the magazine to lttersmscword com Oue to the high vclume cf mail received. we can't respond personally to esch letter We reserve the ight to edt all submissions. Alleters published in ‘Macworld or Macworld Onkine become the property of Macworld Quick iPS Send your questions or tps on how to use Mac comput world, Quick Tips, 301 Howard St 16th FL, San Franotco, CA 94105, fax 15/82-0766; e-mal quichtipa® smacworid com. Pi 7c. adtess, and telephone number inciade youre VBPA. It’s not just your work. It’s your life. safe on the Jaz® 2GB drive and disks. The fastest performing with twice the capacity as the original. And it works with the millions of Jaz 1GB disks already out there. 2GB drives now priced as low as $349. Disks as low as $99. For more information or to find a dealer near you, visit our Web site at: www.iomega.com omega. tion Game of the Year Ei — PC Gamer & CGW nes } wd coach Tul, oabe| Wet prota q? 0 he) mn SONY The Sony FD Trinitron® Display. The better to see your world with. When microsoftSF opens its doors this year, it will showcase its graphic professional software on the stunning new FD Trinitron displays from Sony. Located at Metreon in San Francisco, microsoftSF was cre in which to interact with Microsoft's cutting-edge produc! software in a dramatic and impactful manner, microsoftSF chose Sony's flatte ed to provide a unique environment . To present their graphics t, most accurate CRT screens ever, the new FD Trinitran displays. The virtually flat FD Trinitron display s ies is the most revolutionary advancement in image technology since the invention of Trinitron technology in 1968. Web designers will enjoy the superior resolution. CAD professionals will appre ciate the precision of the tight aperture grille pitch. And graphic designers will be dazzled by the truer, brighter colors. So whether it's the 19" or 21" model (18" and 19.8" VIS), the FD Trinitron display makes an immeasurable impression. www.sony.com/F-Series VIRTUALLY FLAT FOTRINITRON cRT for minimized distortion and reflective glare. TIGHTEST APERTURE GRILLE pitch available (0.22mm across the screen) for unprecedented sharp and clear imag DIGITAL MULTISCAN® TECHNOLOGY for br horizontal scan range and highest resolu 30-121kHz for resolutions up to 1800x1440 @ 80Hz (F500); 30-107 KHz 1600x1200 @ 85Hz (F400). SMART CABLE DESIGN for shorter display depth on desktop or resolutior UNIQUE DISPLAYMoUSE™ Control for quick, djustments of digital controls SD. smooth < through comprehensive O: images with across the visual inaccuracies and corner distortion common in typical CRT screens. HIDENSITY™ ELECTRON GUN With Enhanced Elliptical Correction System™ technology for consistent, accurate focus throughout the screen — even in the corners GEOLocK PLUS™ ciRcUITRY for improved color and brightness uniformity, ACTIVE SIGNAL CORRECTION (aSC™) technology for one-touch instant image sizing and centering. DUAL INPUT CONNECTIVITY provides 15 pin mini D-sub and 5 BNC connectors for leous Connecticn to two computers. simulte use HuB connectivity ports (1 upstream, 4 downstream) for easy connection to USB peripherals. FD Trinitron Choose 14 at www.macworld.com/getinfo the information that o ahead, upgrade to that new G3 without sacrificing the SCSI peripherals you depend on. And in case you didn’t know, Adaptec® SCSI cards support Apple’s old SCSI Manager and newer SCSI Manager 4.3 devices so you can connect to whatever SCSI peripheral you might be using. But it gets even better. Adaptec SCSI significantly outperforms Apple’s previous built-in SCSI, enabling your Jaz, scanner, and other peripherals to operate at peak performance. So if you want to upgrade to a new blue G3 without sacrificing anything, get an Adaptec SCSI card. For more information visit ww’ j InCompetentUSA AVID POGUE'S MARCH 1999 DESK- top Critic column, “CompUSA: Apple's Not-So-Superstore,” was right on target. 1 was recruited from our local Macin- tosh user group as an official Apple repre- sentative for the iMac introduction and the OS 8.5 rollout ata CompUSA in Col- orado, When I arrived at the store, I intro- duced myself to the manager. He said that he didn’t care about Macs, didn’t know anything about Macs, and as far as he was concerned I was wasting his time. Several Mac customers indicated that the Apple Store-Within-a-Store at this CompUSA was usually used for storage of overflow PC merchandise, and they were left to find what they needed on their own. For a program of this type to be suc- cessful, there must be a positive attitude on the part of store management. Hype at the corporate level means nothing if the store managers have a negative atti- tude and short-circuit corporate policy with their condescension. Wittiam C, ROEMER Fort Collins, Colorado Y EXPERIENCES WITH COMPUSA have been almost identical to David Pogue's. At the store in San Marcos, Cal- ifornia, I asked several questions about the iMac and received less-than-stellar answers. Finally, I started asking the young salesperson questions that he could have answered if he had just turned around and read the advertisement behind him. He failed miserably. I tried again at the new store in Encinitas and received the same results, Whatever Apple is paying this company to sell its products is too much by a factor of ten. Epwarp L. LANE Oceanside, California T LEAST MR. POGUE WAS ABLE TO talk with a salesperson. When I went to buy Apple's LaserWriter 8500, I couldn't get anyone to wait on me. CompUSA’s treatment of Mac customers is abhorrent. Asan Apple Computer shareholder, I find this situation intolerable. Keiru A. Rust Saint Paris, Obio Blues for the G3 HE NEW G3 IS CUTE, ISN'T IT (“iMac Envy,” March 1999)? And those handles—if it only had a set of wheels on one end, we could tote it around like luggage! Is there some future integration yet to be announced for these impressive yet mysterious design addi- tions? Do they imply that I need to carry this machine often? Do I need to lift it every day? Maybe it’s an attempt to start some new exercise trend—Macxersize! The new G3 case is a bad design. My desktop is packed with hardware. I can’t spread out anymore, so I rely on stacking components to save space. I put periph- erals on top of my PowerPC Mac, which allows me to use short SCSI cables. I wish these designers would look more closely at the environmental needs of Mac users and design hardware that doesn’t incor- porate useless obtrusive elements. Work with a Mac every day fora living, and then tell me you still have enough room on your desk to accommodate retrograde ergonomic design—like handles. TROY KILGORE Bloomington, Indiana ‘T SEEMS APPLE HAS GONE AND I done it again; they took two steps for- ward and three steps back, When it came time to look seriously at purchasing a machine for digital-audio applications, I decided that the Mac was for me. A salesperson recommended two options: look for a used 9500 or 9600 or wait and see what the new G3s come with, The new G3s appear to have so much going for them (improved bus speed, FireWire and USB ports, ATI Rage 128- bit graphics, great price point) that step- ping up to one seems like an easy decision. Easy, that is, until you start to dig deeper, and discover that Apple decided to drop many of the features that made the original G3s attractive in the first place: the new G3s have no serial ports, no built-in video, no floppy-disk drive, a lack of expansion slots, and no SCSI! Every time Apple gets a good thing going, they get clumsy. And they certainly did it again this time. A great new machine, hobbled by a lack of expansion and the connections people use every day. WILLIAM T.B. LATANVILLE Toronto, Ontario, Canada continues www.macworld.com June 1999 17 Go early for a change! not harder, with QuicKeys! Ever wonder what it would be like to knock off early? QuicKeys turns dreams of extra time into reality. It automates | | any task you do on your Mac. Launch apps, check E-mail, type your name, select a printer, a server ... whatever. Total control over your Mac is just a keystroke away. Plus, new version 4.0 makes automating your Mac easier than ever. Upgrade for as little as $35.95 and get all these new features: | | > Compatible with Mac0S8.5 | | > Over 50 brand new features | > Revised and updated interface > Easy-to-use Setup Assistants > New drag-and-drop toolbars > Plus much, much more £1999 CE Software, Inc. Quickeys is a registered trademark of CE Software, Inc. Choose 170 at www.macworld.com/getinfo 18 June 1999 MACWORLD LETTERS Complete Canvas LONG MISSED THE TWO MOST B important features of Deneba Can- vas 6 in his recent review (Reviews, March 1999), First, with Canvas I can create high-end output in one pro- gram—instead of using Adobe Photo- shop, PageMaker, and IIlustrator—and without all the hassle. Second, I have been released from the “Adobe extor- tion program”—each year I fork out about $169 to $189 for upgrades to each program! Canvas gives me the output that I need, I save a bundle, and I get the same results, if not better. D Curis Hacey Middleville, New York Slower Than the IRS 1D JOHN RIZZO REVIEW A DIFFER- ent version of MaclnTax Deluxe "98 from the one those of us who bought the product in the open market have (Reviews, March 1999)? When using the Interview mode, the program slows to an unaccept- able level—easily two minutes or longer to launch or close the application, plus additional minutes to switch to each sub- sequent interview entry box—on both G3s and 68040s. Read the comments on Intuit’s own Web site. This is either an example of Intuit’s complete lack of qual- ity assurance or their utter disdain for the Mac market. Ricwarp GLANTz Lexington, Massachusetts Infectious Virex N HIS REVIEW OF VIRUS-PROTEC- I tion software, Stephan Somogyi mentioned that Norton AntiVirus has a straightforward interface (Reviews, March 1999). I disagree. I tried a demo version of Symantec AntiVirus (now NAV), and I