Any program that runs on a 486 now runs on your Mac in software-only emulation.
John Rizzo
Rating: Acceptable/Very Good (3.5 of 5 mice)
MORE WINDOWS PROGRAMS will now run on your Power Mac, thanks to Insignia Solutions' upgrade to its SoftWindows software. SoftWindows now emulates a 486 processor and is able to run Enhanced-mode Windows programs. SoftWindows 2.0 is also compatible with more PC networking protocols, including several, such as NetBEUI and DECnet, that most DOS cards for the Mac don't support.
However, the new version of SoftWindows doesn't come close to emulating the speed of a 486 processor; in fact, emulating the more complex 486 processor in software slows down SoftWindows. In benchmarking tests, we found that Windows applications ran slower in SoftWindows 2.0 than in the previous version, 1.5.
The Windows Window
Interfacewise, SoftWindows 2.0 isn't considerably different from SoftWindows 1.5. When you install SoftWindows, it creates a PC disk file on your Mac hard disk. When you launch SoftWindows, it gives you a DOS 6.22/Windows 3.11 environment in a Mac window in the Finder. You can access DOS and Windows files in a Mac folder from within SoftWindows as well as read DOS floppies and CD-ROMs on your Mac desktop. You can even cut and paste between Mac and Windows applications.
That SoftWindows 2.0 installs Windows 3.1 rather than Windows 95 is somewhat of a disappointment. You can buy Windows 95 and try running it with SoftWindows 2.0, but Insignia doesn't guarantee that it will run well. Insignia does, however, plan to release a version of SoftWindows 2.0 early this year that will work with Windows 95.
With Windows 3.1, SoftWindows 2.0 is solid and had no trouble running Novell's Quattro Pro and Corel's Ventura Publisher, neither of which worked under older versions of SoftWindows. We also had no trouble testing SoftWindows 2.0's speed using the Winstone 95 benchmark test, which runs 13 popular Windows applications, including Microsoft Access, CorelDraw, Borland Paradox, WordPerfect, and the Microsoft Office suite.
On a Power Mac 6100/60 with 16 MB of RAM, applications ran, on average, about 36 percent slower under SoftWindows than on Winstone's reference machine, a 25-MHz Compaq DeskPro 386DX. On a faster Power Mac 9500/132, SoftWindows was considerably speedier: Applications ran almost twice as fast as on the 386 machine, but they ran 41 percent slower than on a 33-MHz 486DX Compaq DeskPro.
Not every task, however, is slower in SoftWindows' PC emulation than on a midrange 486 computer. For instance, system-level tasks, such as copying and moving files, are actually faster in SoftWindows 2.0 on both the Power Mac 6100/66 and the Power Mac 9500/132 than on the 486DX Compaq DeskPro. Nonetheless, SoftWindows 2.0 is generally slower than its predecessor: When we tested SoftWindows 1.5 on a Power Mac 6100/60, using Winstone 95, applications ran almost as fast as they would on a 486 machine.
The PC Connection
SoftWindows 2.0 supports more networking protocols than earlier versions did and actually supports more networking protocols than the software that comes with most DOS cards for the Mac. Besides supporting IPX and the IPX-based Novell NetWare, as it did in earlier versions, SoftWindows 2.0 comes with installable files for accessing servers using TCP/IP, NetBEUI, Banyan VINES-IP, or DECnet. Even more impressive is SoftWindows' ability to run Mac TCP/IP as well as WinSock TCP/IP networking sessions, using the Mac's MacTCP driver. Similarly, you can simultaneously run Mac and PC IPX applications, such as NetWare client software, using the MacIPX driver. You can also run PC IPX sessions through Insignia's PC ODI (Open DataLink Interface) driver. For Windows network applications that require Microsoft's NDIS (Network Driver Interface Specification) driver, SoftWindows 2.0 includes an NDIS-to-ODI translator.
Another edge SoftWindows has over 486 coprocessor cards is its AppleScript support, which you can use to automate common and repetitive tasks in Windows and DOS. You can write an AppleScript script and include any DOS/Windows keystroke and execute the script within SoftWindows. SoftWindows has also added Apple Guide, which gives you online help for using Windows.
SoftWindows 2.0 includes Windows Sound Support, so you can play and record sound files with your Mac speakers and microphone in most Windows business and multimedia applications. However, SoftWindows still can't emulate Sound Blaster-compatible cards, which means you can't play sound in most DOS games.
Running both the Mac and Windows operating systems on your PowerPC computer, whether you do so by using a DOS card or in software emulation, requires a lot of RAM. Either a DOS card or SoftWindows requires you to have at least 16 MB in your Mac. With a DOS card, at least 8 MB of the 16 should be installed on the card itself-- and you won't be able to use that RAM for Mac applications.
The Bottom Line
SoftWindows costs a lot less than DOS cards and supports most major PC networking protocols. But if you need to work in Windows frequently, especially with processor-intensive programs, you'll find SoftWindows far too slow. If you only occasionally need to run PC software that's not available in Mac format, it will suit you well.
Price: $299 (estimated street). Company: Insignia Solutions, Mountain View, CA; 800-848-7677 or 415-335-7100. Reader Service: Circle #413.
Speed-testing SoftWindows 2.0
Using the Winstone 95 benchmark test, we compared the speed of Windows applications running under SoftWindows 2.0 on a Power Mac with the speed of the same applications running on a 386 and a 486 PC computer. Results are relative to those of a Compaq DeskPro 386DX/25, which has a score of 10.
