by: Rich Levin
I'm sitting at my desk, sipping some day-old java and checking out the racing form, when the door swings open. A guy in an out-of-date getup shuffles in. Boy, is he past his prime, I think as I reach for a Camel. He just looks at me while I light up and take a deep drag. Neither of us says a word. Finally, my new client clears his throat. "Mister Narlowe, they're out to get me."
Somehow I'm not surprised. He has the look of someone on the skids. "Well, why don't you tell me about it, Mister ..."
"Call me Fax," he says, in a rusty voice. "Fax Machine."
An alarm bell goes off in my head. I'd read about him in the tabloids. Sad case. Nothing I could do for him.
"Sorry, I can't help you," I reply, with some regret. It kills me to turn down any business. "You're history, pal. Windows 95 is gonna punch your ticket. Exchange is the new game in town, and it's making hay with fax modems."
Fax slumps against the wall, muttering something that sounds like, "I knew I was a goner."
I don't say a word. What is there to say? He's right. Him and his breed are old news. Gonzo. Kaput. Windows 95 has seen to that.
Fax modems and software have been around for several years. But Windows 95's integral support of the new TAPI (Telephony Application Programming Interface) standard for communications hardware greatly simplifies the way you exchange information, including the way you send a fax.
Before TAPI, every fax modem was an island. There was no off-the-shelf fax software that allowed users to share fax modems, address books or data files. It was every faxer for himself, and every file for itself. Fax documents, like e-mail messages, were a unique data type, married to the programs that managed them. E-mail was e-mail, documents were documents, faxes were faxes, and never the three would meet. Worst of all, for corporations seeking to achieve proper desktop fax capabilities, each computer required a fax modem, fax software and an extra telephone line.
Lack of workgroup functionality, harsh economic realities and unfriendly side effects limited the growth of desktop faxing. It was cheaper and easier to stick with conventional fax machines, or to deploy dedicated network fax servers to provide workgroup fax services to the enterprise.
Insufficient standards, along with a single-user focus, also prevented mass-market fax software from integrating tightly within the enterprise. Users had to deal with separate address books for mail messages, fax documents and external e-mail services like CompuServe. With no published standards to follow, software developers had a free hand in designing fax programs. The result: One fax program couldn't use another's address books, cover sheets or fax files. While a few de facto standards (such as Intel's DCX file format) emerged, the situation was similar to the chaos that accompanied electronic mail before the advent of the Mail Application Programming Interface (MAPI).
Today, we take it for granted that virtually any two PC e-mail systems can exchange mail, but it wasn't long ago that many Windows-based e-mail systems were segregated. This changed with the introduction of MAPI, which dictates how e-mail programs talk to each other. And what MAPI does for e-mail, TAPI does for faxing.
MAPI has been around since 1993, but TAPI is a new--and evolving--standard. Only one fax program designed for Windows 95 currently supports TAPI. The good news: The program is Microsoft Fax, and it's bundled with Windows 95.
TAPI lives at the operating system level, so any program can use it. That's why, under Win95, you need only configure your modem, telephone numbers and other setup data once. TAPI-compliant programs retrieve setup information through TAPI, which takes care of all the configuration details formerly handled by individual programs. This means you can drop in a new TAPI-compliant telecom app and it will automatically recognize your COM ports, modem commands and telephone numbers.
TAPI also manages access to your COM ports and attached devices. As a result, you can have multiple comm apps running at the same time without worrying about port conflicts. TAPI-compliant apps know when a COM port is in use and simply wait their turn, which means no more system lockups or error messages like "COM port X is in use." When a call is received, TAPI directs the connection to the appropriate communications software.
Microsoft Fax and TAPI allow Windows 95 to see faxes as another form of e-mail. That's why Microsoft Fax is tightly coupled to (and dependent on) Microsoft Exchange, Win95's universal e-mail client.