feel that Virex is a much better choice. NAV did the job, but it was very intrusive, and I did not like the interface as much as Virex’s. Virex’s interface is not perfect, but it’s easy to use and understand. Lused Virex 5.8.1 for several months, and it did a great job. After two months or so of my using version 5.8.1, Virex revved to version 5.9. I contacted Network Asso- ciates and they sent it to me free! Somogyi complained that Virex did not offer an automatic upgrade feature, but he also noted that this feature for NAV is flawed. Anyone who knows how to use a Web browser can get the free upgrades for Virex via the Web. It sounds like Somogyi’s a NAV fan. I bet he also prefers PCs. Artie EVANS Riva, Maryland Go beyond the Root ‘TEPHAN SOMOGYI'S REVIEW OF the OrangePC 627 overlooks a major software limitation (Reviews, March 1999). You can share a folder from your Mac so that it appears on the PC asa network vol- ume (allowing you to work on the file on both platforms), but you are limited to the outdated DOS “8.3” file-name conven- tion. Worse, you can use only files located in the root directory of the shared volume! I tried many fixes, including adding a sec- ond Ethernet card and mounting a trial version of Dave. Fortunately, a workaround exists. The PC will recognize all files and subdirecto- ries on a floppy or an external SCSI device, such as a Zip drive—even files with long names. The only apparent limitation is that sometimes you have to eject and reinsert the disk when switching OSs so that the new OS can recognize changes made to files. Since discovering this, I’ve been quite pleased with my Orange. Of course, it’s still no Mac, but that’s com- paring Apples and Oranges. Scort OWENS Gaithersburg, Maryland Orange Micro says it is aware of the file-name and shared-volumes problems. It is planning a 32-bit version of the shared-volumes software, which should fix the problem. In the meantime, Scott's workaround will do the trick.—Ed. Microsoft Makes Good ICROSOFT I} NET EXPLORER (IE) 4.5 is amazing (“Internet Explor- er Gets Back to Basics,” News, March 1999). Fast, compact, and reliable, it’s such a huge leap over what browsers used to be just a year ago, and a fine piece of software to boot. IE plain cooks on my old Power Mac 7600/132 here at home; at work we continues Sleek, voracious, efficient, smart- and able to kick anybody’s butt in the pond. (No, we're talking about the Intuos graphics tablet system.) Introducing Intuos. The world’s first intelligent graphics tablet system. To create it, we questioned everything, reviewed every datapoint, rethought every purpose and every detail. We started by analyzing professionals who use graphic tablets for hours and days at a time. ‘We wanted to give you every ergonomic advantage, to make every aspect of Intuos effortless, natural and direct, Then we built a totally redesigned pen—one with 1024 pressure levels, more sensitivity and more capability than ever before. And we added an integrated set of precise and expressive instruments, including a cordless mouse that can move in four dimensions, a revolutionary new airbrush and more. The result— the most advanced tablet available. It's light years beyond other tablets while still delivering the superb quality that has made Wacom the universal choice for professionals worldwide. The Intuos intelligent graphics tablet system. From Wacom. Who else could give you all this? 2 VEN F¥ 800.922.2585 ox www.wacom.com/sharks (©1999 Wacom Technology Corporation. Wacom is a registered trademark and intuos isa trademark of Wacom Company Lt. Allright reserved. ‘Wacom products are avaliable at CompUSA, Microcenter and other fine retail and mailorder reselers nationwide. ncludes 4 atsam Pate Classic. No goldfish were harmed inthe making ofthis a. Choose 84 at www.macworld.com/getinfo Introducing DiskWarrior: a revolutionary new way to restore damaged disks! DiskWarrior is a revolutionary new utility that combats disk damage. It quickly rebuilds, recovers and optimizes your HFS and HFS Plus disk directories, eliminating all directory errors and recovering lost files. Other utilities attempt to repair disks by patching the damage. Patching can result in more damage and permanent loss of files. 1007 Recovery Assurance Only DiskWarrior builds a new optimized directory using data recovered from the damaged directory. You have 100% assurance that DiskWarrior will always restore your disks and recover your files when directory damage is your enemy.* You'll also have 100% confidence that you're getting the desired results. DiskWarrior’s exclusive Preview ability lets you preview the restoration. You can examine your damaged disk the Finder as it will appear after the directory is restored but before any changes are made to your disk. Routine Maintenance DiskWarrior is your first line of defense against unseen disk damage. Running DiskWarrior regularly prevents small unseen problems from becoming large ones by keeping your directories error free. You'll also keep your directories optimized to speed up overall disk performance. (©1998 Alsolt, Inc: PO Box 927, Spring. ‘Texas 77383-0927 USA. 281-353-4090 or fax 281-353-9868. DiskWartor is «trademark of Alsofy nc. *Vist our Web site or call for requitement, jA-257-638 Choose 140 at www.macworld.com/getinfo June 1999 MACWORLD LETTERS run IE 4 on Windows NT and it is terri- ble, an utterly lifeless piece of software. What’ going on? Face the facts. Micro- soft the Great is starting to consider the Mac more seriously. Office? Better on the Mac. Better on the Mac. Now all we need is Flight Simulator 5. JERE BAYNARD Baltimore, Maryland How about Banana? FTER READING THE ARTICLE LA “Flavorful iMacs Debut” (News, March 1999), I realized where Apple got the five new iMac flavors. If you look at the classic Apple logo, starting at the bottom of the apple the stripes are blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, and green. These corre- spond to the flavors blueberry, grape, strawberry, tangerine, and skipping yellow, lime. The only flavor I can think of for yel- low is lemon, and there is no way that Apple is going to call their product a “lemon”! Tom JELMELAND Seal Beach, California Ifyou're craving a splash of yellow with your i check out Contour Design's (800/462-667: .contourdesign.com) banana UniMouse.—Ed. Letters should be sent to Letters, Macworld, 301 Howard St, 16th Fl., San Francisco, CA 94105; via fax, 415/442-0766 or electronically, to letters@ macworld.com. Include a return address and day- time phone number. Duc to the high volume of mail received, we can’t respond personally to each letter. We reserve the right to edit all letters. All published letters become the property of Macworld. ON You can print an entire help topic directly in OS 8.5 by opening the File menu and choosing Print (“On the Trail of Mac OS 8.5,” March 1999). To copy or print only a selection from the belp text, use Dawid Pogue's trick. Deneba Canvas 6 can apply image adjustments simultaneously on mul- tiple bitmapped objects (Reviews, March 1999). In March 1999's Quick Tips, the cor- rect name for Joseph C. Lee Company's premade iMac restart gadget is the iMacButton. IT AIN’T BRAGGING IF IT’S TRUE. (AT THIS RATE WE'RE GCING TO HAVE TO THINK OF SOMETHING ELSE TO CALL THEM BESIDES CRITICS.) OF COURSE, WE'RE ONLY REPEATING WHAT "Comparing [Freehand, Illustrator and CorelDraw] directly to Canvas is like comparing apples to, well, the whole basket of THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING. CAN WE HELP IT frut..in the competition of the graphics titans, Canvas 6 is fighting with a unique set of weapons.” Macworld. February, 1999 “SpriteLayer technology is an excellent piece of pro- gramming wizardry, With it, designers can easly experiment with complex graphic ideas that would have been prohibitive IF THEY GO ON AND ON ABOUT OUR REVO- LUTIONARY SPRITELAYER™ TECHNOLOGY AND ITS NEAR or impossible in any other program.” Digital Design and Production. January/February, 1999 “With its elegant MAGICAL ABILITY WITH interface, Canvas is a compeling alternative to suite-based solutions that require separate illustration and image editing TRANSPARENCIES? IS IT OUR FAULT THEY'RE programs to perform the same functions.” PC Magazine, January, 1999 *...A standalone graphics application that skil- fully integrates its separate components. Canvas 6's price and its range of tools combine to eam it a place on our WinList.” Windows. March, 1999 “...An integrated, easy-to SMITTEN WITH CANVAS 6’S KNACK FOR CUT- AWAYS, VIGNETTES AND COLLAGES? WE'RE ‘AVGOL 9 SVANVD 40 AdOD YNOA YACHO STILL BLUSHING OVER THE RAVES FOR ITS use graphics package that's so sophisticated you're not likely to outgrow it... We found Canvas 6's transparency tools SNAZZY CUSTOMIZABLE INTERFACE, IMAGE alone to be worth the upgrade price.” PC Computing. March, 1999 “The hype is well deserved..Canvas 6 features a variety EDITING AND EASE OF USE. GRANTED, WE of transparencies that can significantly bump up the oh-lala quotient of your images.” MacAddict. Api, 1999 “Deneba COULD HAVE KEPT ALL THIS TO OURSELVES. has done what Adobe has refused to do: unify graphics *Qus4vo19 G3t4INOIGNN H3HAVE SIMs 9007H3A0 NIA} “OMIMLANY L5OKTY OG OL AVAY 38 17.04 ONY apps...Canwvas 6.0's unique ability to combine disciplines will lead the designer down previously inaccessible creative paths...SpriteLayers composite like no other program can.” Maximum PC. January, 1999 “Canvas 6's array of new trans parency tools allows you to create awesome depth and layer- ing in your images - and it does so better than other graphics products on the market today.” MacAddict Maga- ine. “Canvas continues to deliver a vast scope of graphics tools in one convenient application, and does a remarkable job of breaking down barriers between bitmap and vector graphics.” PC World Online. December 28, 1998 “..No pro- gram comes close to Canvas’s ability