Review: Stuffit Deluxe 6.5
An emerging Mac OS X application that promises to continue a legacy (October 6th, 2001)
The Good
- Takes better advantage of Mac OS X, Magic Menu now available.
The Bad
- Still no contextual menu support, extraneous features.
With Stuffit Deluxe 6.5, Aladdin has delivered a sturdy Mac OS X compression package,
unlike the sloppy Carbonized 6.0 release. Version 6.5 adds a "Magic Menu" for
the Mac OS X Finder and tightens loose ends to render a worthwhile upgrade. However,
as a Mac OS X application, Stuffit Deluxe still lacks some of the functionality
contained in its OS 9 counterpart.
Installation of Stuffit Deluxe 6.5 is relatively straightforward, although users
can run in to some complications when attempting to upgrade from older versions.
The software's installer simply leaves behind all of the old Stuffit-based applications
and components, confusing some applications that automatically access Stuffit
(such as Web browsers) to expand files. Unless users delete the old copies of
the software and re-assign helper applications, they will be using the old version
of the program in some instances.
The Stuffit Deluxe interface remains simple and uncluttered, but becomes less
relevant with addition of the "Magic Menu" in OS X. The drop-down menu makes compressing,
decompressing, and encoding specific files a breeze. Unfortunately, the feature
is only accessible through the finder, meaning users are forced to switch out
of other applications to perform Stuffit functions.
Stuffit Express Personal Edition introduces some interesting, if not completely
useful capabilities. With the newly added component, users can automate a series
of taks including compressing/decompressing, e-mailing, FTP uploads/downloads
and more. For users who must routinely download and compress files, Personal Edition
offers the ability to create drag-and-drop processes with up to 26 steps. However,
there is no integration between the Magic Menu and the Personal Edition component,
making it a time-consuming option that lacks appeal to average users.
Version 6.5 of Stuffit Deluxe adds extensive support for Palm OS-based handhelds.
The tool can now automatically compress or decompress files and move them directly
to the HotSync folder for immediate transfer to the PDA. In our tests, this feature
performed flawlessly and certainly helps to save time when attempting to move
programs downloaded from the Internet on to a Palm device.
Stuffit Deluxe 6.5 also includes a component called "DropTar" which allows drag-and-drop
compression of files encoded in the UNIX-based .tar format - a feature that should
have been included in the first OS X-compatible release of Stuffit Deluxe.
Ironically, a tool that was originally conceived with the purpose of conserving
resources has become somewhat bloated. Along with the hefty basic Stuffit Deluxe
application, installation includes a slew of "drag-and-drop" apps, filters, and
other components that will never be touched by the average user. Performance within
the individual components under Mac OS X, however, is relatively snappy though
still not on par with Mac OS 9.
Stuffit Deluxe's key strengths are universality and integration with the Mac OS
interfance. With version 6.5, Aladdin Systems has made significant strides in
both areas. For version 7.0, however, Aladdin should re-assess the target user
base for the Deluxe package, and focus on making compression a transparent layer
in OS X rather than a complicated set of separate components.