Microsoft Exchange is not exactly new. Remember Microsoft Mail? How about Microsoft At Work Fax? Exchange is the offspring of these two applets. Double-click on your Desktop's Inbox icon, and behold MS Mail and At Work Fax, dressed in new 32-bit duds complete with a TAPI makeover and a new name for Win95. (For installation instructions, see the The Right Way to Set Up Microsoft Fax)
The philosophy behind Exchange is simple: Everything that enters or leaves your computer is part of the "media stream." MAPI and TAPI direct media traffic in and out of your computer. The software simply dumps information into and out of the media stream, using unchanging API calls. The APIs handle all the dirty work that was previously delegated to discrete programs. This explains why every major Microsoft app features a Send command on the File menu after you've installed Exchange. That one button allows you to reach many destinations.
It shouldn't matter whether the person to whom you're sending a document is using e-mail, an online service or a fax. With Microsoft Exchange, you simply look up the person's name and send the document. The recipient's address tells Exchange the nature of the transmission: e-mail, binary data or fax.
Suppose you're sending a document to five people: one on interoffice e-mail, one on CompuServe, one on the Microsoft Network, one on the Internet and one using a fax. Exchange packages the document and dispatches it to all five destinations. The interoffice address is routed to the network post office, while the CompuServe, MS Network and Internet mail are sent to their service providers.
With faxes, however, things get really interesting. When Exchange dials the fax user, it queries the recipient to see if it's running Windows 95 and Microsoft Exchange. If it is, Exchange sends the mail as a binary file, which can be opened and edited without using OCR (optical character recognition) to first convert the file to text.
If the fax recipient isn't running Windows 95, Exchange sends the mail as a standard 200-dot-per-inch fax. So, with a single mouse click you can send one document to several addresses, each using a different form of electronic document transport.
In other words, faxing under Win95 is essentially a point-to-point form of e-mail--with attachments!--unless there's a fax machine at the other end. The sender doesn't have to worry about the recipient's setup. For the first time, the receiver of electronic messages using the fax protocol doesn't need a third-party e-mail account or a fax machine. Your faxes effectively become a form of binary data transfer. You can send a single e-mail message (again, with attachments) to a whole bunch of people at once; some of them can have various types of e-mail addresses, and some fax machines, but all can receive your missive. Without Microsoft Exchange and MS Fax, you'd have to send the document five times, using five different programs. You'd also have to check five times for replies.
Even more importantly, you can use Windows 95's built-in networking to share a single fax modem with every computer in the enterprise. Open up Control Panel's Mail and Fax applet, then activate Sharing; your fax modem becomes a network resource. Other users can then connect to it through the Network Neighborhood and use it to send and receive faxes. You don't need any additional hardware or software.
Think of the possibilities. You can use a single line for enterprisewide or workgroup faxing. You can forward received faxes to the appropriate parties, including outside e-mail and fax addresses, and attach notes and comments. Also, the single interface allows for simple procedures to be made even simpler without automation. You can create libraries of commonly faxed materials--such as spec sheets, literature and credit references--to fax-on-demand in a few short steps. Received faxes can be stored in organized folder hierarchies, either locally or on the server, for fast shared access by all employees.
The fax is no longer merely a way to deliver documents quickly. Rather, it's become an exciting form of point-to-point electronic mail, inheriting the same handling, routing and communications strengths that e-mail has provided for years.
The only kink in Exchange's otherwise graceful interface is installation. Getting Exchange running takes too many steps and can involve up to four different programs. If you install from the wrong entry point (for example, launching Inbox instead of Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs applet), the setup process may end with a resounding thud.
Microsoft would do well to integrate Exchange Setup under a single Setup Wizard. Users should have to do nothing more than double-click on the Desktop's Inbox icon. Exchange should control the rest.
That's not the case, unfortunately. Depending upon how you installed Windows 95, Exchange may not be there. Even though every copy of Win95 features an Inbox icon on the Desktop, key Exchange components may be missing.
