Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!hsi!stpstn!cox
From: cox@stpstn.UUCP (Brad Cox)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: FAX Modems (unhappy with InterFax)
Message-ID: <5527@stpstn.UUCP>
Date: 2 Sep 90 17:37:12 GMT
References: <1990Aug30.080649.3959@clark.edu> <1990Aug30.142804.6645@world.std.com> <25472@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Reply-To: cox@stpstn.UUCP (Brad Cox)
Organization: Stepstone
Lines: 42

In article <25472@boulder.Colorado.EDU> mikek@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Mike Kranzdorf) writes:
>In article <1990Aug30.142804.6645@world.std.com> boris@world.std.com (Boris Levitin) writes:
>>gsnow@pro-freedom.cts.com (Gary Snow) writes:
>
>I have an Aboaton Interfax 24/96 and it works very well. I receive faxes
>without even noticing, and they print just fine (although it's slow to
>print, as any tiff-like image is). The fax-maker chooser device works fine too.
>It comes with two good manuals, one for the modem part and one for the fax 
>part.

I have an Abaton 24/96. Although I'm delighted with its *functionality*, I'm
extremely unhappy with its *implementation*, to the point that I'd not
recommend buying it until the next release, or at least buying from a fax
vendor with better software.

The biggest problem is that the InterFax application is problematic under 
MultiFinder. The problem is performance related, not an out and out crash.
I noticed that it was taking forever to format a rather ordinary Word
document with a couple of graphics in it (i.e. over an hour formatting a single
page for background transmission, during which all other Macintosh capabilities
are locked out...totally modal)

I called InterFax customer support and they asked if I was using MultiFinder.
Sure enough, when I rebooted under unifinder it clipped along at its normal 
snail's pace.  Rebooting to get unifinder is totally unacceptable.

That's the fatal problem. The others are more subjective. Although sending
and sending faxes via Mac seems wonderful at first, the glory quickly pales
once you begin using the thing for real. The problem is not with the
fax send/receive process itself, which is acceptably fast and reliable.
The problem is in the speed with which incoming faxes can be viewed and
printed (intolerably slow), and with which outgoing faxes are converted
into disk-resident form for background transmission. Intolerably slow
and clumsy.

The InterFax application itself is the source of the former problem, and
the printer driver that converts to disk-resident form the latter. The
application is wildly inconvenient to use (bad user interface).
-- 

Brad Cox; cox@stepstone.com; CI$ 71230,647; 203 426 1875
The Stepstone Corporation; 75 Glen Road; Sandy Hook CT 06482