to combine vector and bitmapped graphics...Canvas 6's strong integration of text, painting and drawing tools makes it a good one-stop graph- ics application.” Macworld. March, 1999 ines CAAT Tis ad was created and color separated using nothing but Canvas 6, “tamed are hanceg Saye mevey Sct pan cats shop ed alg css © py Deeb Stearn te er ad oy Bar Ane Cares tr Seta wv Duden of ee Syms, me. Paes ped tadenns ee popery eer mpc eae. BUT THEN HUMILITY CAN BE HIGHLY OVERRATED. ST0WLNOD 3HA LY S3LnNIM ABd_¥ * /GTHOMDYH/WOD"VE3N30"MMM LV VI¥L AVG-O¢ ¥ GYOINKOG 4p “MOA 1S3¥V3N ¥3IV3C 3H 4© SWANWIQ'Q08'T 11Vv2 soy 9S. doen Pony test eke Sp Choose 57 at www.macworld.com/getinfo Catlos Chen, C. Cohen Designs tn Canada: Rendered with Render Works VectorWorks (Chases Duncan Pry a AOO¢ @& Choose 46 at www.macworld.com/getinfo VectorWorks’ state of the art Object Technology helps streamline the design process by making it easy to create common design elements, Now, Objects like doors, windows, nuts and bolts, can be created and edited with a click of the mouse, making it easy to explore de n alternatives, consider "what if" scenarios, and handle last- minute client changes. Vector Works offers a solid foundation based on proven CAD technology—giving you the power 4 Shope and flexibility to tackle any design problem. feeeer New featui uch as Workgroup Referencing, Pe v.14), Round Walls, Multiple Undo/Redo- an improved scripting language, strengthen Vector Works’ D capabilities. And, with RenderWorks, VectorWorks’ new photo-realistic rendering plug-in, you can bri core ng your designs to life with textures, shadows and dramatic lighting. With VectorWorks, you get it all—the flexibility and control of proven CAD technology and the productivity benefits of Object- Based design. Vector Works ships FREE solutions for Architecture, pe Design, DTM and HVAC you aren't limited co the solutions we provide. Vector Works is Landsea mong others. Best of all, completely customizable, allowing you to create your own custom business solutions. “ Vici Save $279 by purchasing Vector Works with photorealistic rendering direct for $820 or, without rendering for only $595. Includes FREE Tech Support and a 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee. Diehl Graphsoft Inc Software for Today's Professional NH) (UumNOVAN Si Where's Sherlock? The Vision Thing by Andrew Gore THE MYSTERY BEHIND A GREAT INTERNET TECHNOLOGY'S STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE TIS A MYSTERY WORTHY of the great detective himself. His namesake, Apple's Sher- lock, is quite possibly the most easy-to-use search technology available on any platform. Wantto find something on the Internet? Type in a simple phrase describing your query and Sherlock will track it down. Sure, lots of search-engine Web sites can find stuff for you. Some even have simple interfaces, although these are few and far between. What makes Sherlock so special is its ability to use all these sites to find what you're looking for. Sherlock is a single interface that encompasses all the varied and diverse search and archival resources on the Web. But despite its obvious power, sim- plicity, and uniqueness, Sherlock itself seems to have vanished. No, not from the Mac OS—you still get the search facility in every copy of OS 8.5. I’m talk- ing about Sherlock’s apparent removal from Apple’s marketing and development plans. Little has been heard from Apple or developers about the technology, with the notable exception of Microsoft, which added a Sherlock button to Inter- net Explorer 4.5 last January. Elementary, My Dear Apple Crime most foul, you say? Let us follow the principles of deductive reasoning used to such great effect by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous sleuth and see if we can ferret out a motive. Could Apple be unaware of the importance of Sherlock? Unlikely. When OS 8.5 first shipped, Sherlock was the key feature the company used to push sales of the upgrade. So, what could have changed? Could Sherlock have lost its luster in Apple’s eyes? Again, unlikely. The company is actually making money off Sherlock every time someone uses it to find some- thing on Amazon.com and then buys that something. Certainly, the potential prof- it can't be lost on Apple. Perhaps developers are balking. The most likely developer to have a problem with Sherlock would be Microsoft, which built its own search system into Internet Explorer. Yet Microsoft is one of the very few application developers to support Sherlock directly. Once you've eliminated the obvious, whatever remains—no matter how unlikely—must be true. It seems, then, the reason for Sherlock's disappearance must be simple neglect. Apple has had so many bigger fish to fry of late that the company hasn’t had time to give this impressive technology the benefit of its attention. Which is unfortunate, because with proper support, Sherlock could be to the Internet what QuickTime is to digital video—a critical, platform-agnos- tic enabling technology. The Game's Afoot Allow me now to discard the deerstalker cap, because the time for deducing cause and effect is over. There are three things Apple can do to capitalize on Sherlock, taking it from an interesting sideshow to the juggernaut it deserves to be. First, Apple must start marketing Sherlock again—not just as part of OS 8.5 butas part of the Mac itself, We've all seen how Apple emphasizes the iMac’ simplic- y in its commercials; why not tout the simplicity of finding your way around the Internet using Sherlock? I can picture it now: “Step one, launch Sherlock. Step two, tell Sherlock what you're looking for. Step three . . . there’s no step three!” Second, Apple needs to expand Sher- lock’s bag of tricks with more plug-ins that access more search engines, FTP sites, publication archives, and the like. There should be hundreds of Sherlock plug-ins, not dozens. And before I get letters about how nutty it'll drive you to select from hundreds of plug-ins, Pll add that Apple needs to make Sher- lock smarter, so it can select plug-ins by parsing your query. And while we're at making Sherlock smarter, I'd like to see the intelligence Sherlock uses on searching your Mac’s hard-drive contents expanded to encompass the Internet as well. No mean fear, I know. But right now Sherlock is only as good as the search engines it connects to—and we all know how bad some of those are. Third, Apple must make Sherlock work on Windows, Only when Sherlock is cross- platform can it be truly domi- nant. And in case Apple is worried about losing money by offering Sherlock to Win- dows users, the company should remem- ber the money it can make from referrals to e-commerce sites, and how many more Windows users there are than Mac users. No climactic battle to end this mys- tery; no unmasking of the evildoer or frus- trating near-capture of Dr. Moriarty end the mystery of “Where's Sherlock? we must look to Apple for a solution. m Questions? Comments? E-mail them to Andy at visionthing@macworld.com. www.macworld.com June 1999 23 IT TAKES ONLY ONE LITTLE THING TO RUIN AN ENTIRE PRESENTATION. If your reputation hinges on accuracy, consider that Tektronix has been making color printers for more than 15 years. You might also like to know about the Phaser® 780 color printer. Iv’s loaded with color management tools that take the guesswork out of getting what you want. There's our exclusive PhaserMatch™ ICC software, which allows you to match the output of as press, paper, or ink. Want to know how your work is going to look on newsprint? Use one of the newsprint profiles, or create your own using International Color Consortium standards. And it supports ColorSyne, so what you see / on your screen is what comes out of your printer. Avoid embarrassment. Call toll-free 1-877-362-6567 ext. 1616. Or visit www.tektronix.com/Phaser780x1616 C—_ ; Ap ‘. nie Tektronix: If this is Norton”... When your Macintosh computer is not operating correctly, having the right tool to find and fix the problem is important. And as any technician will tell you, you can never have too many tools. TechTool Pro 2 checks more aspects of your Macintosh than any other utility available. Besides repairing and recovering damaged drives (including those with the new HFS+ forma, you can also test all those other critical parts of your system that our famous competitor ignores like RAM, CPU, floppy drives, scanners. modems, Internet connections, CD-ROM drives and much, much more. “Limited time offer expires April 30th, 1999. Price subject to Not This is TechTool” Pro: But just because TechToo! Pro is the most advanced Macintosh troubleshooting utility available doesn't mean that it's difficult to use. In fact, we've added an easy-to-use interface that makes checking and fixing your Macintosh a snap. For the advanced user, our expert mode allows you to control and configure TechTool Pro in almost any way you wish. So if your Macintosh troubles are getting you down, check out TechTool Pro. After all, you have the most powerful computer in the world. Shouldn't you be using the most powerful utility? MicroMat Inc. 800-829-6227 707-837-8012 www.micromat.com Fix different: without notice. Upgrade available only from MicroMat Computer and some select distributors. hange all distributors will be offering this special upgrade price. ©199H MicroMat Computer System, Inc, All rights reserved, TechTo Tne. Macintosh is istered tracdemark of MicroMtar Computer Systems, Inc. Fix Diffe ‘of Apple Computer, Ine. Noon is a trademark of Symantec, Inc (ts a tridemark of MicoMat Computer Systems, Choose 46 at www.macworld.com/getinfo JUNE 1999 SURPRISE MOVE WILL ACCELERATE MAC OS DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS by Stephen Beale pple has once again surprised the com- puter indu: ith its recent decision to offer key parts of Mac OS X Server as publicly avail- able source code. Leaders of the open-source