MicroPhone Pro 2.0 adds a host of new features to the communications package: multiple sessions, fax send/receive, TCP/IP networking, Internet clients, and a graphical modem configuration. Not all of these enhancements integrate equally well with MicroPhone’s existing suite of facilities, however.
The package consists of several program disks and five manuals of various sorts. The lack of a quick-start guide gready complicates installation. You must first install the MicroPhone Pro program, then install the TCP/IP tools following instructions in the TCP/IP manual, then install the fax application using its manual. Aside from disjointed installation instructions, the manuals themselves are well written and easy to follow.
MicroPhone Pro already had a good set of built-in features: Xmodem, Ymodem, Zmodem, and Kermit file-transfer protocols; VT52 and VT320 terminal emulations; Watch Me automatic script * recording; button and icon palettes; and an integrated text editor.
New built-in features include CompuServe B+ file transfer, Wyse 50 and color PC/ANSI terminal emulation, multiple-session support, keyboard remapping, new script commands for custom windows, and a graphical interface communications program called PowerDriver. The most significant feature is multiple-session support, which lets you use more than one communications service at a time. A Telnet connection tool for accessing Internet-based host systems is also included. Users of IBM, HP, VidTex, and Adds terminals will note the lack of emulators for their faves.
Those are the built-in features. Most of 2.0’s features are add-on programs. Fax support comes from STF Technologies’ Faxstf, a fax send/receive program with no connection to MicroPhone. Similarly, TCP/IP connectivity is via Hyde Park’s MacSLIP. The Internet tools Fetch and TurboGopher are public domain programs developed by Dartmouth College and The University of Minnesota, respectively. Don’t get me wrong, these are all great tools. But they aren’t integrated with MicroPhone in any way. Other communications software vendors have integrated such features into their products, making them easier to learn and use than MicroPhone’s collection.
If building custom communications front-ends is your forte, you’ll find MicroPhone Pro’s new windowing script commands useful. These commands let you build what Software Ventures calls scriptable agents. The new commands let you construct windows with embedded buttons, selectable item lists, icons, text fields, and multiple subpanes. A scriptable agent processes the communications data stream behind the scenes, presenting to the user a digested form of the online information. You can write agents to perform automatic online sessions or to help guide you through an online session interactively. MicroPhone Pro includes example scripts of each type: an Internet Mail script that logs on to a Unix host system to retrieve mail, and an Internet News script that lets you interactively access Usenet news from an Internet NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) server. Most Internet providers offer these services over SLIP (serial-line Internet protocol), which the bundled MacSLIP package supports.
The Last Word
MicroPhone Pro’s new feature set is a mixed bag. New features built into MicroPhone are genuine innovations that many users will be glad to have. But if you’re looking for fax or Internet support, other packages such as Synergy’s VersaTerm offer better integration and ease of use than MicroPhone Pro, and for considerably less money.
Beckman, Mel. (October 1994). MicroPhone Pro 2.0. Macworld. (pg. 65).
STF Technologies, Inc.
Applications
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MicroPhone_Pro_2.1.2_0.cdr
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
SheepShaver
