Delrina’s Communications Suite 2.1

a review by Robert B. O’Connor, Alamo PC

Delrina’s Communications Suite 2.1 is a coupling of two packages, Winfax Pro 4.0 and WinComm Pro 1.1, as well as Internet Messenger x.x. These packages allow the PC users to send, receive and manage faxes, and on-line communications as well as e-mail. Further, for a monthly service fee, users can enroll in Delrina’s Fax Mailbox that will receive faxes even if your PC is unplugged! Coupled also is an opportunity to partake of Delrina’s Fax Broadcast, which boasts of a megasending power (e.g. 200 2-page faxes in 15 minutes compared to the 7 hours that the rest of us would spend slaving over a hot fax machine sending the same 200 faxes. By the way, that works out to 26.7 pages per minute compared to 1.5 pages per minute at a cost of $.4375 cost per page.) Although I wouldn’t recommend it for Christmas cards, it seems like a convenient and reasonable business cost that could recouped easily.

Requirements

Although any windows 3.1-compatible machine running in enhanced mode in DOS 3.1 should be able to handle the Communications Suite, I suspect that no one would be satisfied with the results. Delrina recommends a 486 or Pentium, 8 MB, 21 MB hard disk space (plus space for temporary files), and DOS 5.0. The suite was released prior to Windows 95 and so is not specific to it.

Installation

Installation was straightforward, filled with options, but clearly explained. The user can install a complete package or a customized configuration for WinFax Pro and WinComm Pro, I installed a complete configuration of both with the macros for three popular applications (word Perfect for windows 6.0, MS Excel 5.0., and MS Word 6.0) and the job took approximately 22 minutes. it accurately diagnosed the proper port for my faxmodem and indicated that it had been tested and approved by Delrina. The required hard disk space for Winfax with subdirectories is 11.3 MB and WinComm 7.2 MB. The README.DOC is more than a year old, and the WinFax Pro is a fourth version, so users should be confident in expecting a stable product.

Ease of Learning

Manuals are clearly written and filled with helpful and clearly reproduced screens showing the real-time program in action. It is comforting when your experience corresponds to what’s depicted in the manual. Although I did not experiment with all the features (the programs taken together are quite comprehensive and would take many hours to run through all of them), whether I intuited what to do and deliberately avoided the manual, or blindly followed the manual, the results were similar - what I was aiming to do, I was able to do.

Features

Some of the features that strike me as more interesting include: Secure-faxing, easily managed phone-lists, and great flexibility in the sending, reception, and management of faxes. Secure faxing is a routine that ensures that a fax is sent only to a machine whose pre-defined CSID (Computer Station Identifier) is recognized by the sending machine. The implication that this would make a fax secure, however, is optimistic at best. Phone-lists are very easily managed, and dBASE, and ASCII text compatible. The point-and-click linking of a dBASE phone list eases the task especially for those whose facility with dBASE is limited. Fax sending can be scheduled for more convenient times, and reception can allow for quiet reception, or one which immediately notifies the recipient. There are also several hundred cover sheets included, but I typically do not spend much time with cover sheets.

For those who love cover sheets, though, they can choose from a wide variety and then edit them to their heart’s content. The icon that reveals the progress of a fax as it is being sent is no great technological feat, but it will keep young children’s interest away from the reset button!

Perhaps my greatest disappointment was with the WinFax Pro’s OCR performance. I faxed a one-page document, triple spaced, laser produced, with some CAPS and the rest a Times-Roman 12 pt font. Although it was received with no difficulty, and although I could manipulate, rotate, zoom, save and do all sorts of things, I would have spent a hour editing it into a useful document. I plan to make a Xerox of the document and then try faxing it again. Perhaps the print on the original simply wasn’t strong enough to fax properly. I am always open to the possibility of “operator error”, and this might be resolved with some tinkering. But, initially at least, OCR for me was unsatisfactory.

WinComm Pro is most useful for those users who spend much time on-line especially with any of the commercial services. The package comes with setups for the major services, e.g. CompuServe, On-line America, Genie, etc. Off-line reading, DDE support, extensive phone usage monitoring, the intuitive graphic interface that allows for drag-and-drop ease all make it a useful communications tool. Also, right-clicking the mouse brings up common tasks.

I am somewhat surprised that Delrina did not bundle a browser for the World Wide Web. It strikes me as a natural that would complement the Suite. (Dave’s Note: This was an evaluation version of the Comm Suite, the shipping version now includes Cyberjack for just that purpose!)

Catalog prices are approximately $85 for WinFax Pro and $120 for the Suite. I haven’t seen a separate pricing for WinComm Pro. The question of value is always important to those of us who are on a limited budget. Is the Suite a value? It may be unfair to suggest strongly that it is or it isn’t since I haven’t conducted any comparisons for competing products. I believe it not misleading, though, to say that if you use (or would use) faxes extensively, and if you spend much time on the on-line services. Communications Suite 2.1 would reduce the administrivia that often accompanies these interests.

A Canadian company, Delrina can be reached at 895 Don Mills Rd., 500-2 Park Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada, M3C1W3 (16) 441-3676. The less ecumenically minded can aim for: 6830 Via Del Oro, Suite 200, San Jose CA 95119-1353 (408) 363-2345. Delrina can be rerached on the World Wide Web at http://www.delrina.com.