Conversions Plus Suite 6.0
Conversions Plus Suite 6.0
| by Dale Farris, President, Golden Triangle PC Club July 2001 Conversions Plus Suite 6.0 is a super program designed to help convert files from different applications, as well as allow a Windows system user to open Macintosh files on their system. The suite includes the features in the separately sold MacOpener 2000 program, enabling this multiple file handling program to also serve the needs of folks that work with cross-platform files. The program supports multiple word processors, spreadsheet, graphic and database formats, so you can actually open and edit these in your own programs, just as if these files were created on your system. Much of the inherent formatting in these other files will be retained if opened in Conversions Plus, meaning you will not have to spend time retyping or reformatting these files. The suite also handles ZIP files, which is a boon for folks that may not yet have already decided on another file compress and uncompress application. The program offers several easy ways to translate files and access Macintosh media that will appeal to the computer novice as well as the expert. If you are thinking about moving from a Mac machine to a Windows machine, this is the program for you, as it will allow you to translate most all your Mac files on your Windows machine, as well as allow you to translate batches of like files all at one time. Using this program is as easy as right-clicking a file, which provides access to the tools in the program. For added convenience, Conversions Plus will also remember the last format you converted. You can also use the program's interface to find files and convert them into a format you can use on your PC. The program also supports encoded files, and files that are often compressed to save space or are encoded during an email transfer from one person to another. In addition, the program will find important files from within email "garbage text." Main Features Open files that Windows does not recognize Open Mac files in a Windows enviromnment Convert files for use in your favorite programs View and print files even if you don't have the program that created the file Decompress any archive file Decode and use file attachments you receive via e-mail Read, write and format Macintosh disks in your PC What's New in Version 6? Version 6.0 of Conversions Plus Suite adds the following new translators. WordPerfect 9.0 for Windows, Word Pro Millennium (9.5) for Windows, Lotus 1-2-3 Millennium for Windows, Quattro Pro 9.0 for Windows (Read-Only), and Appleworks 6.0 for Macintosh (Read Only). These additions to the August 2000 release of version 6.0 come on top of all the many other file formats and translators that pack this super program. Built-In Translators Conversions Plus contains the following list of translators. PC Word Processing Translators: Ami Pro, AppleWorks, ClarisWorks, DCA-RFT, MultiMate and MultiMate Advantage, Word for DOS and Windows, MS Works, PerfectWorks, Text files, WordPerfect, WordStar and Word Pro. Mac Word Processing Formats: AppleWorks, ClarisWorks, MacWrite and MacWrite Pro, Word, MS Works, RTF, Text, and WordPerfect PC Spreadsheet Formats: AppleWorks, ClarisWorks, Excel, Lotus, Works, PerfectWorks, Quattro Pro, WordPerfect Works, AppleWorks, ClarisWorks, Excel, Lotus, and MS Works PC Databases Supported: PC Database Formats, ClarisWorks, dBase, FoxBASE/FoxPro, MS Works, PerfectWorks, WordPerfect Works Mac Database Formats: ClarisWorks, FoxBASE/FoxPro, and MS Works Graphics Supported: EPS, GIF, JPEG, PICT/PICT 2, PC Paintbrush PCX, TIFF, BMP, WMF, WPG/WPG2 Encoding Supported: Binhex, uuEncode, MIME(Base64), Gzip, MacBinary, TAR, Z, Zip Macintosh Media Supported HD 1.44MB Floppies Iomega Zip, Zip Plus, Jazz, Bernouli Imation SuperDisk Castlewood ORB CD ROM SyQuest SparQ, SyJet, EZ-135, EZ Flyer Optical Disks Macintosh Hard Drives Macintosh (HFS) and Mac OS Extended (HFS+) Disks Most other SCSI, USB, IDE, and Parallel Port Devices NOTE: At the time of this writing, Conversions Plus had not been tested with DVD-RAM, FireWire, RAID, or PCMCIA devices The File Conversion Library File converters in Conversions Plus exist as pairs of Readers and Writers. Each Reader is capable of reading a specific kind of file. It identifies all the text, formatting, and control information, and stores it in a standard way that can be used to build many types of files. Each Writer can then use this standard stored information to build a specific type of file with the appropriate text, formatting, and control information. When you convert a file from one format to another using this program, the appropriate Reader is used to read the file and break it down into the necessary elements. Simultaneously, the appropriate Writer is used to create the new file, using all these original elements. While it is of course understood that this program cannot support EVERY program now on the market, in situations where a particular translator does not exist, a rare situation indeed, there is usually a workaround solution to convert the file. Many programs give you an alternative to "Save" the file into another format that this program can translate. When this is an option and you experience one of these rare translator problems, you could choose the format which is richest in the features it supports, so that the maximum formatting is retained. To use Mac media on a Windows machine, you will of course first need to load and run the Conversions Plus Suite 6.0 program. You just insert the floppy, SyQuest cartridge, Mac OS Extended format disk, etc., and use it. You can even format Mac disks on your Windows PC with this program. The program is perfect for sharing "cross-platform" files, such as graphics, publishing, audio, web and much more. To access a Mac disk, just double-click on the drive icon that has the disk in it, and instead of seeing the well known Windows dialog box that says, "The disk in Drive A is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?," you