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Go NeXT!

Ironic I just got you new issue as the news breaks on what will Be the NextStep for the Mac!!

Jobs is back, click your heels three times please!!

Always Apple!

Michael Jardeen
ronin47@earthlink.net 

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Captivate-ing Comments…

Greetings.

I just finished reading your ATPM issue 2.12, and it struck me how the reviewer of Captivate 4.6 thought that the $90 dollar program was so incredible, and that it boasted several capabilities that “no other screen capturing program can handle,” including capturing the cursor during a screen shot.

Quite a while ago, I was drifting around my FTP bookmark list, and I came upon the Ambrosia FTP server (ftp://ftp.ambrosiasw.com). I browsed through and downloaded a few of their many great shareware applications. Among them was Snapz 1.0.0. I read the Read Me files with it and decided that it sounded cool, therefore I installed it. It was great!

It can capture the screen at any time, including “when a screen saver display is on the screen,” the middle of the action in a game,” “while a menu is pulled down,” and “while your Macintosh is starting up.” [It has a user-definable screen shot key and an option to either hide or show the cursor while capturing the screen.]

Overall, Snapz is a great control panel put together by the folks at Ambrosia, and although it may not have all of those advanced features that Captivate does, all of that graphics processing and converting can be done in graphics programs with ease. After all, that is what graphics programs are for, right?

Snapz, only costing $15 to register, can do basically everything Captivate can do for $75 less. Snapz is 1993-4, and Captivate is 1996, according to the screenshot in ATPM 2.12, showing that Snapz was doing almost everything Captivate was two or three years ahead of time.

I hope this sheds some light on the area of screen-capturing utilities. If you really need $75 worth of advanced features, then buy Captivate. If you do not, then spare $15 for the developers at Ambrosia Software.

If the people up there at ATPM would like me to make this into a full fledged review either comparing the two or just reviewing Snapz, all you have to do is write back and give the word.

Matt Sanders
iamgreat@localnet.com

Bravo Matt “iamgreat” Sanders! We need more cheerleaders for shareware. But you’re mixing apples and oranges (sorry for the cliche) by comparing Snapz to Captivate. I can only assume you have not used Captivate. You mention the higher cost of Captivate more than once and then allow that there may be more features to Captivate than Snapz. Your main concern seems to be the dollar figure. If you read my review carefully you will see that Captivate 4.6 is a suite of utilities and not just a great screen capture. Remember folks, you can always use command-shift-3 at no additional expense for a nifty screen dump.

Eugene F. Marotta (reviewer of Captivate)
Eugene_F._Marotta@designlink.com

Editor’s Note: Please check out Matt’s shareware review of Snapz in this issue.

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More Captivate-ing Comments…

In the 2.12 issue of ATPM, Eugene Marotta (in his review of Captivate) said:

What's New in Version 4.6

The program has been enhanced to allow Power Mac users to capture the cursor (currently, this is something no other screen capturing program can handle).

It sounds like Captivate is an interesting suite of products, but I beg to differ with the above sentence. I'm currently using a product called ScreenShot 2.5. It allows you to capture the cursor (despite what Mr. Marotta says). It allows you to capture the full screen, a specific object, the entire screen, or a selection. You can save in PICT, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, PNG, or Startup Screen, save directly to the scrapbook or the clipboard, or send directly to the printer. You can scale the result. It can capture menus, and it can append info (the program the shot was taken in, and the date & time the shot was taken) to the bottom of the shot. In fact, from the picture in the review, I'd say that ScreenShot can do pretty much whatever Captivate can do, except the delayed capture.

This product was formerly a shareware product. The last shareware version was 2.01. It's now commercial - $49.95.

I don't intend this letter as an argument, I just wanted to point out that - for those of us with less than ample pockets ::grin:: - there are frequently less expensive solutions.

I love the ezine. It's informative and well written. Keep up the good work! ...

Sue
Chakonkmas@aol.com

Sue your point is well taken. I did not review the commercial version of ScreenShot. However, Captivate gives you a dialog box indicating a successful screen capture instead of just a quick flash. Also, you have the option of selecting an application in which to view your captures. For example, say I use BrushStrokes as my main graphics application, any screen capture I make is automatically in BrushStrokes format (or Color It, or any other program I designate). I’m not aware of whether you can do that in Screen Shot. The shareware version of ScreenShot gave me screen freezes on my Mac IIvx. Since using Captivate 4.5 (along with its other utilities) and the newer 4.6, I experienced no screen freeze problems. The upshot is (Are you reading this Matt?) when you get a product that is good as a shareware one at a reasonable price, the next step is for it to “go commercial“ and double the cost. To paraphrase Lee Iococa, "If you find a better screen capture program, buy it."

Eugene F. Marotta (reviewer of Captivate)
Eugene_F._Marotta@designlink.com

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What could Be NeXT?

Heeees Back!!!

...Does Steve plan to be Insanely Great or mainly Greatly Insane? Will he have a kindler and gentler reality distortion field? Jim Kelly GLOBEDC@aol.com

I bought stock in Apple (again) 3 weeks ago. now I'm delighted I did! I welcome the Mac OS, and hope all the PC bigots at work will eat their heart out!!

Keep up the good work, Claris, Apple and NeXT!!!

Sincerely,

Phil C.

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Not NeXT?

Hi, As a Mac fanatic for eleven years I feel that NeXt is not the way to go. I don't think it has the respect in the industry as Be does. Also I've not heard anything about NeXt for years. The BeOS sounded modern and very exciting. NeXtOS is unknown to me and probably to alot of others. Of course that could be the media's fault for not covering them. But this move does not fill me with a lot of confidence. But Apple has beaten the odds so many times that they have it down to a science. Even if I am the last Mac user on Earth, I will still believe that I have a superior machine.

Pete Davis
Macarcher@aol.com

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We'd love to hear your thoughts about our publication. We always welcome your comments, criticisms, suggestions, and praise at EditorATPM@aol.com. Or, if you have an opinion or announcment about the Macintosh platform in general, that’s ok too.