While Lotus, Microsoft, and CE Software continue to dominate the Mac E-mail market, Qualcomm, SoftArc, and Banyan offer alternatives with added features and expanded platform support.
* Qualcomm (619/587-1121) has renamed, repriced, and retooled Eudora, the most popular Internet-based E-mail client. The freeware version is now called Eudora Light. The commercial version, dubbed Eudora Pro, includes TCP/IP access software for Macintosh and Windows, as well as a built-in spelling checker, at $89 for a single-user license. (Volume pricing ranges from $357.50 for 5 users to $11,250 for 250.) Eudora Pro has Power Mac and 680X0 editions. Eudora is popular with Internet users because it supports Internet standards like MIME for multimedia E-mail. Eudora Pro owners can get the spelling checker free via anonymous FTP to ftp.qualcomm.com.
* SoftArc (905/415-7000) is positioning FirstClass--often thought of as BBS software--as a corporate groupware and E-mail system, and it's making inroads into this application area. SoftArc plans to ship a Windows server to complement its existing Mac server in late June. FirstClass gives users of Macs, Windows, and OS/2 access to E-mail and group conferencing. Gateways are available to connect FirstClass to the Internet via UUCP. FirstClass pricing starts at about $80 per user (plus server costs).
* BeyondMail, an E-mail and workflow package from Banyan Systems (508/ 898-1000), now has client software for Mac and Unix users. Macintosh users still have to connect to a PC server that's running VINES (Banyan's network operating system), but they get the full suite of BeyondMail features, including BeyondRules, a scripting language that lets users create automated document-management and workflow systems; and MailMinders, which are rule-based message-handling agents. BeyondMail uses VINES's Pricing for directory services; Banyan plans to add support for NetWare MHS soon. Pricing for BeyondMail for Macintosh starts at about $100 per user (plus server costs).
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