will see a standard Windows type of window that shows the correct Mac file name and an appropriate Windows icon for the files on the disk. The program will also automatically add the correct Windows file extensions to the Mac files, so you can open them by just double-clicking on the files. If you don't have the program that originally was used to create the file, Conversions Plus will automatically convert it for you, if it is a format supported by the program (see above list). The MacOpener Driver To deal with the incompatible disk format issue, Conversions Plus includes a Macintosh system driver called MacOpener Driver. This driver allows you to use and format Mac disks in your PC, just as if these were PC disks. The program seamlessly does this by automatically installing a Windows driver onto your system. This driver gives you access to any type of Mac disk from anywhere on your PC, and runs automatically as any Windows driver does. This is what provides the file transfer mechanism needed to move files from a Mac disk to your PC and vice versa. This driver also provides the capability to convert as well as copy files. You place a Mac disk in your PC and copy a file, while the included file translators convert the contents of the file. The driver includes a number of preferences for using Mac disks and copying files. These preferences can be accessed through the program's MacOpener Driver Preferences. The driver preserves the File Type and Creator information about Mac files, using a technique called Extension Mapping. This is the process of keeping the appropriate file information when moving across platforms. The program ships with a database of Mac File Types and Creators and their corresponding PC extension. This combination of an extension and a File Type and Creator is referred to as the file format. Within the Extension Mapping Window, you have the option to add file formats to the database, as well as edit existing formats. There are also a number of options to choose from when moving files between PC and Mac systems. This MacOpener Driver also includes the ability to format any Mac Disk (HD Floppy disks, removable cartridges, or hard drives) directly on your PC. One way is to format a Mac disk just as you would a PC disk. You put the disk in your drive and right click the drive. Just as you have a "Format" command for PC disks, you now have a "MacFormat" command for Mac disks. Select MacFormat and proceed as you would when formatting a PC disk. The second method uses the MacFormat program in Conversions Plus. To use this method, you open the MacFormat selection from the Conversions Plus program group on your Start menu. A dialog box will appear asking which disk drive you would like to format. You select the drive and follow the instructions as you would for a PC disk. You can view the properties of a file or folder on Mac disks and files. Right click the Mac file/folder, and select "Properties." Within the Properties window, you will see a tab entitled "MacProperties." This will give you Mac specific information just as you would see on a Mac machine, including the Mac name of the file, the File Type and Creator, and its Attributes. This driver comes with an option to allow you to disable it when Windows loads. To turn it off, simply select the "Disable MacOpener Driver" option, and restart the machine. With the driver disabled, the MacOpener Driver will not be loaded when you start your PC, and if so, you will not be able to use Mac disks from the Windows desktop or from within other programs. The Name Doctor Feature Name Doctor is a new feature in Conversions Plus Suite 6.0. This utility helps correct naming problems with Mac files on servers (generally found on a Macintosh Name Space). Name Doctor allow you to either add the appropriate extensions to files or correct file names that contain illegal characters. This feature is specifically for files found on a server. Any files copied from a Macintosh disk will have the names corrected (if necessary) by the MacOpener Driver. Name Doctor can add the appropriate extension to any file that it recognizes. On the Macintosh, users are allowed to use characters in file names that are "illegal" in Windows (such as the " \ " character, or the " : " character). Name Doctor can replace any illegal characters in Macintosh file names, so the files can be copied correctly from a Macintosh Name Space on a server to a Windows PC. Conversions Plus Suite 6.0 versus MacOpener 2000 The Conversions Plus Suite 6.0 program contains all the features of MacOpener 2000, but it can also be used when receiving files and you do not have the programs used to create the files. For example, you might receive a ClarisWorks document from a Mac user, but you have Word for Windows. The program will convert the ClarisWorks document into a Word for Windows document and retain the original formatting. The program will also be useful when you receive files from e-mail, the Internet, or over a network. MacOpener 2000 is most appropriate for people exchanging files with Mac media who run the same program on both platforms (i.e., Word for Windows and Macintosh, Photoshop for Windows and Macintosh). It is also appropriate for exchanging cross-platform compatible files (files that can be used on both a Macintosh or Windows computer). Graphics files, such as TIFF, GIF, and JPEG, are examples of these types of files. DataViz, Inc. sells both the Conversions Plus Suite 6.0, as well as the stand-alone, MacOpener 2000 programs. Each program supports the following features. Reads, copies to, and formats Macintosh HD Floppies, Zip disks, SyQuest cartridges, etc., on a Windows PC Adds appropriate PC extension to files when copying from a Mac disk, so the PC will recognize them Adds appropriate Macintosh Type and Creator to files when copying to a Mac disk so the Macintosh will recognize them Automatically resolves name problems, like illegal characters, when copying files from Macintosh media Main Uses Conversions