Review of Vomax 2000 and Procomm Plus for Windows, for Technologic publication November 17, 1993

By Jason Romney

The computer is an excellent way to communicate with the world, be it via faxes, electronic mail or even normal voice communications. But you are unlikely to have everything you need for such communication power from the moment your new computer emerges from its box.

Two important further purchases are good software for logging into electronic services such as the Internet, and hardware-software systems that cater for fax and voice mail.

An outstanding example of the former is PROCOMM PLUS for Windows; a leading example of the latter is the VOMAX 2000 Advanced Voice and Fax Mail System.

PROCOMM PLUS (PP) is a powerful and easy-to-use program which makes, for example, accessing Internet (after you have obtained an account from an Internet gateway as recently described in Technologic), much easier.

The program lets you make a list of all the phone numbers you call to access various electronic services. Each service will have different `protocols' such as `terminal emulation', `baud rate' and so on.

It is not important for you to understand `protocols' because it is sufficient to simply find out what they are from whoever operates the service you intend to connect to and feed that information into PROCOMM PLUS.

Once the `protocols' are entered, you need never think about them again. Simply select your intended destination from PP's `Rapid Dial' menu and you are on your way - PP will automatically do everything required to make the connection.

Once you have logged on, PP continues to make your electronic communications simpler. Although the commands required by, for example, your Unix Internet gateway, may be an initial challenge to master, you can eliminate the need to remember them by simply entering them into PP's `Meta Key' system.

You do this while the commands you have just learned from someone are fresh in your mind and label the corresponding Meta Key you have chosen with an easy-to-understand description of what you have programmed it to do.

During an electronic communications session, the PP Meta Keys appear as small icons at the bottom of your screen, labelled with your easy-to-understand description. To initiate the commands represented by each Meta Key you simply click on it with your mouse.

A Meta Key can represent either a text string or a small program which will reproduce a whole series of commands - called a `script file' - when the Meta Key is activated.

In practice, this means that if you use, for example, the Unix Internet mail reader ELM, all the things you might like to do (eg replying to your mail) can be put into a Meta Key and initiated by a simple mouse click.

Logging in and out of a service, navigating through Internet news groups and finding out things such as who else is logged on, can all be automated in this way. It is particularly powerful for automating something like the Unix editor, VI.

PP is also very good at allowing you to send and receive files, automatically activating the necessary transfer protocols such as ZModem or Kermit.

The bottom line on PP is that it is a user-friendly Windows program which makes life on the Internet and other bulletin board services MUCH easier.

But electronic communication goes far further. Sending faxes and receiving voice messages from callers through your computer can also be an important aspect of your hi-tech office or home system.

Technologic has reviewed numerous fine fax-data modems such as the Netcomm M7F and Microfax. Now the Melbourne firm, Fosh Pty Ltd (which sells the Comstation FIVE, also recently reviewed by Technologic) has on sale a remarkable new way of organising your faxes and voice mail called VOMAX 2000.

Like the MicroFax, the VOMAX allows you to receive faxes independent of your computer. It also allows you to access the fax information you receive even when you are away from your home or office.

But this fully-digital system (which means there are no moving parts such as cassette tapes for the voice recording) extends to powerful voice mail box capabilities with automatic detection of whether the caller is attempting to communicate by voice or fax.

Further options soon to be available will enable the VOMAX to display your faxes on an ordinary television screen in conjunction with voice annotations.

It will even notify your pager on receipt of voice or fax messages, providing full date-time information about each message.

Because the VOMAX has extensive in-built memory (it can store 20 minutes of voice or 40 pages of fax before you even add the optional enhancements that boost it to 160 minutes of voice or over 300 pages of fax), it can receive and forward voice and fax mail and notify your pager - without your computer being turned on or even connected.

In short, the VOMAX is an extremely powerful, yet easy to use product which elegantly bridges many of the technologies you probably already have installed around your home or office.

PROCOMM PLUS for Windows enquiries to Richard McLean, 02 310 2661. The VOMAX 2000's RRP is $999 and versions are available for both the Apple Macintosh and IBM-style PC. Enquiries to Fosh Pty Ltd, tel: 866 8599.