movement have praised Apple as the first major computer company to adopt an open-source strategy —the same approach that’s made the Linux operating system a popular alternative to Windows NT. But what does this mean for Mac users and future versions of the Mac O$? Plenty, Apple says. “Tes as if we had hired a huge bunch of programmers for free,” asserts Ernie Prab- hakar, Apple’s product man- ager for Mac OS X Server. “We'll have a final product with better performance and new features.” How It Works Apple has created a subset of Mac OS X Server called Darwin that includes Appl 2.5. microkernel, versions of Unix, the Ap: and such Mac ache Web server, specific tech- nologies as AppleTal HFS+ file sy: in Mac O! has posted the Darwin source code (the underlying pro- gramming commands) on its Web site. Developers who agree to Apple’s license agree- ment can download the source code, modify it, and include it in their own prod- ucts. They don’t have to pay royalties or license fees, but they do have to make their Apple Goes Open Source with Mac Server source-code modifications publicly available. Apple is then free to incorporate any chan} future versions of Mac Server—and Mac 4 which uses the same Darwin components. release Ma pple plans to its next- generation client operating system, later this year. There are other benefits as well. Developers of G3 accelerators for older Macs www.macworld.com win to create drivers that would allow those Macs to run Mac OS X, which other- requires an Apple G3 Apple custom especially universities, are now free to customize Mac os erver for their own needs. Developers who might otherwise turn to generic ver- sions of Mach 2.5, Apache, and BSD 4.4 Unix—all a continues June 1999 27 What's in Mac OS X Server MAC OS X SERVER, WHICH APPLE began shipping in March, repre- sents the company’s first serious foray into the corporate server market. Apple hopes that the product will be a major player in the market for hardware-software server configurations that sell for less than $5,000. The server also provides an early look at the mod- em OS technologies you'll find in Mac OS X, the next-generation client operating system slated for release later this year. Mac OS X Server includes Apple-modified versions of the Mach 2.5 microkernel—a Unix- based OS core originally devel- oped at Carnegie-Mellon Univer- sity—and the Berkeley Systems Distribution (BSD) 4.4 version of Unix, a popular variant of the Unix operating system. Mach and BSD 4.4, along with the Apache Web server and such Apple tech- nologies as AppleTalk and HFS+, form the basis for Darwin, which Apple Is giving away to develop- ers under an open-source strategy (see “Apple Goes Open Source with Mac Server"), Beyond the components in Darwin, Mac OS X Server also able currently as open-source a chance will hi to work with App! of these components. The move Mac OS X the b software. After all, it’s ina free version. ra more viable competitor with Linux, t-known open-source hard to compete with a free product unless yours is also available Darwin's Limits Although itis a fully functional modern operating system, Darwin some of the differentiat- ing features in Mac OS X Server, including NetBoot, which allows Mac clients to boot from a server partition 28 June 1999 MACWORLD includes Apple file services; WebObjects 4.01, Apple's high- end Web production software; and NetBoot, which allows client Macs to boot off the server (see “Apple Introduces OS X Server,” News, April 1999). Although based on Unix, the server has a Mac-like user interface that Dar- win will not include. A software-only version of Mac OS X Server sells for $499; Apple originally announced that the price would be $995. Apple also offers a $4,999 version bundled with a 400MHz Power Mac G3. The latter includes 256MB of memory, two 9GB hard drives, and a four-port Ethernet hub. Apple's targeted customers include small businesses that are hoping to establish a cost-effec- tive Web presence and educa- tion customers looking for an inexpensive and easy way to administer Mac-based networks. Competitors in this space include PC vendors, such as Dell and Compag, that bundle their hard- ware with Windows NT, Net- ware, or Linux server software. Low-end configurations of Sun Microsystems’ Solaris servers also compete for small-business customers, although these sys- tems typically sell for more than $5,000.—STEPHEN BEALE pple Introduces OS X April 1999). a graphical user interface, but developers could theoretically port one of several freely ava Linux windowing en ments to the new OS interim CEO Stes the company could other Apple technologies to open source, but he has not announced specific plans. Developers are free to modify Darwin in any ay they Iso. create versions for Intel processors or other chips. But theres no guarantee the modified soft- ware will even run on a Mac. [ News Plugging Into InDesign FORTHCOMING UTILITIES EXTEND ADOBE'S PAGE- LAYOUT SOFTWARE by Stephen Beale ne strength of Adobe's new InDesign soft- ware is its extensi- bility. It implements even many built-in features, such as the toolbox, as InDesign plug-ins. One developer, a new company called PowrTools, says that with InDesign’s flexible archi- tecture, plug-in vendors can make the page-layout pro- gram “sit up and beg Powr Tools (604/649-7560, www.powrtools.com) is one of several companies that say they will ship InDesign plug- ins shortly after the host pro- gram’s release. Pow in a planned series of Powr- Tools. utiliti Il let you create text tables for use in InDesign documents. Also in the works Mapsoft (www.mapsoft com) has announced Sherpa for Adobe InDesign, a plug- in that permits the creation of Adobe Acrobat PDF files that include links, bookmarks, forms, action handlers, and other interacti Shade’ (800/678-8848, -borderguys.com) say offer an InDesign version of Fraemz, a program that lets you apply one of 404 resolution borders tot and picture boxes in In- expected — summer ble, the first gram also features a drop- shadow function. Virginia Systems (804/739- i asystems .com) announced an InDesign version of Sonar Bookends, a $195 indexing utility. You can index books that span multiple documents, auto- matically reverse first and last , and sort single-level or multilevel word li: Enfocus (888/363-6287, www.enfocus.com) says it will offer Enfocus PDF Check-Up for InDesign, a $150 preflight- ing program that inspects PDF fil ed in InDesign for conditions likely to cause output problems. Em Software (740/264- 0583, www.emsoftware.com) announced InDesign ver- sions of its database publish- ing plug-ins. Em's InData automatically formats data- nami base or spreadsheet infor tion for use in catalog: directories, and other struc- tured publications. InCata- log creates hot links between a product database and In- Design document so that changes in one automatically update in the other. A Lowly Apprentice Pro- duction (888/818-5790, www alap.com) announced that it will develop InDesign ver- sions of ShadowCas QuarkXTension for gene ing shadow effects, and Xpert Tools, a set of page-layout ids. h (888/320- 9969, www.lizardtec announced that it will offer an InDesign plug-in that lets you compress image files using the company’s Multiresolu- tion Seamless Image Database (MrSID) format. The com- pany says that MrSID, which uses wavelet compression technology developed for the federal government, offers a yn ratio with of image qual- y- LizardTech will provide the plug-in as part of a suite of publishing tools and plans to include it in the InDesign package. Other developers, includ- vendors of Quark- ing s XTensions, are less certain of their plans, Extensis (800/ 796-9798, www.extensis.com) promises that its Preflight Pro preflighting software will work with InDesign files, but sit plans to hold off on developing InDesign plug- ins until the program gains some significant market share. Mark: e (800/300- , www.markzware.com), Vision's Edge (800/983-6337, www.visionsedge.com), and DK&A (888/488-8118, www .dka.com) say they plan to offer InDesign plug-ins. How- ever, they have not announced any specific product plans or timetables. Corel Readies Dual Software Upgrades FACE-LIFTS FOR PHOTO- PAINT AND CORELDRAW by Macworld Staff orel (800/772-6735, www.corel.com), con- tinuing its efforts to gain a foothold in the Mac graphics market, is preparing upgrades to Corel- Draw, its flagship illustration program, and Photo-Paint, an image-editing package that competes with Adobe Photo- shop. Corel has been preview- ing CorelDraw 9 and Photo- Paint 9 for Windows. PR director Susan Gauthier says the company expects to ship Mac upgrades with identical features by the end of the year. Both upgrades will fea- ture interface refinements, new color-management fea- tures, and enhanced export functions. For example, you'll be able to export Adobe Acro- bat PDF files using custom settings or one of three default styles: PDF for Pre- press, PDF for Web, and PDF for Document Distribu- tion. CorelDraw will give you the additional option of including fonts or converting text into curves as you export the document. New color-management features in each program will let you include ICC color pro- files in PDE, ‘TIFE, and EPS files. You'll also be able to extract profiles from images in which they've been embedded. Each program features a miniature preview dialog box for quick print prev and a preflight warning function that you if problems aris xpect new drawing func- in CorelDraw 9, includ- ing a natural-media drawing tool and a multipoint mesh fill tool. Photo-Paint 9 adds import and ex, Time 3 mo image-slicing for Web graph- s, anda Contact Sheet wizard that produces a Web page of thumbnail images hyperlinked to the original photos. Updates for Eight Mean- while, Corel has released free updates of CorelDraw 8 and Photo-Paint 8 for Mac, featur- ing bug- performance enhancements, improved com- patibility