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European Software Excellence Awards
Usability excellence - MAC
Winner - Internet Explorer 3.0
Redmond's answer to Netscape's well-established Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 is a polished, if large, Web browser which provides all that the novice surfer could want and much that more experienced web heads have been demanding. It responds well to an increase in RAM and will send and receive mail and news items with aplomb. The easy-to-use interface shows through either text or graphical buttons exactly what is happening - one rookie tester was connected and surfing with no more than a cursory glance at the on-line help. Microsoft's famed usability labs have doubtless tested the rest of the field and learned from the competition - this was a stable, elegant piece of software which shares its interface with the Windows version, an important consideration for cross-platform installations. This will be a success and should provide Navigator with some much needed competiton.
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Finalist - Organiser 2.0
Claris's offering in the PIM market is, as expected, a well-polished and stylish piece of software which combines ease of use and a wealth of features in a package with low memory and storage requirements. The four linked modules (calenders, tasks, contacts and notes) are all accesible from the floating Instant Organiser toolbar which adds to the impression of a well thought out and unified application. An extensive on-line help system is available when required but in use was seldom needed. Claris has included a great number of user-definable parameters although the presence of a Zip Code field for bothth United Kingdom and France indicates that more localisation is needed for future upgrades. Finally, we were impressed by a tightly integrated product and look forward to the next iteration.
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Finalist - SpeedDoubler 2.0
SpeedDoubler 2.0 by Connectix is a useful utility which speeds up performance by providing faster background copying, a faster disk cache, faster network copying, a smart replace, folder synchronisation and a speed eraser. In usage it was stable and fits very tightly with the system - the mark of a well though out utility. Installation took less than a minute and required only a few mouse clicks. We noted speed improvements of over 30% in copying files which augments the wonderful simultaneous multicopying feature. Although it works very well on a 680x0 Macintosh it really comes into its own when powered by a PowerPC chip. RAM requirements are low, the manual a lesson in simplicity and overall the product performed as well as its manufactuer claims - a very good sign!
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http://www1.zdnet.com/uk/sea/macuse.html (Amiga Plus Extra No. 5/97, 05/1997)