It's a good idea to check the status of your Exchange installation before trying to fax. Once you've confirmed that your Exchange station is ready for use, it's not much farther to fax city. Simply select Microsoft Fax as your printer in any program's Print dialog, and the Microsoft Fax Wizard will hold your hand until the fax is sent.
Don't worry if the recipient's e-mail address isn't a fax number. Exchange automatically sends your documents using the correct transport protocol, provided you have the appropriate services installed in your Exchange Profile (a list of Exchange's transport services).
For example, fax, the Internet and CompuServe are all transport services. Each of these can be assigned to your Exchange profile, found through the Inbox under Tools/Services. You can also add intracompany mail or any other supported service. That way, when you send a document, every listed service is available.
If you're using Exchange for fax only, you don't have to deal with Profile; just set up Microsoft Fax and be on your merry way. But if you plan to send documents to both fax and e-mail recipients, you'll have to make sure the appropriate services appear in Microsoft Exchange.
Microsoft has evolved PC faxing from a monolithic, cantankerous tool to an elegant e-mail derivative. The ease with which users can integrate Microsoft Fax into their overall communications strategy is impressive. As software becomes easier to use, however, its underlying technologies become proportionately denser and more complex.
Within Microsoft's own applications, ease of use is represented by a humble Send command on your applications' File menu. Click on it, and the most advanced communications processes ever to grace a PC operating system steam into action. MAPI, TAPI and other exceptional operating system features are the complex structures that make this ease of use possible. Set aside some time and explore the new frontiers available with Exchange. You'll never return to your old faxing ways.
You can go ahead and kill your fax machine now--with Exchange's advanced capabilities, there's not a court in the land that would find you guilty.
See if Microsoft Exchange and MS Fax are installed Double-click on My Computer, then Control Panel, then Add/Remove Programs. Click on Windows Setup. Scroll down the list and see if Exchange and Fax are checked. If they are, you're ready to go--skip to Step 3. If not, proceed to Step 2.
Install Microsoft Exchange and MS Fax Check the boxes beside Exchange and Fax. Click on OK. Setup will copy the required files and start the Inbox Setup Wizard. After you complete a few forms, the Wizard will ask you to select the information services you want to use with Microsoft Exchange. When Setup is done, it will have automatically identified and initialized your modem, installed Exchange's default phone book and Inbox databases, configured Microsoft Fax and installed shortcuts.
The information you entered will be available to all MAPI- and TAPI-compliant programs, so you'll never have to key it in again. Click the Start button, select Shut Down and restart your computer.
Send a test fax Click on the Start button, then on Programs. Select Accessories and activate WordPad. After WordPad loads, type some text and click on File, then Print. Click on the Name drop-down list and select Microsoft Fax. Click on OK. The Microsoft Fax Wizard will activate and help you prepare the outbound fax.
Finishing touches and notes To fax a document from any Windows program, simply select Microsoft Fax from the program's Print dialog, and the Microsoft Fax Wizard will appear. If you want Microsoft Fax to answer your phone and handle faxes automatically, double-click on the Inbox icon on your Desktop and minimize the window. When you use File+Send, or the Microsoft Fax printer driver, to send a document, you'll have an opportunity to choose addresses from your address book. Feel free to mix and match addresses for fax, e-mail and binary-data recipients; they're all the same to Exchange.
To view received faxes, double-click on the Inbox icon. New faxes will appear in the Inbox. If you want to share your fax modem with other users, run Control Panel's Mail and Fax program, go into Microsoft Fax Properties and click on the check box: Let other people on the network use my modem to send faxes.
If you make a mistake while adding a service or completing its setup screen, click on Cancel to undo your errors. To update service settings, run Control Panel's Mail and Fax program again, select a service and click on Properties.
Microsoft Fax may be the only 32-bit, TAPI-compliant faxware for Windows 95, but it won't remain so for long. Every major fax software developer is providing 32-bit upgrades. See Fax Features for an overview of the next generation of Windows faxware.
