
              OLXWin - OLX Offline Mail Reader Goes Windows.

                       (c) 1995 by John M. Campbell


  Off-line Xpress for Windows, the companion program to MSI's popular
  QmodemPro for Win-dows, is the successor to Greg Hewgill's Silly Little
  Mail Reader, better known as SLMR.  This probably was, and may still be
  true, the most popular DOS-based offline QWK mail reader in existence, at
  least for newcomers.

  Users of the DOS version, OLX, should feel comfortable with OLXWin, since
  most of the OLX feature set has been ported to the new version.  In
  addition, OLXWin sports some welcome new features.  Among the enhancements
  are uudecoding of messages and the ability to request that files chosen
  from a  BBS listing be automatically sent with mail packets.  A  welcome
  addition is support for long conference names in the  packet list window.
  There are some other mostly cosmetic additions - a sexy female voice
  announces various events,  such as "you have new mail."  You can attach
  the 20 included WAV files to various events, or choose your own favorite
  sounds. I especially enjoyed the "woops" the lady uttered each time the
  spell checker found an error.

  The program sports a generous assortment of useful icons across the top of
  the different windows.  These include Open Packet, Open In/Out box,  and
  Compose New Message - all on the main window, and Go To Next/Previous
  Message or Thread, and Reply, Save and Print on the Index and Message
  Windows.  There are icons on the Packet Window that open the various BBS
  files included in most packets, such as News, Session Log and New Files.

  The uudecode feature, while nice to have, is awkward in its
  implementation.  Often, Usenet messages that contain binary files are not
  in the proper order within the packet.  The message containing part three
  of a file may be ahead of part two, etc.  A good decoder will properly
  handle such transpositions automatically.  With OLXwin,  the various parts
  have to be added to a dialog box in the proper order before the uudecode
  function is activated.  This can be a real hassle.   Still, inclusion of
  the uudecode utility is a step in the right direction.

  The other new major feature, file request, makes it easy to retrieve files
  from the new files list that many users include in their QWK packets.  All
  you have to do is highlight a file name in the listings window and press
  Q.  A dialog box pops up to confirm that you want the file.  A control
  message is then generated and is uploaded the next time you use the BBS
  mail door.  The selected file(s) will be downloaded as attachments to the
  next QWK packet.  The only problem is that not all BBS doors support this
  feature.  Wildcat doors can be configured to work this way, but neither
  the Qmail nor Cam-Mail doors on Channel 1 support the feature.  I have
  been told that the newest Cam-Mail revision does include an option to
  enable file transfers, so this feature may become more widely available in
  the future.

  OLXWin's other features are already familiar to veteran OLX users,
  although some have been expanded in this release.  There is a built-in
  editor with a 100,000 word spell checker; To:, From and Subject fields can
  handle as many as 255 characters,  and multiple message packets can be
  opened simultaneously.  There is a provision to add new words to the Spell
  Checker, which, by the way, operates at close to lightning speed in
  comparison to the OLX version.  I was pleased to find that the editor still
  uses the venerable Wordstar commands,  (OK, you can substitute another
  editor) besides the expected Windows key combinations to cut and paste text
  to the Clipboard.   Still present is one of OLX's most valuable assets - the
  ability to search for a text string in not only the current conference, but
  across conferences in a packet, or even in all open packets.  This is an
  indispensable feature that  I use often in OLX.  Favorite search strings can
  be saved for later use.  There is an address book for saving email addresses
  of up to 255 characters. A macro function is available that can be used to
  program eight different function keys.

  Outgoing messages can either be saved permanently or purged at intervals
  in an Outbox.  There is an Inbox for personal mail.  Messages of interest
  can be saved in user-defined folders, or saved as text files.  OLXWin goes
  a step beyond OLX in that folders can be given descriptive names.  For
  example, I could save messages dealing with Multimedia topics to a folder
  called "Multimedia-related."  In OLX, I would have to settle for a DOS
  filename for each folder.  OLXWin does not store messages in a database
  format as do Robomail and some other readers.  This means that it is not
  possible to easily follow threads from one packet download to another.
  Whether this is a serious shortcoming is something that each user will
  have to decide.  The program does offer a versatile "twit filter"
  capability.  Messages can be filtered out by sender, receiver, subject, or
  message text.  However, the stuff you would rather not see still shows in
  the message index window - it just doesn't come up in the message window
  unless you explicitly select it from the index listing.  Carbon copies of
  messages can be generated across conferences, or even to different BBSs.

  OLX has a rather confusing system for managing outbasket and sent mail,
  and this behavior hasn't changed with OLXWin.  Basically, it is not
  feasible to edit a message you composed after you exit the program, but
  before you upload it to the BBS, unless you first delete it from the Reply
  packet and then make the changes to the Outbox copy.  Users have
  complained to Mustang about this awkward system for years, apparently to
  no avail.

  I haven't been able to determine whether OLXWin fares better with message
  attachments than does OLX.  I did receive an attachment through the
  Channel 1 Qmail Door, but my correspondent hasn't reported whether my
  attachment made it to her.  Other users have reported mostly negative
  results with OLX, except on boards using MSI's own Tomcat door program.

  One OLX  deficiency has not only survived in OLXWin, but has actually
  become more of a problem.  OLX never permitted direct entry of lower-case
  internet addressed in email messages.  However, there was a kludge
  available.  The lower-case text could be placed in the address book, then
  pasted from there into the message address field.  I was disappointed to
  find that OLXWin neatly converts such lower-case pastes back to upper-case
  in the message.  Mustang claims that case is unimportant in Internet
  addresses.  There are those who will disagree.

  So, is OLXWin, being the mixed bag of warts, blemishes and treasures that
  it is, worth considering?  It all depends on your needs, and on what
  compromises you are willing to make.  I would have to say that veteran OLX
  users will not find a whole lot new in terms of features, but many of them
  will willingly fork over the limited-time $25 upgrade price just to have
  the benefits (both real and imagined) of a Windows application.  For
  people who want to move up the ladder from a more basic reader than OLX,
  this new version has much to offer, especially to those who spend a lot of
  time on Wildcat BBSs.  But more sophisticated users who demand the
  flexibility of a Robomail-level package, and especially those who demand
  the upmost in Internet/Usenet compliance, will likely look elsewhere for a
  Windows-based reader.   Also, I must caution anyone considering OLXWin
  that it is a version 1.0 product.  Reports of GPF's abound on the Mustang
  BBS conferences.  I experienced several of these while evaluating the
  program.  However, Mustang does have a good reputation when it comes to
  issuing fixes for problems in their software.  I imagine that the first
  patches will not be long in coming.  So you may want to wait awhile before
  giving OLXWin a spin.

  For ordering information:
  Mustang Software, Inc.
  800-999-9619

  John M. Campbell is a pinball freak, a contributing writer to WindoWatch
  and the Manager of the Unemployment Compensation Office of Elkins, West
  Virginia.



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