Plus Suite 6.0 is most useful in organizations in which cross-platform files are more commonly used within the organization. In situations in which Windows users interact with and depend on the work of others that are running Macintosh machines, the program will also come in very handy. In the traditionally Mac dominated graphics design and advertisement business, working with their clients that use Windows machines has always created problems when needing to share files or to transfer demonstration or "markup" files for client review. Conversions Plus is the utility that will aid in allowing these workers to painlessly migrate a variety of file formats back and forth between these two platforms. In University situations, where there is an investment in exposing computer science or information systems technology students to both the Windows and Macintosh platforms, this program will be absolutely essential for students and their professors to mix and mingle files from one platform to another. If these select examples apply in your situation, and you have not yet invested in this super program, consider how much time (and money) you have been wasting all along without the program to help you much more quickly transfer, open and edit files from one platform to another. However, in situations where the Windows platform is the dominant system of choice, this program still has very useful advantages, when installed on select machines, to be available in the company in case workers come across Macintosh files that they need in order to accomplish their work. In these situations, having access to Conversions Plus somewhere inside these environments makes great sense. Although the file converter component means the program has uses on all computers, the key part of this special program is its support of opening and editing Mac files on Windows machines. I suspect many folks may already be well satisfied with any of the other file viewers now on the market, such as Quick View Plus, and although Conversions Plus Suite 6.0 handles this file viewing function well, it does not necessarily offer advanced file viewing capabilities that are not already found in these programs. However, with the Mac file support, and for users that have not yet settled on a file viewer utility, then this program will provide many functions that will be much appreciated. I suggest companies consider the costs involved in paying staff to work on trying to get Mac files to open on their Windows machines, or vice versa, and determine if this happens enough to end up costing more than what it would cost to have this program accessible and thus allowing staff to much more quickly accomplish this task. Of course, in situations where there is not any need to work with Mac files on Windows machines, then the program will have little value. However, I suspect all companies have experienced this cross-platform problem enough times to warrant an investment in at least a couple of licenses of this super program that could be strategically located in the organization, just in case this problem again arises. For the minimal investment, I strongly urge all organizations that have not yet invested in this program to do so, and to get ready for that inevitable day when staff complain about needing to access data on files on disks that they cannot open on their Windows machine. At this point, you will be glad you already had installed Conversions Plus Suite 6.0 on your system, thus preventing having to spend all that unnecessary time at the last minute trying to find this program. Go ahead. Make your staff's day. Be glad later that you did. Prices $69.95 single license (plus shipping and handling) $39.95 upgrade price for single license $279.95 (5--user license) $245.95 upgrade price for 5-user license (No shipping and handling for 15MB downloaded file) Contact DataViz, Inc., for pricing for multiple use licensing. System Configuration Requirements Windows 95, 98, NT 4 or 2000 20MB free hard disk space for installation Supports only Intel-based NT machines Low density/double density (400/800K) Mac floppy disks NOT supported Installation and Setup If you have an earlier versions of the program, and you choose to install the new version 6.0 in the same location as the previous version, the installation will replace the older version. If you choose to install the new version in a new location, you will have to manually uninstall the older version. Installation and setup will present you with options that can later then be selected or deselected in the Preferences area. I suggest installing the entire package, and then work with the Preferences feature to decide which files to load when you open the program, such as the MacOpener Driver for example. However, if you are already be satisfied with your existing WinZip or PKZip programs to compress and uncompress zipped files, you might want to opt not to install the file compression utility that is built into Conversions Plus Suite 6.0. About DataViz, Inc. DataViz, Inc. also sells various other neat products. These include the already mentioned MacOpener 2000, Desktop To Go, Documents To Go, MacLink Plus. Desktop To Go is a utility which synchronizes your desktop with a Palm Organizer, Handspring Visor, or IBM WorkPad. It includes synchronizers for Microsoft Outlook 97/98/2000 and Schedule+ 7.0-7.5. Documents To Go is a utility that views word processing and spreadsheet files on a Palm Organizer, Handspring Visor, or IBM WorkPad. There is no need to specially format your documents, because this utility automatically optimizes them for viewing on your handheld every time you synchronize. MacLinkPlus is a file translation utility for Macintosh machines that provides file conversions between Mac and PC files, as well as between different Macintosh formats. Once translated, all the original file formatting is retained. Contact DataViz, Inc. 55 Corporate Drive Trumbull, Connecticut 06611 203-268-0030 1-800-733-0030 FAX 203-268-4345 (Sales) www.dataviz.com |