Print Wizard 3.0 beta testers wanted

[Bob Rasmussen]

ANNOUNCING PRINT WIZARD 3.0 BETA

Rasmussen Software is pleased to announce the Beta test phase for
Print Wizard version 3.0. This is a major update to Print Wizard,
and has been in development for a considerable length of time. It
contains significant improvements in both feature and usability.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO EXISTING CUSTOMERS

Customers who have purchased Print Wizard (and paid for it)
on or after June 1, 2005, or who purchase during the beta
period, will be eligible for a free update to the equivalent
product (Server Edition, Personal Edition, etc.) at the
conclusion of the beta test period. Customers who have purchased
before that date will be eligible for updates at our usual
discounted update prices.

WHO MIGHT WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE BETA PROCESS

We encourage "early adopters" with at least moderate technical
understanding and skills to participate in the process. There
will be some rough edges in the product, its installation, and
the documentation. We will be very interested in helping you make
it work, and learning from your experience.

We are especially interested in working with people with some
experience with Print Wizard, and especially if there are new
features that you need (see new features below).

This process does NOT involve the Print Wizard engine that is
embedded in AnzioWin, our terminal emulation software.

HOW THE BETA PROCESS WORKS

If you are interested in being a beta tester, please email Bob
Rasmussen <ras at anzio.com>. Your name and email address will be
placed in a private email group. Please include a phone number
also. We will communicate with you primarily by email.

We will tell you the web site address of the various components
of Print Wizard 3.0 (initially, there will not be an installer).
You can download, manually install, and test these various
components, and provide feedback by email. As we update various
components, we will notify you.

The software will install as a demo, and will continue to operate
for 60 days. Certain "nag features" will be active.

At the end of the beta period you will have the option of
purchasing a license to version 3.0. There is NO FINANCIAL
COMPENSATION for being a beta tester. There is NO GUARANTEE of
functionality or suitability to your needs.

WHAT PRINT WIZARD IS (for the uninitiated)

Print Wizard is a suite of programs to do a wide variety of
printing tasks, and pseudo-printing tasks (PDF generation,
faxing), on a Windows PC. Several mechanisms are included for
printing data that originates on a remote system such as a Unix
or Linux machine. A VERY abbreviated set of features:

* Auto-fit printing of plaintext reports.
* Forms overlay printing.
* Device-independent programmed printing.
* Label formatting.
* PDF generation (and emailing).
* Faxing under full program control, with no user intervention.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.0

Some highlights:

1. Printwiz.exe now has a Windows GUI interface, rather than
being a "console program". This helps on many ease-of-use issues.

2. A new graphical front end, PWUI.EXE, allows you to easily
initiate print jobs, set options, launch services (see below),
etc.

3. Various sets of printing options can be created, edited,
and saved as "print profiles". When you tell Print Wizard to
print something, you can tell it to use a particular print
profile (instead of manually specifying all those options).

4. A new "Smart Print" option allows you to use Print Wizard to
send files that Print Wizard can't print itself, such as .DOC
files, to the appropriate Windows program to be printed, much as
Windows Explorer would do.

5. Certain background printing tasks can be performed as "Windows
Services" (on Windows NT and later). Windows Services continue to
run even if no user is logged in to that Windows machine. The
PWUI program starts, stops, and otherwise manages Windows
Services. Windows Services include "despool", "listen", and
"LPD".

6. Alternatively, these background printing tasks can be
performed as "Print Wizard Services", which are run by a
particular logged-in user. When run this way, it is possible to
have user interaction, such as working with Print Preview.

7. A system of "Service Rules" provides a level of control over
which users are allowed to print, what host systems can send jobs
to Print Wizard for printing, maximum file sizes, etc.

8. Print Wizard now has access to several email protocols, so it
can email various files (typically generated PDF files) using
CDO, MAPI, Outlook, or SMTP.

9. The "Print Preview" window now allows you to resize it and
zoom it. You can mark up (that is, write on) the preview image
with a mouse or, especially, the stylus of a Tablet PC. A new
popup menu allows you to control the pen color, etc. Markup is
printed on the first page of printout.

10. Print Wizard has expanded support for printing labels, such
as for addresses or library books. It now understands the
vertical dimension as well, through the ROWOFFSET and ROWGUTTER
variables. Labels can be printed in row order or column order. In
the Print Preview window, you can point and click to specify the
starting label, allowing you to reuse partial sheets of labels.

11. There have been continued improvements in the TRANSLATEPCL
feature, in which Print Wizard is able to read and understand PCL
printer codes, and emulate them in printing to various printers
as well as generating faxes and PDFs. This includes support for
PCL color commands, embedded TrueType fonts, and more HPGL
commands.

12. We have enhanced support for the "FAX32" engine that is built
in to later versions of Windows. Notably, you can now send a
single fax that contains multiple attachments, including such
formats as .DOC, and Print Wizard will cause them to be rendered
and combined into one fax.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED

If you would like to participate in the beta program as I've
outlined it, please email me:
   mailto://ras@anzio.com

Regards,
....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.

personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com
 company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com
          voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
            fax: (US) 503-624-0760
            web: http://www.anzio.com