Previous Issue | Search TidBITS | TidBITS Home Page | Next Issue

TidBITS Logo

TidBITS#433/08-Jun-98

Forced to use Windows? Mark Anbinder thinks that Windows runs better on a Mac, and tells all in his review of Virtual PC 2.0. Also, Adam continues his detailed series on backups, explaining different software and hardware options for use when backing up your data. Finally, interesting new products include GoLive's CyberStudio Personal Edition and Macromedia's Fireworks, a program for creating Web graphics.

Topics:

Copyright 1998 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:

MailBITS/08-Jun-98

Terry Morse Software Sponsoring TidBITS -- We're pleased to welcome our newest sponsor, a small company that's in essence coming back to TidBITS. Terry Morse of Terry Morse Software used to be the president of Salient Software - makers of DiskDoubler, AutoDoubler, and CopyDoubler - and Salient Software was one of our first sponsors years ago. Salient merged with Fifth Generation Systems, which was in turn purchased by Symantec. Symantec eventually retired Salient's utilities, and we didn't hear from Terry for a while. Then, out of the blue, he popped up with a new company and a new product, the classically named Myrmidon (either a follower of Achilles in the Trojan War or one who executes commands without question).

Myrmidon remains unique in its capability to create accurate Web pages from any Mac file, simply by "printing" to a Web page. It's a welcome solution to the problem of needing to put information from various Mac applications on the Web. Also interesting are tricks such as creating a Web page by printing a report from a database - it's ideal for a one-time usage. Most people won't use Myrmidon for all their Web pages; it's best likened to an odd-looking wrench that can save you hours of frustration fixing the sink (plumbing and HTML are similar in that respect for me). We're happy to see small companies like Terry Morse Software producing useful utilities that help set the Mac apart. [ACE]

<http://www.terrymorse.com/>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbtxt=Myrmidon>

Macromedia Launches Fireworks -- Over the past few years, we've seen releases of several programs that aim to provide an all-in-one solution for designing Web pages. With its release of Fireworks 1.0, Macromedia is attempting to do the same for Web graphics: unite the many tools in a designer's toolbox into a one-stop solution. Incorporating text, vector, and bitmap drawing tools, Fireworks optimizes images for the Web, displays real-time previews of changes, and includes features for applying and removing text and graphics effects. Fireworks has an estimated street price of $299, and a 9.6 MB trial version is available. [JLC]

<http://www.macromedia.com/software/fireworks/>

GoLive CyberStudio Gets Personal -- For some Web designers, the term "fully featured" can be interpreted as "extras I'll pay for but not use." GoLive is addressing budget-conscious users with the $99 CyberStudio Personal Edition, which includes most of the core Web-creation features of CyberStudio, but without some of the original's advanced features. Designers can lay out Web pages visually, edit HTML and JavaScript source code, and manage a site's files from within CyberStudio Personal. Features available only in the professional edition include integrated Dynamic HTML (DHTML), Cascading Style Sheets, grep-style search and replace, QuickTime 3.0 support, HTML 4.0 support, WebObjects support, and some built-in file transfer options. GoLive is offering free competitive upgrades for owners of full versions of PageMill, BBEdit, Home Page, Dreamweaver, Microsoft Front Page, NetObjects Fusion, and Symantec Visual Page; to qualify, users must either send their competitive software to GoLive or bring the packages to the GoLive booth at Web Design and Development '98 in San Francisco (23-Jun-98 to 26-Jun-98), or Macworld Expo in New York City (08-Jul-98 to 10-Jul-98). A free 30-day trial version is available as an 8.7 MB download. [JLC]

<http://www.golive.com/three/cyberstudio/>
<http://www.golive.com/three/gogetit/>

Virtual PC 2.0: Not Just a Minor Upgrade

by Mark H. Anbinder <mha@tidbits.com>

Connectix Corporation's Virtual PC wasn't the first product that allowed Mac users to run Windows software, but much to the chagrin of Orange PC maker Orange Micro and SoftWindows publisher Insignia Solutions, Virtual PC's popularity skyrocketed thanks to a no-compromises feel. With version 2.0, released earlier this year, Virtual PC became better, stronger, and faster.

<http://www.connectix.com/html/connectix_virtualpc.html>
<http://www.orangemicro.com/>
<http://www.insignia.com/>

Although early Windows-on-Mac users scoffed at using a software emulator instead of a hardware solution such as Orange PC or Apple's own PC Compatibility Cards, Virtual PC proved zippy enough on fast Mac hardware to silence critics. A Pentium emulator, rather than a Windows emulator like SoftWindows, Virtual PC has the flexibility to run just about any operating system that can be installed on traditional Intel hardware. Note that while most users will want Virtual PC 2.0 bundled with Windows 95, it's also available as a less expensive PC-DOS package, to which users may add the Pentium-compatible operating system of their choice, such as Linux or Windows NT. (See "Virtual PC: Slow but Well Worth the Wait" in TidBITS-397.)

