THESE DAYS, E-MAIL OFTEN NEEDS to cross platform boundaries -- as ON Technology and SoftArc have confirmed by shipping cross-platform versions of e-mail-related software products that used to be single-platform. The Power Mac is also getting native e-mail support in this round of releases.
Crossing over to the Mac side, ON Technology (800-767-6683 or 617-374-1400) shipped its first Mac client software for Notework, a simple e-mail and phone-messaging system for Novell NetWare networks. Notework 4.0 now also has Windows for OS/2 and Windows NT client software, and the server software has been enhanced to support up to 1,200 addresses per server and 50,000 addresses total. However, the price of entry for Mac OS and Windows systems differs considerably: The Notework Macintosh System Pack (containing the necessary server and administration software) is $995; in contrast, the Windows system pack is only $199. Client software for ten Mac or PC users is $590.
ON has also added Mac client software to its more feature-laden e-mail product for NetWare, DaVinci eMail 3.2. DaVinci Macintosh Remote ($239 per user) uses Apple Remote Access (ARA) for remote communications.
In the area of Macintosh crossovers to the PC side, SoftArc (800-364-1923 or 905-415-7000) has released Windows server software for its FirstClass e-mail and bulletin-board system. FirstClass Server for Windows and FirstClass Server for Macintosh (five-user license, $495) are completely interchangeable. Each of the servers can have Mac as well as Windows clients over IPX or TCP/IP networks, and the Mac client and server software can also run over AppleTalk networks.
SoftArc has also been busy making the Mac client and server software for FirstClass PowerPC-native. Version 2.7 of FirstClass Client for Macintosh (available for free when you log onto SoftArc's FirstClass bulletin board, at 905-415-7070) offers faster sorting and graphics and is available for 680x0 Macs as well as Power Macs. FirstClass Server for Power Macintosh (five-user license, $495), the industry's first PowerPC-native e-mail server software, is scheduled to ship in December and will support Open Transport, Apple's new networking system software.