with Mac apps, and support for double-byte fonts. The 8.02 updates include a utility for creating profiles of a service bureau's equipment, abilities, and file requirements. Photo-Paint $8.02 also directly supports TWAIN plug-ins. Epson, Ricoh Debut Color Laser Printers EPSON COLORPAGE 8000 FEATURES EFI FIERY RIP by Macworld Staff (800/95 www.ricoh-usa.com) is an established vendor of digital color copiers, and Epson Americ: (800/463-7766, http:// prographics.epson.com) is well known for its color ink-jet printers. Now both are moving in new directions by offering their first color laser printers. icoh Ricoh has introduced a pair of color lasers. The $2,395 AP204, scheduled to ship by the time you read this, features 600-dpi resolu- tion, a PostScript-clone con- troller, and a maximum color print speed of 4 pages per minute. It handles letter: pages in its standard sheet input tray, but you can also print on legal-size stocks by adding an optional second This May, Ricoh plans to ship the tabloid-for- mat AP305. Pricing has not been set. pson’s ColorPage 8000 uses the same 600-dpi tabloid- format printing engine found in recently introduced color from QMS and However, while those printers use built-in controllers, the ColorPage continues WELCOME BACK, CANON. THE COMPANY THAT DEVEL- oped the ink-jet engines for the Color StyleWriter 2500 and other Apple printers has returned to the Mac market with the BJC-6000, an ink-jet printer with an optional interface for USB-equipped Macs. Canon (800/652-2666, www.usa canon.com) claims that the BJC-6000 is its fastest ink-jet printer ever, producing up to 5 color pages or 8 monochrome pages per minute. The printer offers maximum resolution of 4,440 by 720 dpi and uses individual tanks for each color, so you don’t have to replace all the CMYK inks when one runs out. The $249 printer requires a $69 USB adapter to work with a Mac. Canon offers an optional $43 Photo Ink cartridge for producing photo-quality print www.macworld.com —MICHAEL GOWAN June 1999 29 Acrobat Additions Several companies have joined Adobe Sys- tems’ Acrobat act with new plug- ins. Enfocus Software's (888/363- 6287, www.enfocus.com) $295 PitStop 4.0 performs preflight checks and lets you edit text and objects in PDF files. Quite a Box of Tricks, a $205 POF utility suite from Quite Software (www.quite com), features enhanced RGB-to- CMYK conversion and image- reduction features. The company's Quite Imposing Plus, a $599 imposition program, takes advan- tage of Acrobat’s new maximum page size, 200 by 200 inches. Animated Features Animators can forgo ink and paper with Linker Systems’ (949/552-1904, wewvrlinkezcom) $5,000 Anima- tion Stand Pro 4.0. New features in the cel-based 2-D animation soft- ware include automatic color cor- rection and support for combined simultaneous moves and effects. Unplugged Now you can use ‘Adobe Photoshop plug-ins even if you don't have Photoshop. Ver- tigo Software's (604/684-2113, wwwvertigo3d.com) $39 Adver- tizer Web-graphics utility lets you create banners by importing an image and applying Photoshop plug-in effects. Direct Savings Looking for a new screen saver? Create your own with CinéMac 1.5. This $299 Macromedia Director Xtra from MacSourcery (800/622-7723, www.macsourcery.com) converts Director 7 files to screen savers. —EDITED BY MICHAEL GOWAN Ricoh’s $2,395 AP204 prints at 600 dpi on letter-size pages. includes an external EFI Fiery print server with built- in PostScript 3, networking, and color-management capa- bilities. Epson will offer the printer exclusively through Ikon Office Solutions (610/ 296-8000, www.ikon.com). ‘The printer and Fiery server together will sell for just under $10,000. Color Profiles for the Masses NEW PROGRAMS MAKE IT EASIER TO CREATE YOUR OWN DEVICE PROFILES by Stephen Beale oftware developers are seeking to demyst the arcane science of color management by introducing inexpen- sive products that make it easy to create your own color- device profiles. These pro- files, designed for use with Apple ColorSyne and other color-management systems, provide information about the color-reproduction character- istics of specific monitors, scanners, and printers. ' Mews Monaco Systems (978/749-9944, www -monacosys .com) has introduced MonacoEZcolor, a $299 profiling pack- age that’s also bundled with Epson’s Expression 800 flat- bed scanner as MonacoProfiler Lite. To create a scanner profile, you simply scan a standard ITS target; the program analyzes the scanned color values and compares them with the known values in the target to determine the scanner’s color characteristics. Creating a printer profile is a little more complicated: you print a page from the pro- gram that includes a set of color swatches in the upper half, then you attach the same TTS target to the bottom half and scan the page. You can profile monitors by adjusting a series of on-screen images; the program also accepts data from Monaco’s $199 Monaco- Sensor, a hardware device that measures the actual colors that the monitor produces. Color Solutions (760/436- 6593, www.color.com) has introduced ColorBlind Prove- It, a monitor-profiling package for local area networks. In addition to creating monitor profiles, you can use the pro- gram to view the color charac- teristics of any monitor on the network. A software-only ver- sion will sell for less than $50; a version with a monitor sen- sor will set you back $299. Color Solutions also offers a $999 package called Color- Blind Matchbox that combines a colorimeter with color-pro- filing software for scanners, monitors, and printers. ProfileEditor from Color Partnership (800/554-8688, www.colorparmership.com) is a $245 program that lets you create profiles for printers and other output devices by visu- ally comparing a printed sam- ple image with one displayed on a calibrated monitor. You adjust the on-screen display to match the print, and the pro- gram generates a profile. Hexachrome Help It’s not a color-management product, but Pantone’s (888/726-8663, www.pantone.com) new $129 HexVector plug-in for Adobe Illustrator makes it easier to match spot colors by giving Illustrator users access to the company’s Hexachrome sys- tem. Macromedia FreeHand already offers built-in Hexa- chrome support. In any print job there are two ways to specify a spot color: you can simulate it using CMYK process colors, or produce an extra plate for the spot-color ink. The for- mer makes it difficult to get an exact color match, but the latter is typically more expen- sive and cumbersome. Pan- tone says that Hexachrome, which uses six process colors rather than the standard four, can accurately reproduce 95 percent of Pantone Matching System colors, compared with about 50 percent in CMYK. Certification Setting up a reliable _color-management system, especially in a high- volume production environ- ment, can still be a challenge. The Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (800/910-4283, www.gatf.org), a nonprofit trade group, has teamed with Apple Computer to provide a certification program for color-management specialists. To be certified, printing companies and service bureaus must pay a fee and pass a one- day audit in which they show proficiency in using a Color- Sync-based color-management system. The foundation says certified companies will be well positioned to help customers by educating them about color management and_ providing customized device profiles. 4»GLOBAL © VILLAGE Choose 61 at www.macworld.com/getinfo Elaine Lau TECHNICAL SUPPORT PEPRESENTATIVE Mark Vappi SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER ge = as i ag rs es % 4, aN “oi of Gerke. 0d a eppabeaffictedempais, fag, US. Pet. & em. OH. sadn mny eter cusses. The Gre lege no tedemarh a Oe, ead el eppece libre compas Al ater wodenaths re ibe properties of thet respective enna, 36026AD1 cc IN 1 the re . + . ae QuarkXPress c=] a “Features” tike Mark, Elaine, and Tara — just three of the people who are as much at the core of QuarkXPress” 4.0 as the text to box and long-document features. Whether it’s filling your order, working with you on technical issues, or reviewing your °Q ideas for future versions, they stay focused on you because you 2 | are key to the success of QuarkXPress. Py | alge , a AND QuarkXPress 4.0 can help you create successful, exciting, and effective 4 i 0 pieces that deliver your message with impact, from the simplest . % | wa } brochure to the most complex catalogs and magazines. That's why over baal 2 million QuarkXPress users in a variety of industries would never even 9 co) consider the idea of publishing with anything else. We want to hear from you. Call us at (800) 995.4343 with questions, comments, and ideas. http://www.quark.com | | | fora list of resellers, product information, | and to download updaters (800) 676.4575 Palm V PALMTOP NOW MORE MAC-LIKE THAN EVER IDER THE SIMILARITIES between the PalmPilot, the smash- hit pocket computer, and the Ma intosh: both devices are based on a Motorola chip, they have nearly identical user interfi nd both reflect an obsession with simplicity and intelli- gent design. Even the designers are the same—60 percent of Palm Computing’s employees once worked at Apple. And yet for the first years of the PalmPilot’s exis- tence, its connections to the Mac were crude at best. Almost overnight, everything has changed. With the release of 3Com/Palm Computing’s long-awaited MacPac 2 (see the sidebar), at last we can heartily rec- ommend the PalmPilot as a Macintosh peripheral. An explosion of third-party software conduits connects all kinds of Mac data—FileMaker, Microsoft Word and Excel, and Intuit Quicken docu- ments, plus your calendar and address- book information—to the PalmPilot with the press of a button. And 3Com/Palm Computing has released a pair of new models: the Palm IIIx and the ultrachic Palm V, whose sleek, sculpted, heat- blasted aluminum case seems inspired by the