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04121>

New in Two -- At first glance, the list of enhancements in Virtual PC 2.0 made me wonder why it wasn't Virtual PC 1.5, or even 1.1. Better performance, better game compatibility, and drag & drop features between Mac and Windows environments seemed nice but not earth shaking. In fact, the new Virtual PC 2.0 package includes the original manual plus a light Addendum booklet for 2.0's enhancements.

To my delight, a quick spin with Virtual PC 2.0 made it clear that the software is that much better and that much faster. The changes can be described quickly enough that printing new manuals would have been a waste of money, but they so improve the user experience that I'm left wondering why I liked Virtual PC 1.0.

Virtual PC 2.0 truly is noticeably faster; Connectix claims 25 to 40 percent faster. Windows 95 goes from utterly unusable to fairly usable on my 603e-based,133 MHz PowerBook 1400c , which I should point out is a considerably slower machine than Connectix officially supports. (Virtual PC calls for a PowerPC G3 chip, a 604e chip, or a 603e chip at 180 MHz or faster.) On my 603e-based, 240 MHz UMAX SuperMac C600 the software's performance went from usable-but-noticeably slow to quite smooth and responsive.

If your needs don't include Windows 95, you'll find that Windows 3.1 runs smoothly, though it's a non-trivial task to install it in place of the pre-installed Windows 95. (It's not fun on a real Intel-based computer, either.)

Not Just Faster -- Even better, Virtual PC 2.0 adds a number of usability enhancements that, now that we have them, seem perfectly natural:

These enhancements smooth the interaction between the Windows environment and the Mac OS environment. (They apply only when Virtual PC is running Windows 95; nearly all of the integration features are inactive with other operating systems.)

One usability enhancement that Connectix isn't emphasizing is Virtual PC 2.0's capability to shut down Windows 95 for you. The previous version would remind you to shut down if you tried to quit without saving the PC's state, but wouldn't do it for you. Now, if you shut down the PC rather than saving its state (much like putting the PC to sleep, so you can start your next Windows session where you left off), Virtual PC will safely exit Windows before quitting. (That's yet another way Virtual PC makes Windows better on a Mac, along with making it possible to switch boot disk images easily.)

Upgrading -- Installing Virtual PC is still trivially easy in version 2.0 (if not more so), and upgrading from a Virtual PC 1.0 installation isn't tough, either. A simple updater utility updates your Virtual PC application and copies over the Extras 2.0 folder to your hard disk.

Stopping there would leave you without the Windows side of the new integration features, so it's well worth installing Connectix's updates on your virtual Windows hard disk. The documentation provides step-by-step instructions for overlaying the new integration tools onto your existing Windows 95 installation, or if you haven't modified much on your old C: drive, you can replace it with a fresh copy.

I tried both approaches, since the PowerBook's Virtual PC 1.0 had been used for little more than Solitaire, whereas the UMAX C600's old setup had been more thoroughly exercised. Upgrading to 2.0 with a willingness to toss the old virtual hard disk's contents was, not surprisingly, as easy as a first-time install. Adding the latest capabilities to Windows 95 on the existing hard disk wasn't quite a one-click procedure (and the documentation doesn't mention how to clean up afterwards) but was no more onerous than most other Windows installations I've faced.

Still Some Bumps -- We mentioned in TidBITS-397 that changing the Mac's state, such as swapping a CD-ROM drive for a floppy drive in a PowerBook, could wreak havoc with Virtual PC's "saved state" feature. This is somewhat understandable, since when Virtual PC saves the state of your emulated PC clone for quick launching later, it has to assume that the physical machine will remain the same.

However, Virtual PC could handle these situations more gracefully. The current procedure - informing the user that the saved PC state could not be restored, and then restarting the PC - nearly guarantees the same kind of directory damage and hurt feelings that suddenly restarting a real PC would cause. The software should tell the user what's wrong and either allow an opportunity to set things right before proceeding or cancel the launch and let the user try again later with the proper hardware present, resorting to a restart only as a final option. Modern PowerBooks - and even some desktop models - offer too much modularity for developers to assume the hardware will never change. Allowing a graceful escape from such error states should not be considered optional, and delivering unwitting Mac users to a confusing error message that offers to run Microsoft's DOS-level diagnostic tool SCANDISK is torture.

Another quibble involves documentation. The original manual for version 1.0 is clear but surprisingly lacking on some of the finer points of the software, such as use of alternate operating systems. Its introduction to Windows concepts can't hurt but is somewhat redundant with Microsoft's own Windows 95 manual also in the box. Although the 2.0 addendum does a good job of explaining the new features, a retail purchaser opening Virtual PC should find one comprehensive manual, not a pair of incomplete booklets. As a result, Connectix's Virtual PC FAQ is filled with information not found in the printed documentation.