We anticipate the major desktop players will pack their Windows 95 offerings with features you won't find in Microsoft Fax, such as ...
Database import and export Every major fax program provides a way to import names and numbers from other programs. Most support data translation to and from dBASE and ASCII-delimited formats. Import/export makes it easy to share address books with other users. Export your current address book to a dBASE file, import the information within your fax program and you're ready to go.
Microsoft committed a major oversight when it neglected to add import/export functions to MS Fax. Unless you manually enter every name and number, it's impossible to import contact information.
Integrated telecommunications apps Dedicated fax software is quickly becoming a thing of the past. The trend is toward TAPI-compliant suite packages that bundle basic communications capability, terminal emulation, remote access, Internet connection, fax handling and even pager support into a single mega-app. The component applications can share data and provide a single communications interface.
Integrated telephony Some communications suites now deliver voice mail, autodial, speakerphone and, in some cases, personal pager support. Computer voice mail, in particular, was once the domain of telecom experts peddling high-end dedicated workstations and expensive add-on hardware. Now these features can be yours for little more than the cost of a modem. PC voice mail performs well and interacts with your other telephony apps, including fax.
"Three-dimensional" fax New data-representation technologies let you send a fax that contains program and data files. 3D Fax, a fax-software enhancement from InfoImaging Technologies (800-966-1140), converts file data to a high-density bar-code-like image. It uses your existing fax software and hardware to send the image to any standard fax machine or PC fax modem. When the resulting document is decoded by the receiving computer using the 3D Fax software, the document's binary contents emerge. You can send virtually any type of on-disk data to any type of fax machine.
While Microsoft Fax can send documents as editable text and binary data as embedded OLE objects, it's limited to communicating with other MS Fax users. Through bar-code scanning, 3D Fax can transmit binary files using PC fax modems or old-fashioned fax machines.
You can download 3D Fax from America Online or the World Wide Web (or InfoImaging will send you a copy for $6.95 shipping). The program is designed to work with any fax software compatible with Windows 3.x or Windows 95.
Fax annotation Kind of a Post-it note for received faxes, fax annotation lets you mark 'em up and send 'em back. It's better than an e-mail message or MAPI fax message because it allows comments to be affixed directly to the fax image.
Automatic printing You're out to lunch, and your computer's password-protected. Unfortunately, your PC is also the fax server, and the big cheese is waiting for a fax. When automatic printing is activated, the problem ends. The phone rings, the fax arrives, the fax prints out and the boss never notices you're an hour late.
Fax preview This can be a lifesaver. How many times have you sent a fax, only to realize you clicked the wrong person's name in your address book? Fax preview lets you see the document before it's sent. This prevents embarrassing misfires and gives you a glimpse of how well (or badly) a scanned document will reproduce by fax.
Improved cover-page editors MS Fax's cover-page editor barely does the job. Delrina's cover-page editor is still the best, with Hayes a close second.
MAPI and TAPI support in every Windows 95 fax program The days of the standalone fax machine, and standalone fax software, are over. If it doesn't support MAPI and TAPI, don't buy it.
The ability to reject faxes from certain telephone numbers Most faxes contain the sender's telephone number in the fax data header. It would be easy for fax software developers to add a feature that captures this number and adds it to a "Rejection List" on request. Whenever a call comes in from a number on the list, the fax software would simply disconnect the call.
Standards for cover-page file formats Right now, if you change fax software, you'll have to re-create all your cover pages. If fax software vendors were to standardize on a single file format, users could easily share cover pages.
True mail-merge broadcast fax capability Almost every popular fax package can replicate a document to a list of names, but only Microsoft Word and Exchange allow you to customize each document with merged information.
Color faxes Need I say more?
Automatic printer selection It's about time fax software automatically returned the "real" printer to the Windows default after sending a fax.