* ProSoft releases NetWare Client for Mac OS X
We’re all realists here, right? Well, most of us anyway. We know that NetWare has been losing share in the server market for many years. We also know that Macintosh never did have much of a share of the desktop market. So what are the odds that someone would want to connect a Mac desktop to a NetWare server?
Pretty good, evidently. ProSoft has just released the latest version of its NetWare Client for Mac OS X. You can download a free “test drive” of the client to give you an idea of its capabilities before you shell out for it (prices start at $149 per user but go down with quantity, educational customers get a further price break on large quantities).
So what can you do with this client? You get:
* Integrated login: The Mac boots with a single login prompt and the NetWare home directory appears on the desktop. There’s no need to remember multiple login passwords or to login twice each time you boot your computer.
* Contextless login: The user can login from anywhere on the net by simply providing his username and password, full context information is provided automatically.* Printing: The NetWare Client 2.0 now supports printing to a NetWare queue (users can add jobs to Netware print queues and delete those jobs).
* Universal Binary: Works with all the latest Macs including the Intel Macs. Compatible with Apple Mac OS X 10.4.2 and up.
* Completely new browser: It is now a regular application instead of a menu bar item. It automatically launches in startup if the user chooses that in login items.There’s also no need to load any software on your NetWare server, everything is either in the client or already exists on your Mac or NetWare 5.x or 6.x installation.
Of course, your Macs can use NetWare’s Native File Access to interact with NetWare servers and that “comes with” NetWare. So why is ProSoft’s solution better? Get the white paper (PDF) “How Prosoft NetWare for Mac OS X Client – IP Edition Compares to Novell Native File Access (NFA)” and see for yourself. But one strong point, according to the company:
“By default, Novell Native File Access uses Apple File Protocol for authentication. Native File Access does not send a password to the NetWare server. Instead, the client generates a random number based on the password and then sends that to the server. The Prosoft Native IP Client authenticates securely with the added benefit of RSA authentication. Use of strong 128-bit NDS/RSA authentication, including background authentication, is one of the biggest benefits of using the Prosoft Native IP Client.”
Got Macs? Get ProSoft.
