Futurus Team Combo 3.0 E-mail

by Alan Zisman (c) 1994. First published in Our Computer Player, October 1994

Futurus Corp., 211 Perimeter Center Parkway, #910
Atlanta, GA 30346 USA
800-327-8296, 404-392-7979, fax 404-392-9313

$149 (US list) for 1 user
$649 for 5 users
$2495 for 25 users
$4995 for 100 users
 

Groupware... another of this year's high-tech in-words.
Presumably, the vision of the future is that our
personal computers will be more and more inter-
connected (currently, about half are hooked into a
network somewhere), with a multitude of small, flexible,
ever-changing groups interacting to work on a variety of
projects.

Hence groupware... software designed to permit multiple
users to interact. Spreadsheets and word processors
permit readers comments and annotations. Members of the
group can have various levels of access... read only, read and
comment, read and make changes.

Futurus TEAM offers a variety of services for group
members, connected over a local or wide area network. A
single package includes both Windows and DOS versions,
so even users with older computers can take part in the
group's interaction.

Some of these, such as e-mail and group-wide scheduling
are common in networks such as Windows for Workgroups.
TEAM enhances the basic utilities provided with these
networks. Messaging, for example, permits file
attachments and faxing across the net. You can even
spell-check your messages (though only in the Windows
version). You can build messages using a variety of
templates.

As well, it adds a variety of other functions.

There is phone messaging, for example... the person
answering the phone can route your messages, across the
network. These phone messages can connect automatically
to the workgroup's database of contacts... hooking in to
phone numbers and company information. There's chatting-- conferencing with multiple
up to five group members in 'real time'... live. The workgroup can
share notepads and cardfiles.

Separate Novell networks can be accessed with the
addition of optional gateways, also available from
Futurus.

The program has a simple and straightforward
installation. It requires a small DOS TSR to function...
and that TSR must be running in order to install and use
the Windows version. On a Netware network, users and
groups cna be added automatically-- otherwise, they must
be manually set up in its administrative module. TEAM
uses Novell's Message Handling Service (MHS) if
available, but does not require it; similarly, it does
not require a dedicated mail server. This lets it
function well on small networks.

In fact, while this product will work fine with large
local networks (and with optional gateways across Wide
Area Networks), it seems best suited for smaller
networks... here, its demand for manual management will
seem less arduous, due to the smaller number of users,
while its ease of use, and its support for older, DOS-
only computers may make it a winner.
 
 

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(Note from the year 2003): The above article was originally published in 1994, as a review. A decade and more later, I've gotten a series of emails from  fans hoping that I could sell them a copy of this software or direct them to a place where it is still available. While I have reviewed software since 1991, I am not a vendor of r any products. I suggest to everyone looking for copies of older software to check at eBay or at OldSoftware.com.If you check on my Files webpages, you'll find links to a number of (mostly freeware) downloadable software, some of which may be good replacements for older programs.
-- AZ (September 15, 2003)