same curvy coolness factor as Apple’s own recent models. Style Statement ‘The stunning-looking Palm V represents a pure hardware makeover—it’s slightly shorter and narrower than previous mod- els, and much thinner and lighter (0.4 inches thick, 3.8 ounces). This shrinkage makes it even likelier that you'll carry the Palm V with you. ‘The palmtop’s superthin profile hints at the next big change: this is the first model not powered by AAA batteries. Instead, a Lilon battery drives it; the bat- tery gets recharged whenever the Palm V sits in its new, AC-powered HotSync cradle. One charge lasts approximately a month, a complete drained-to-full charge takes 90 minutes, and just one HotSyi (two-way update) a day is enough to keep the Palm V fully charged, according to the company. This new battery scheme is arguably better for both the environ ment and your battery budget. It also means that you can leave the Palm V turned on all day as it sits in its cradle, displaying your schedule, a clock, or even a family photo. On the other hand, since the device now draws power through its sole con- nector—its HotSync jack—no existing add-ons fit the Palm V. All Palm periph- erals must be redesigned, including the REAL PROOU REAL RATINGS TE) Reviews you can trust: Macworld rates only final shipping products, not prototypes. What we review is what you can actually buy. OUTSTANDING: $6986 veRY Goop: $$8% Goon: 86% FLAWED: 66 UNACCEPTABLE: 34 June 1999 MACWORLD Delorme Tripmate (a GPS satellite receiver) and LandWare’s Go Type portable PalmPilot keyboard (the company has already announced a Palm V-compatible version). Nor will Palm’s own snap-on Palm modem fit the Palm V; you'll have to buy the sleek new $170 Palm V clip-on modem. (A $50 travel kit, featuring a recharging cord that doesn’t require the cradle, is also available.) The Palm V's other dramatic new fea- ture is its razor-sharp screen. Based on a new film technology from 3M, it provides a light yellow-green background for text and graphics, which seem to float on the glass’s surface. (PalmPilot fans who clamor for a color screen should note the cautionary tale of the new color Windows CE palmtops, whose batteries die after only eight hours of use. Compare that with two months for the Palm IIIx and one month for the Palm V.) Unfortu- nately, both the Palm V and the Palm TILx do something bizarre when you turn on the backlighting: rather than simply light- ing up, Indiglo-like, as on previous mod- els, the entire screen also inverts black and white. The effect is disconcerting and arily more readable than the scheme. 3Com has solved the contrast-knob On the original PalmPilot II too easy to bump off this knob in your pocket; the Palm III recessed the knob so deeply it was almost inaccessible. On the Palm V, you press a physical button to summon an on-screen contrast slider—a great improvement. The rest of the Palm V_ story involves low-key touches: there’s now a stylus slot on both sides of the device, a nod to left-handed users. (The Palm V includes a leatherette screen cover; one edge slides into the unused stylus slot as a hinge.) And 3Com/Palm Computing sells a line of Palm V accessories, includ ing a combination stylus-ink pen and a head-turning, brushed-aluminum hard case (this prevents accidental button- pressing in your pocket, which the leather flap often fails to prevent). Less Flashy Sibling Although the Palm V is remarkably beau- tiful, it also costs $80 more than its pre- decessor, the Palm III, and doesn’t add features or memory. (On the other hand, the Palm V's 2MB go a long way; a typi- cal Palm program is under 20K.) The less flashy but more practical buy is the Palm MacPac 2 REBORN PIM SYNCS WITH PALMS HE LONG-AWAITED PALM- compatible version of Claris Organizer, which 3Com acquired from Apple last year, is here at last. Like Organizer, 3Com/Palm Computing’s MacPac 2 combines an easy- to-use scheduler and contact manager in one convenient package—but it can also share data with Palm organizers. Full Calendar MacPac 2's multiday view shows banners and appointments on top, to-do’s below. You can access MacPac’s datebook views from the tool bar or by clicking on tabs in the calendar window, Sched- ule items include timed appointments, banner events, and to-do's (although there’s no place to describe events). The contact manager sports all the custom- ary data-entry aids and supports popular formats for printing envelopes and labels. An optional Instant Desktop IILx ($464; $369 list price). This model is nearly identical to the Palm IIT but sports twice the memory, a screen almost as good as the Palm Vs, an expansion slot, and a more rugged circuit-board design. (The budget-conscious should also note that the Palm IIx pushes the previous model, the Palm III, down to well below $300 and the two-year-old PalmPilot models to less than $200.) Neither new model introduces any software changes. Skeptics may grumble, but there’s much to admire about a company that refuses to pile new fea- tures, Microsoft-like, on a machine popular for its speed, simplicity, and elegance. Furthermore, remember that the Palm III, IIx, and V are flash-ROM upgradable—in other words, when 3Com does decide to update the software, menu lists your favorite contacts’ names and phone numbers, along with the cur- rent day’s events and tasks. MaePac is an excellent stand-alone PIM, but its real strength is its ability to share data with Palm organizers. On the plus side, 3Com has done an admirable job of writing fast, reliable conduits to handle the flow of data to and from the Palm hardware. But if you're expecting the desktop software to mirror the data on your organizer faithfully, you may be disappointed. For example, untimed events that repeat daily, weekly, or monthly don’t transfer from the Palm to the desktop. Even more annoying, notes linked to calendar items on the Mac lose their attachments when you transfer them to the Palm. Macworld's Buying Advice MacPac 2 will probably satisfy most Palm users. But if you find the inconsistencies between the desktop and the palmtop frustrating, try Chronos’s $50 Consultant (see Reviews, April 1999)—it syncs with Palm organizers and lets users share con- tact and schedule data,—Frankwin TeSsLer RATING: $§HY> PROS: Syncs reliably with Palm devices, CONS: Desktop software doesn't always mirror data on Palm. COMPANY: 3Com/ Palm Computing (800/881-7256, www.palm .com). LIST PRICE: Free for download; on CD, with adapter cable, $15. you'll be able to do so by downloading a software updater to your Macintosh. Macworld's Buying Advice The Palm V is the StarTac phone or Mont Blanc pen of pocket electronics; the Palm IIx is the rugged workhorse. Both new models represent careful, welcome improvements to one of the most beauti- fully conceived pieces of electronic: the Macintosh itself.—pavio pocue RATING: $$§$ PROS: Gorgeous, slender case design; outstanding new screen technology; rechargeable batteries. CONS: Expensive; incom- patible with existing add-ons. COMPANY: 3Com/Palm Computing (800/881-7256, www palm.com). LIST PRICE: $449. www.macworld.com June 1999 35 form-Z 3.0 [Reviews INDUSTRIAL-STRENGTH 3-D MODELING UTO-DE: FORM-Z, WITH its strong feature set and range of geometry-creation capabili- ties, has long been the high-end modeling package to beat on the Macintosh. Version 3.0.2 expands form-Z’s modeling prowess in both obvious and subtle ways, and it offers (at a price) an improved renderer that deliv- ers a degree of realism not previously attainable without a separate rendering program. It’s not designed to appeal to the 3-D novice, but the many enhance- ments will please advanced users. A Better Modeling Model form-Z’s forte has always been 3-D model- ing, and this revision brings a variety of enhancements to the drafting table. Unlike Radiant RadioZity With the optional RadioZity rendering module, form-Z 3,0 can simulate real-world lighting conditions and pro- duce exquisitely realistic scenes. previous versions, form-Z 3.0 supports true NURBS (nonuniform rational B-spline) objects. In addition, the program now lets you mix and match editing modes regard- s of how the objects were created—for example, you can easily convert a cylindri- cal shape created as a basic primitive into a NURBS or patch object (one that can be broken into nonuniform constituent chunks). Version 3.0 supports the full range of patch operations, including custom sub- divisions and attaching and stitching patches. Spline handling has also been beefed up with B-splines and quadratic and cubic Bézier splines for creating complex shapes. These major improvements— 36 June 1999 MACWORLD combined with an already potent variety of modeling tools—solidify form-Z’s position as the most capable 3-D modeling package for the Macintosh. Some of the more subtle improve- ments in the modeling realm include support for skinning between sources that have different numbers of vertex points and the ability to preview the expanded alignment options—for example, you can select different alignment modes for a set of selected objects, and form-Z interactively displays the objects with the selected alignment settings. The new hierarchical layering and manipulation features are tremendously useful for editing and managing complex objects made up of many smaller parts. Version 3.0’s interface, although it still takes some effort to mas- ter, is more intuitive for the production-minded 3-D artist and a bit more approachable for new users. For example, it’s more customizable; you can edit the core tool palettes to display only the items you use the most, and arrange tools in any combination. The new Options palette displays most of a selected object’s vital sta- tistics—a simple task that required bringing up a dialog box in previous versions—and lets you edit object parameters. Overall, this version seems more accessible than previous ones, even though learning the program