Industry Outlook - PC World 3/92 report on the following..

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                 Windows Slowly Opens Communications
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Performance remains a key concern in shift from DOS. Late this spring
when Procomm Plus for Windows debuts, PC users will finally be able to
choose from a menu of powerful Windows communications products. But
the jury is out on whether they will take the trouble, and the expen-
se, to switch from characterbased DOS packages anytime soon.

This product migration "is happening only gradually, with users ten-
ding to merely upgrade to the Windows version of the package that they
are already using," says Bill Higgs, vice president at InfoCorp, loca-
ted in Santa Clara, California.

Users also are wary of the performance hit that communications links
suffer in Windows. The combination of Windows' inflexible multitasking
and the handicapped communications ports found in most PCs can hold
transmissions way below the 19,200-baud maximum, and some vendors
claim you may lose data.

"Anyone who has paid the bucks for a high-speed modem is going to be
disappointed with existing packages," says Matt Gray, president of
Hilgraeve in Monroe, Michigan, which plans to ship its HyperAccess for
Windows by midyear. Moreover, as electronic mail packages proliferate,
fewer users need to purchase a separate application.

"I don't think you are going to get a corporate wide movement to these
Windows communications packages, because so many other sophisticated
options are becoming available," says David Marshak of Patricia Sey-
bold's Office Computing Group in Boston. "People in corporations are
increasingly hooked onto networks and use electronic mail packages and
gateways to communicate to other systems."

Leaders Haven't Opened Windows

The DOS communications market is dominated by Data Storm Technolo-
gies's Procomm Plus, followed by DCA's Crosstalk and Hayes's Smartcom,
according to InfoCorp. Only Crosstalk also offers a Windows version.

However, Procomm Plus for Windows will be announced shortly, according
to Phil James, manager of product development at DataStorm in Columbia
Missouri.

James says the product won't suffer in performance and will have all
the features of the character-based version, along with enhancements
such as the capability to view GIF graphics files as they are being
downloaded and much more robust keyboard mapping tools (for emulating
a mainframe or minicomputer terminal).

Wanted: Ease of Use

Customers say that icon-oriented Windows packages can boost ease of
use--both in cutting from and pasting text to on-line sessions and,
more important, in writing log-on scripts.

Bill Bailey, an engineering manager for Dupont's Fibers Engineering
Support Group in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been using DynaComm
*om Future Soft in Houston, Texas, for more than three years. He stays
with DynaComm because of its easy-to-use yet sophisticated script
language.

"It enables a nonprogrammer like me to quickly develop Windows front
ends [for] data bases on our corporate VAX network," he says. "The
scripting language has over 400 commands and supports all the standard
Windows ele- ments like list boxes, push buttons, and dialog boxes."
Bailey exploits DynaComm to dial up and scan mainframe reports automa-
tically and then drop numbers into Excel spreadsheets.

Mike Ullman, a technology consultant with Rockwell Int'l in Seal
Beach, California, says his firm standardized on Procomm Plus but then
switched to Microphone II from Software Ventures of Berkeley, Califor-
nia, because Data Storm was late getting its Windows version out. "We
were happy with Procomm Plus, but it was outdated when we moved to
Windows."

Ullman says the other communications products he tried were a "little
too complicated for our average user" but that "Microphone II script-
ing is incredibly easy."

However, Microphone's lack of keyboard mapping features can be frus-
trating for some users. Ullman hopes eventually to have a product that
combines the best of both worlds: ease of use plus all the functiona-
lity he needs.

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              Frank Vlamings on Wed 02-26-1992 at 17:23
