OK Kids... I decided to go out on a limb here, and do some testing on the
two termulators and put this to bed once and for all (hopefully)...

First - let me say that because it's a "work-in-progress" and because of the
various featuresets, I'm NOT going to bring QCTerm into this...  Also --
please remember that when comparing MS92 and Reflection, you are, in effect,
comparing apples to oranges in terms of features.  I am not going to include
Attachmate KEA! here as I don't have it or access to it, and don't know much
about it.

Now, let's see... What's a termulator?  Hmmm... so I can communicate with my
host system, maybe transfer some files... right?  Or do we go deeper than
that?  Maybe some people need additional features... so let's look at them,
shall we?

* One has NSVT built in (MS92) - one dosen't
* One has VBA compatible with MS Office (Reflection) - one dosen't
* One is OLE 2.0 Compatible (Reflection) - one isn't
* They both support DDE
* They both support File Transfer
* They both talk to the HP3000 nicely
* They both handle both modes of termulation (character and block) nicely

Next -- do most users really need OLE compatibility in their termulators?
Unless they are screenscraping or integrating to MS Office Documents or
other OLE compatible apps, you don't need it.  Screenscraping can be done
with DDE, if you really want to go that route - and having done it once a
LONG time ago, it's not recommended at all.  They both support DDE.  OLE is
something in Reflection that hampers its performance and make it use more in
terms of PC resources (see results below)

Scripting Languages:  RCL was just fine, but now Reflection has VBA as well.
It's compatible with Microsoft's implementation of VBA.  Great.  So What?
In a termulator?  RCL did the job just fine in most cases.  MiniSoft's
Scripting Language does the job just as well... if it ain't broke, don't fix
it.  The only reason again, I can see VBA being placed into Reflection is to
be compatible with other VBA-enabled and OLE compliant applications and
server apps.  Again - VBA support makes Reflection larger and utilize more
resources, but if you need this functionality, then it's available.

In terms of sheer resources on a PC (benchmark:  a Pentium-II/266 with 32 MB
memory with nothing else running except Win95/OEMSR2 - 32-bit versions of
both, and using Microsoft TCP/IP)

MS92 and R1/5.1 were pretty much even in terms of performance (connect,
response, window paint and script execution).  There was no noticable
difference.  Measured difference showed that R1 was slightly slower overall.
In terms of resources (memory, handles, DLL loads, etc), both took about the
same in terms of resources, with R1 taking slightly more, but nothing to
write home about.

MS92 and R1/6.0 - what a difference!  MS92 outdid 6.0 in terms of
performance hands down (connection, response, window paint, script
execution), and in terms of resources, R1 took almost three times the
resources (memory, handles, etc) than did MS92.  What this means is that R1
takes quite a bit more of your PC under 6.0.

Microsoft's own documentation states that users of Reflection are required
to utilize Winsock 1.1.  MS92 has always run just fine with Winsock 2.0
(released with OEMSR2 and NT 4.0).  Reflection 6.0, I believe, is now
Winsock 2.0 compliant.

So - here's where it stands.  If you really need all of the functionality of
Reflection, then by all means, go out and get it!  It's a quality product
and has a LOT of functionality.  All of that functionality comes at a price,
which we all know is much higher than MiniSoft's.  Also remember that NSVT
is not included here (another couple hundred US$) (apples and oranges,
remember?)

On the other hand, if what you need is  termulation and file transfer with
scripting, with NSVT included - then by all means, go out and buy MS92!

R1 is in the $300 range if memory serves correctly, for a single copy...
MS92 is in the $150-170 range for a single copy... Both have site licenses,
with Reflection coming down to the $150-$180 range for the larger licenses
and MS92 to about $79.00 (trade-up pricing) and even lower for larger
licenses.  The amounts above might be off slightly, but I know they're
darned close.

Cost, Functionality, Compatibility, Feature Set... all of this goes into the
buying decision.  It's YOUR decision - and to argue about it here is
senseless.

I'm an MS92 user - I don't need the functionality and featureset of
Reflection.  I also require Winsock 2.0 compliancy - Reflection didn't
support it at the time.  Your needs may vary - so buy what you need.

Now, on to some billable work :)

Cheers - and have a good weekend all!
Joe