still requires a substantial invest- ment of time and effort. Pictures at an Exhibition In the rendering arena, form-Z’s improve- ments include new shaders for rendering snow, fog, and volumetric lighting—wel- come additions for architectural appli tions. An optional module, RadioZity, offers strikingly realistic radiosity render- ing (which simulates light energy in a scene, resulting in much more realistic shadow and color detail than ray tracing can offer). If you need ray-tracing capa- bilities, you have to purchase the Render- Zone module. Ir’s also important to note that RadioZity, while delivering very high rendering quality, is simply not fast enough for even the most basic camera animation—for example, flying around a building that is illuminated by more than a couple of light sources would take an inordinate amount of time to render. This is not a limitation of form-Z or RadioZity’s implementation of radiosity rendering; the complex calculations that radiosity requires are simply too much for anything more complicated than a ge frame. still im: Although objects and scenes are usually best exported to a separate ai mation program (such as Electric Image’s ElectricImage), form-Z now offers basic tools for animating the cam- ne. These tools allow you to hroughs of 3-D scenarios documents. Unfortunately because you can’t do anything more complex (such as moving the actual objects in a scene), you still need an external animation program for anything but the simplest tas! ‘This requirement is a drawback for yone seeking a one-stop solution for 3-D animation; on the other hand, form-Z’s intended audience is clearly more inter- ested in industrial-strength modeling than in advanced animation, But the rel- atively high price of the rendering options, combined with form-Z’s limited animation controls, still force serious users to buy a separate rendering and animation program—not an attractive option for those on a budget. Macworld's Buying Advice form-Z remains the most powerful, flexible 3-D modeler for the Macintosh. Although better object animation would have been welcome, form-Z has never been billed as an animation package. The bottom line: if you can’t model something in form-Z, chances are you can’t model it on a Macintosh.—pawio aieony RATING: $9991) PROS: Useful additions to modeler; true NURBS support; customizable inter- face; enhanced scene-organization tools. CONS: Animation limited to camera movement; expen- sive rendering options. COMPANY: auto-des-sys (614/488-8838, www.formz.com), LIST PRICE: $1,495; with RenderZone, $1,995; with Radio- Zity and RenderZone, $2,390. Accounting Software NEW OPTIONS FOR SMALL-BUSINESS ACCOUNTING HE PAST FEW YEARS HAVE SEEN significant changes in the Mac accounting-software landscape: Intuit stopped developing Quick: Books for the Mac, Peachtree Accounting resurfaced as Aatrix Account- ing, and BestWare updated M.Y.O.B. Accounting Plus with time-billing sup- portand links to Microsoft Office 98, Both Aatrix Accounting 3.0 and M.Y.O.B. Accounting Plus 8.0 do a cred- itable job of shielding users from the m teries of double-entry accounting while offering the essential components of a small-business accounting system. How- ever, M.Y.O.B.'s additional features and better stability make it a smarter choice for most small business sample com- pany file to experiment with before com- mitting your financial data, To speed the setup process, M.Y.O.B. uses wizards that help you select and modify a chart of accounts; enter vendor, customer, and employee contact information and histor- ical data; choose a default invoi purch: form; and custom program's operation, \atrix Accounting also uses a wizard to collect basic information and create your chart of accounts, although you have fewer sample companies to choose from. s you enter your setup information, an on-screen checklist reminds you of the incomplete tasks. Unfortunately, 1 wasn’t able to get check marks to appear for the completed sections. Perhaps because Aatrix isn’t as fi ture-rich as M.Y.O.B., it’s easier to use for basic operations suct ing bills and recording receipts. You can quickly select an activity from the hierarchical pop-ups at the bottom of the screen; to enter a vendor code, customer code, or account identifier, you double-click on the field or click on the magnifying-g! icon. Ever-present Smart Guides display field-related help information. And while the online tutorial needs updating (it still refers to Peachtree Accounting), the Help file does contain an excellent introduction to double-entry accounting. -ord M.Y.O.B. has a more polished inter- face and a more professional-looking man- ual. You select operations from a graphic, hierarchical interface similar to Aatrix Accounting’s (see “Selecting Activities”), tomizing reports and forms, on the other hand, is reminiscent of DOS accounting programs. Few users will have the patience to do more than add a logo to their forms. M.Y.O.B. is designed for multiple users; you just buy a license for each workstation you want to add. Although you can run Aatrix Accounting in a multi- user environment, the company program, you ca ty Pema Pyrat Puszag words thar allow access to the entire or only to tain functions or modules. Each program has a back- “ee sees a) Sy “<a = =h=| "Ss up command to. safeguard your data files, Unfortunately, atrix’s backup procedure repeatedly crashed our test machine, even after a clean install of OS 8.1; backups had Selecting Activities down menus list reports and other advanced features However, many seemingly simple ope tions force you to search through the man- ual and the myriad of help systems; I fre- quently found myself looking in the wrong sections of the program for previously entered data, Even the method of display- ing code lists takes getting used to. For example, to view a list of vendor o codes, you must tab out of the field. M.Y.O.B.'s new support for time- billing accounting will make it attractive to service-oriented businesses. You define activities that are billed according to an employee’ hourly rate, a customer-spe- cific rate, or an activity rate. And you track work in progress with activity slips; times can be filled in by hand or by click- ing on the slip’s timer button. Reports, Forms, and Security Both programs offer many standard reports, along with customizable forms, that you can view on sereen or print. Here, M.Y.O.B. is clearly superior. You can easily change the order of the fields, which fields appear in a report, and the fields’ formatting. You can customize forms by dragging or resizing fields and pasting graphics from the Clipboard. Ver- sion 8 can also export data to Microsoft Office 98—a feature previously available only to Windows users. Aatrix Accounting’s appr ch to cus- To select activities in M.Y.0.B, Accounting Plus 8.0, you click on buttons in the hierarchical interface; drop- to be restored manually. (The company is aware of the prob- lem and says it affects only users of certain versions of the OS prior to 8.5.) Macworld's Buying Advice Of the two programs, M.Y.O.B, Account- ing Plus 8.0 is clearly the more polished, evolved, and feature rich; ing 3.0, although easy to learn and use, has stability problems and lacks time-billing and multiuser features. Regardless of which program you choose, no: should e: cl when getting started and plan ona relatively Jong learning period.—steven scuwarrz Aatrix Accounting 3.0 RATING: §§'/2 PROS: Choosing modules and ‘entering data is easy. CONS: Complicated report writer and forms customization; frequent crashes; doesn’t support multiple users, COMPANY: Aatrix Software (800/426-0854, www.aatrix com), LIST PRICE: $169. M.Y.0.B. Accounting Plus 8.0 RATING: $469 PROS: Excellent setup routine; time-billing support; links to Microsoft Office: multiuser ready. CONS: Difficult to learn; confus- 12 help system. COMPANY: BestWare (800/ 322-6962, www.bestware.com). LIST PRICE: 5199, plus $99 per workstation license. www.macworld.com june 1999 37 Epson Stylus INK-JET PRINTER BREAKS THE ACK IN APPLE'S DARKEST DAYS, Epson was the only major manu- facturer of ink-jet printers for the Mac. Now that Apple is healthy again, Hewlett-Packard and Canon are moving into Epson's territory with new Mac-based ink-jet models. But Epson isn’t resting on its Mac laurels; the company’s new $449 Stylus Color 900 offers unprecedented speed and print quality with an added bonus—it works with older Macs that have serial ports, in addition to the new USB-equipped Power Mac G3 systems. Speed Demon ‘Two features distinguish the Stylus Color 900 from its predecessor, the Stylus Color 850: speed and image quality. Epson says the Stylus Color 900 is its fastest ink-jet printer; Maeworld Lab tests show that while it doesn’t quite match the rated 10- ppm print speed, it’s a speed demon at lower resolution: We produced a variety of sample prints on both plain and photo-quali paper, at 180 by 180 dpi, 360 by 360 dpi, al and 720 by 1,440 dpi. One unusu pect of the printer is that its speed nearly identical at 180 dpi and 360 dpi: an IS8MB Adobe Photoshop image took 50 seconds to print at the lower resolu- tion and 55 seconds at the higher set- ting, When we switched to the 360-dpi fine mode—which offers better im ge quality—the same file printed in about 75 seconds. We saw similar results when print- ing a seven-page QuarkXPress docu- ment: it took 98 seconds to print at 360 dpi in normal mode and nearly 4 minutes at 360 dpi in fine mode. However, the printer slows considerably at its maxi- mum resolution of 1,440 by 760 dpi: the Photoshop file printed in about 10.3 minutes, while the QuarkXPress docu- ment took nearly an hour. Variable Dots Epson has boosted the printer's image quality by reducing the minimum in drop size to 3 picoliters, compared with 11 picoliters in the Stylus Color 850 and 6 in the more recent Stylus Color 740 (see 38 June 1999 MACWORLD [ Reviews Color 900 SPEED BARRIER” Reviews, January 1999). The smaller drop ze allows the Stylus Color 900 to gener- ate variable-size dots for sharper edges and enhanced photo quali Although it’s a four-color printer, the Stylus Color 900 produces photographic nages whose quality appears to equal or exceed that of images printed on the six- color Stylus Photo 700. Even printed at 360 dpi on plain paper, images looked very good. Printed at full resolution on photo-quality glossy paper, the images were spectacular (although one sample photo in our test suite appeared a bit dark when we used the default settings). Te line art, and photos all showed sharp edge detail, and text printed on plain paper was virtually indistinguishable from la printer output. Thanks to the smaller drop size in the Stylus Color 900, you'll see the biggest difference in photos with lots of fine detail. With softer images, you won't see much difference between the Stylus Color 900 and the Stylus Color 740 (which also uses variable-dot printing). ‘The printer uses two ink cartridges, one for black ($33) and the other for cyan, magenta, and yellow (S40). Epson says the black cartridge is good for 840 pages— assuming 5 percent coverage at 360 dpi— while the color cartridge produces 570 pages at the same resolution. This work: out to less than 4 cents per page for blac and about 7 cents for color—quite rea- ynable for an ink-jet printer. However, with a three-color cartridge, you have to replace the entire unit if even one color runs out. ser- Flexible Bundle Epson ships the printer with its standard driver software, which includes tools for adjusting output and checking the print- er’s operating status. You can reposition output on the page; bump cyan, magen: and yellow channels up or down using a curves function; and check the ink level in each cartridge. The driver automati- cally adjusts output to match the media type you've selected; you can also choose from Apple’s ColorSyne or Epson's built- in color-management software, Although the Stylus Color 900 produces CMYK output, you get the best results when gen- erating RGB images, which the printer converts to CMYK as it prints the pages. The Stylus Color 900 has no built-in network connec- tions, although you can use the serial or USB ports to add it to an AppleTalk network. A $649 networked version with a built-in 10/100BaseTX card should be available by the time you read this. You can Iso add an Ethernet card to 5 the base model. Epson is offering an unusual software bundle in which you can choose any two Mac programs from a list of five: Dr. Solomon's Virex, Lotus Orga- nizer 97 GS, Sierra’s Print Artist 4.0, Berkeley Systems’ You Don't Know Jack Volume 1, and Blizzard Entertainment's Wareraft II: Tides of Darknes: Macworld's Buying Advice The Stylus Color 900 continues Epson's tradition of bringing groundbreaking ink-jet printing technologies to the Mac market. Its high speed and relatively ine pensive consumables make ita viable alter- native to costlier color lasers for general business applications. However, it’s pricey for an ink-jet printer, and you lose almost all of the speed benefits when printing at full resolution. If you're willing to com- promise a litle on speed and photo qual- ity, consider the Stylus Color 740, which costs about $170 less.—sterHen BEALE RATING: $6$@ PROS: Fast; excellent print quality. CONS: A bit pricey for an ink-jet printer; much slower at high resolutions, COMPANY: Epson America (800/463-7766, www.epson.com). COMPANY'S ESTIMATED PRICE: $449. Job-Management Software KEEP PROJECTS ON TRACK WITH FASTTRACK SCHEDULE, JOB MANAGER, AND JOBORDER ERVICE BUSINESSES WITH 10 to 200 employees face unusual challenges in automating their billing and job-tracking processes ‘The three packages covered here— AEC Software's FastTrack Schedule 6.01, Management Software’s JobOrder 7.02, and MetaCommunications’ Job Manager 1.5—offer productive job-management functions without the cost and complex- ity of high-end vertical systems. automatically created when you turn an estimate into a job, shows underused or overbooked resources. The program also generates extensive printed forms and reports. Creative Order Management Job Manager 1.5 is similar to JobOrder in a variety of ways. It tracks jobs from initial order entry through invoicing; employees record time and material data, and the program can generate management reports at any time. However, Job Manager lacks JobOrder’s formal esti- Visual Timeline FastTrack Schedule makes it easy to display a job’s progress. JobOrder 7.02, based on the ACI US 4th Dimension database, will appeal to ad agencies, design shops, consultants, and engineering firms. It handles job planning and estimating, scheduling, pro- posal creation, inventory management, and accounting. The software requires much attention to detail and takes some time to learn. Setting up JobOrder takes from a few hours to several days; you enter everything from sales-tax rates and work-center names to general-ledger account numbers. Activ you initiate by creating a proposal speci- fying the time and material resources required. Using one of many forms, you select general work categories and enter the duration of each phase. Once a client approves your proposal and the job begins, each person records his or her daily activities using time slips. This data automatically flows to the account- ing area, yielding up-to-the-moment invoices and financial listings. JobOrder offers valuable manage- ment tools. For example, a timeline, ies revolve around a job, which mating step, and you need a third-party application for detailed accounting. The back- end database is Microsoft SQL Server, requiring Win- dows NT. Appropriate for commer- cial printers, publishers, and design shops, Job Manager has much going for it. The pro- gram is reliable and easy to customize, and it usually works more quickly than JobOrder. Creating a new job requires only a job number, name, and customer; forms are prefilled based on a user's log-in. So how do you maintain discipline and consistency? Electronic job tickets track employce time, and workflow tem- plates graphically show how each job should run through your production cycle. As a result, managers can deter- mine just when a job entered and left each cost center and who worked on it. Version 1.5 adds the ability to track out- side purchases, and gives you the option of including sales and service representa- tives in the workflow. Scheduling without the Overkill ‘Traditional project-management software demands that users understand a lot of theory. Fast Track Schedule 6.01 produces colorful timelines without requiring knowledge of resource loading or PERT charts. Version 6.01 further simplifies scheduling by automatically linking tasks; exchanging schedules with Microsoft Project; and supporting Mac OS 8.5 fe tures, such as folder actions. ‘To build a schedule, you simply posi- tion an activity bar in the timeline graph; start and finish times automatically regis- ter in the corresponding data columns. After you enter more tasks, the built-in outliner lets you arrange them in unlim- ited outline level FastTrack Schedule doesn’t recognize resources, such as people and material, but its core scheduling is quite good, and it is far easier to use than full-fledged project managers. Macworld's Buying Advice JobOrder is more involved and costs more per client than does Job Manager, but the former accommodates a wider range of businesses and includes account- ing functions, Still, design firms and other creative businesses will find few draw- backs in Job Manager, so you should con- sider it first. If you simply need to keep more-accurate timetables, we recom- mend FastTrack Schedule —mixe Heck FastIrack Schedule 6.01 RATING: §§$$ PROS: Automatic task linking, scripting, filtering, and activity outlining; fine pre- sentation tools. CONS: No resource manage- ment. COMPANY: AEC Software (800/346- 9413, www.aecsoft.com). LIST PRICE: $199. Job Manager 1.5 RATING: §§§H PROS: Extensive job tracking and costing; straightforward navigation. CONS: Requires Windows NT server; no basic accounting, COMPANY: MetaCommunications (800/771- 6382, www,jobmanager.com). LIST PRICE: Five users, $3,699. JobOrder 7.02 RATING: $$$) PROS: Customizable quotes and bids; timelines; double-entry accounting. CONS: Takes time to set up and learn: costly. COMPANY: Management Software (607/756- 4150, wwwjoborder.com). LIST PRICE: Five users, $7,840; setup and training, $250. www.macworld.com June 1999 39 Epson Expression 800 — MIDRANGE SCANNING AT A LOW-END PRICE ANNE! ter and les in this competitive landscape, Epson's Expression 800 is a breakthrough in price and performance. When equipped with an optional transparency adapter, it’s the first under-$1,000 flatbed that we'd consider when scanning 35mm slides for anything other than the Web. ‘The scanner is available in three config- urations. The $699 Executive includes Epson “TWAIN Pro and LaserSoft SilverFast Lite scanning modules, Adobe Photoshop 5 LE, NewSoft Presto Page Manager, and Xerox “TextBridge Classic OCR software. The $799 Artist model adds the full LaserSoft Silver- Fast 4 and Monaco Profiler Lite. But the real breakthrough comes in the $999 Pro package, which adds a transparency adapter to the Artist bundle, transforming the Expression 800 into a slide scanner. The Expression 800 uses a quarter- stepping motor to move the scanner head in 3,200-dpi increments, producing a true optical resolution of 800 by 3,200 dpi. We've generally been skeptical about inter- polated resolution in scanners, but at 2,400 ING B sxpensive, but e ImageAXS Pro 4.0 MIDRANGE IMAGE DATABASE HETHER YOU CALL THEM image databases or media-asset managers, programs that help you organize photos, illustra- tions, movies, sounds, and other clements are the current rage among media pros. ImageAXS Pro 4.0 occupies a middle groun