Software Review of:
ImageAXS 
Professional 

ImageAXS Professional supports all the popular digital file formats, visual and audio, for both Windows and the Mac. It also supports import devices such as scanners, digital cameras, and the Internet. These digital file catalogs contain a small icon in each thumbnail window that lets you see at a glance if the file is an image, sound file, or movie.
 

What does the program do and how well does it do it?

The benefit of this is that one can take the multitude of clip art, sound files, etc., that we sometimes buy or create, spend some time cataloguing it with a name and keywords, and you will have a virtual database of files with searchable names instead of the number labels that clip art manufacturers so brazenly place on their media. Once catalogued, you will not have to load up all your files just to find the media file that you know you have “somewhere”. See the notation in the narrative below on Help files about the one problem I did have. I tested the search component and it quickly brought up only the thumbnails of the files that fit the search criteria. That is an asset for someone like me who has files on multiple partitions and removable media.

Portfolios
Using a drag and drop method, one can organize and display images in portfolios, including Web page portfolios. Subsets of records can also be created via drag_and_drop into your custom folders. Again, label and sort these records however meets your needs. Since thumbnails can be moved around, it is perfect for preparing a slide show presentation.

Creation of Web pages
ImageAXS Professional automatically creates HTML pages of selected images with a single command-–export to HTML. Visitors to the Web site can click on the thumbnails to see full size images. I used the wizard to set this up and found it a little cumbersome. I was able to manually set up a web page and clicking on the thumbnail worked. In fairness to the evaluation of the program, I just did not have the time to play around with it and understand all the server-side references and terminology it referred to. 

e_ZCard Export
e_ZCard is an electronic mini_album that combines images and two fields of text in a self_extracting executable file. Since the file can be placed on a zip or floppy disk (32_bit version only) or even sent via e-mail, this is a convenient way to share images with people who have no imaging software of their own. I e-mailed an e-ZCard without any difficulty.

Manual, Help file, Web Help file, and did I need help!
The boxed product contained the program CD and a flyer advertising other company products. The manual is available, as the current trend seems to be, on the CD in .pdf format. The manual is also available in .pdf format directly on the web site. It is very well done as are the Help files available within the program. The program installed without a hitch. However, I experienced my first problem when I tried to load the thumbnail files into a Collection file. I had acquired photos from my digital camera, saved them in a folder labeled Digital photos, and planned to load those and files from other drives to test the program. Most Windows programs are written well enough to be up and running without going to the documentation until I need special features. Everything worked until I executed the Acquire command to place the thumbnails into the program-created file. I received an error message saying that “. . .another program was using the connection and had locked the connection.” I closed out everything and restarted several times with the same error message presented. Finally, I went out to the Web site and found the answer in the Support section. Resolution of the problem resulted in deleting two Window/System dlls and replacing them with updated files. I am running Windows 98 second edition and thought I had the current everything. Since I was very reluctant to monkey around with the System dll files, I told myself I should pack up the box and send it back to Larry. However, after several days, I was game enough to try it and the thumbnails transferred over into the window without any problem like it is supposed to.

Technical support
It has been my experience that tech support is only as good as the company’s philosophy toward its customers. Caere is committed to providing customers with high quality, timely technical support; and as it should be, support is only available to users of registered Caere products. (Web registration places a cookie on your drive.) Web-based free support includes technical tips, answers to frequently asked questions, and the manual. No patch or update is available for the program. Another form of assistance is Tech Help Center which includes e_mail contact with technicians. They also have a fee-based support option available, as also is the trend, via a long-distance phone call. To their credit, Caere products ship with at least one free product support credit and if the technician answering the call determines that the issue about which you are calling is a known or documented problem that does not yet have a fix, you will not use your credit. Additional tech support is available for a fee (typical industry charge).

Availability and pricing
I did not find it locally even though Caere’s site indicates it is available at CompUSA, Best Buy, and Office Depot. 

A free full_featured 30_day trial of ImageAXS 4.1 and ImageAXS Professional 4.1 can be downloaded off Caere's Web site. ImageAXS Professional is available for $199.95 from Caere's online store. If you plan to purchase the program, I suggest paying $8.95 to ship a CD as the file size is 70,029K bytes. That means the average download times can vary from 11 hours, 52 min. (14.4K Modem) to 3 hours, 16 min.(56K Modem). PC Connection, an on-line store, lists it for $179.

Owners of previous versions of ImageAXS Professional can upgrade to version 4.1 for $49.95 and owners of previous versions of ImageAXS can upgrade to ImageAXS Professional 4.1 for $99.95 through Caere's online store.

Summary
Of note, there is another product available called ImageAXS CD Authoring Kit that enables users to create searchable ImageAXS collections and publish them on CDs for Windows or Macintosh operating systems. The Authoring Kit includes ImageAXS 4.1 to create the collection, all the supplemental files needed to make the CD, and ImageAXS_CD, a distributable, read_only version of ImageAXS. What with all the attributes of ImageAXS Pro, one could purchase this product ($499), have the newer version of the program, and create a CD to distribute for whatever purpose one had in mind. Teachers could use this as instructional media for classes and aspiring graphic artists could market their works with an extensive database of information about each file. If that price is a bit steep, then buy ImageAXS Pro , create an e-Zcard and pass around your Collection file on a floppy.

Except for a few quirks that may not be related to the program, but to my lack of time to thoroughly explore the documentation and work with it, I think it is a good program. While the reference in the beginning identified the ‘professional’ who needs a powerful multimedia database combined with sophisticated sharing capabilities, it can also be used by the home enthusiast. The price is considerably higher than other photo management programs on the market, but this one has a lot more features making it a very comprehensive multimedia management program.

System requirements
Software for Windows and Mac is included on the same CD_ROM disk. Windows 95/98 or NT 4.0, 486DX, but a Pentium processor or better is recommended, 16 MB RAM (32 MB recommended), 20 MB of disk space for installation, 16_bit Color or better recommended, CD_ROM Drive. Macintosh requirements are also listed on the box. While these are the listed requirements, we all know that success may be dependent upon how a program is used in terms of utilization of memory or disk space. For instance, the volume of images and the type of files to be catalogued sometimes are memory hogs.

The publisher, Caere Corporation, producers of other fine software like OmniPage and OmniForm, is located on the web at <www.caere.com>. Caere acquired this imaging product line from Digital Arts & Sciences in the Fall of 1999 to expand their presence in the media asset management category and further solidify Caere's leadership in digital imaging markets. Caere has recently been purchased by Scansoft Corporation, but they retain the listed web site.

Caere Corporation
100 Cooper Court 
Los Gatos, Ca 95032. 
(800) 654-1187.