At that time, I pointed out that both MaxDOS and CrossMac did the job of providing a transparent Mac filesystem for the Amiga. CrossMac just did it prettier, with more support tools.
No longer. MaxDOS 2.5 adds the sort of goodies CrossMac offered, including icon display (black and white for both of them, unfortunately), resource extractors, file type modification, and relatively straightforward assignment of AmigaDOS file types to Mac programs.
The solid Mounter, for creating and using Mac partitions, still exists. It has stabilized (it would crash on one of my Mac partitions, for reasons not even Media4 could ever pin down), and is still very easy to use. Once you're up and running, there's your Mac filesystem, complete with data and resource fork idiosyncracies.
The included commodity MaxDOSFiles can make what was once a pain, modem transfers of Mac software, more straightforward by, among other things, monitoring the use of MacBinary files on specified devices. It can also protect the user (or the drive, depending on your viewpoint) from seeing files the Mac OS would hide from them.
On the downside, the costs of being an Amiga development company have dictated that MaxDOS 2.5 now comes with even more minimalist packaging than before...and no hardcopy manual. The AmigaGuide manual included is great, and does the job, and to be honest, I'm glad to see online text references build legitimacy. But some people like hardcopy manuals just as they like hardcopy magazines, so you have been notified.
Street prices on the software have dropped below $100, which is good to see, particularly with the competition of ShapeShifter, the low-cost shareware Mac emulator which recently added a minimalist Mac filesystem for the Amiga side of operations. MaxDOS still comes out cheaper in that you don't need the Mac ROMs or OS. But the tide may be turning.
Still, MaxDOS 2.5 does what it says it does, and does it well.
Media4 Productions, Inc.
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blandwehr@bix.com