<http://www.connectix.com/html/vpc_faq.html>

Meanwhile, though I've had good experiences with Virtual PC telephone support, I'm disappointed with Connectix's support via email. Sending email to the published Virtual PC tech support address results in an automatic reply asking you to re-send your query in a specific format to a different address. Although I sympathize with tech support consultants who try to cope with incomplete trouble reports, Connectix should properly reply to email that's sent to its published support address and that contains adequate information about the problem.

That aside, for as often as I need to run Windows, I'll happily stick with Virtual PC in favor of the other options from Insignia, Orange Micro, or a cheap PC.

Virtual PC 2.0 costs $140 from TidBITS sponsor Cyberian Outpost, and upgrades are $25 - see the sponsorship area at the top of the issue for details. If you purchased Virtual PC 1.0 between 01-Jan-98 and 30-Apr-98, upgrades are free.

Have You Backed Up Today? Part 2

by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

In TidBITS-432 last week, I talked about the importance of backing up and offered some food for thought when considering different methods of safeguarding your important (and not-so-important) data. This week, I'll look at backup devices and software.

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04917>

Backup Devices -- Any storage device can act as a backup device, but that doesn't mean that you should rely on just any storage device. Here are the main possibilities for everyday Mac users; I won't discuss expensive high-end stuff like 8 mm tape, digital linear tape (DLT), or autoloaders. Dantz Development has a Web page of similar information, including a cost-comparison table.

<http://www.dantz.com/backup_hardware/hoptions.html>

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04626>

<http://www.dantz.com/dantz_products/cdr.html>

Backup Software -- Backups don't just happen on their own, although some people feel they should. After you've purchased and set up a backup device, you must have software to handle the details of copying your files. Since at its heart, all a backup program does is copy files, there are a variety of different programs that you could conceivably use for backup. They fall into three different categories: true backup programs, file copying utilities, and file synchronization utilities.

I don't consider a program to be a true backup program unless backup is its primary function. It should be able to perform full and incremental (only changed files) backups to a wide variety of media. You should be able to schedule backups, create multiple historical backup sets, and run backups unattended. High-end backup programs can back up over networks and work with different platforms. True backup programs may not a use Finder-readable format for backups, which enables them to compress and encrypt backups as well.

File copying and file synchronization utilities are fairly similar but differ in focus. Utilities like SpeedDoubler, the now-defunct CopyDoubler, and others focus primarily on enhancing the process of copying files in the Finder. These utilities may offer features for copying only changed files and scheduling copies, but they lack the features and the depth of a true backup program. One interesting entry in this category is DeskTape from Optima Technologies, which enables you to mount a DAT tape on the desktop like any other disk, albeit a tremendously slow one.

<http://www.connectix.com/html/speeddoubler.html>
<http://www.optimatech.com/DTape.html>

File synchronization utilities like Qdea's Synchronize Pro are designed to synchronize files between hard disks, often a desktop Mac and a PowerBook, but they usually claim backup capabilities as well. They can copy only changed files and can sometimes be automated. Unfortunately, they too lack the depth of true backup programs, generally being unable to use multiple backup sets, keep historical backups, or compress data.

<http://www.qdea.com/syncpro.html>

Both types of utilities work well for creating simple working backups, but to my mind, relying on working backups to a single device is asking for trouble. To make such a strategy safe, you should back up regularly to multiple disks, include all appropriate files, and rotate backup sets manually such that you have some level of historical backup. It's not impossible to do this by hand, but it requires thought and regular effort.

Several mainstream true backup programs are available, though many others, such as Redux and FastBack, have disappeared over time.

<http://www.dantz.com/dantz_products/retro.html>
<http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/pcwk/1432/pcwk0001.html>

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04833>
<http://www.dantz.com/dantz_products/express.html>

<http://www.dantz.com/dantz_products/dfd.html>
<http://www.dantz.com/dantz_products/dfp.html>

<http://www.novastor.com/backup/datasheets/nmac.html>

<http://www.charismac.com/backup_mastery.html>

<http://www.softarch.com/us/products.services/spec.sheets/DataSaver.ss.html>

<http://www.highware.com/main-pbu.html>

<http://www.cheyenne.com/Product-Info/windowsnt/arcserve65-nt-menu.html>
<http://www.seagatesoftware.com/bewinnt/>
<http://www.storage.ibm.com/software/adsm/adsmhome.htm>

More Backup Thoughts -- The third part of this series will talk briefly about shareware backup programs, plus look at a new Internet backup service for the Mac and services you can turn to in case of disaster.

Non-profit, non-commercial publications and Web sites may reprint or link to articles if full credit is given. Others please contact us. We do not guarantee accuracy of articles. Caveat lector. Publication, product, and company names may be registered trademarks of their companies. TidBITS ISSN 1090-7017.

Previous Issue | Search TidBITS | TidBITS Home Page | Next Issue