Novell or Microsoft Windows NT?

Although First Resort is compatible with either Novell or Windows NT network environments, there are several issues to consider when contemplating the switch from a Novell network to a Windows NT network. The software was written to derive maximum benefit from the features of a Novell environment and therefore is able to see Novell print queues, take advantage of Novell network messaging and Novell TTS; all of which are features not available in Windows NT networks. Here are the key issues for consideration:

1. Printing In a Novell environment, you may setup as many print queues as necessary, and each network user will have access to all of them. In a Windows NT environment, DOS applications can only access local ports for printing purposes. This means each workstation is limited to accessing any two printers on the network.
2. Credit Card Slip Printing In a Novell environment credit card slip printers may be set up as print queues, allowing them to be deployed at any convenient physical location. In a Windows NT environment credit card slip printers must be directly connected or captured to the Credit Card Server.
3. Network messaging – The credit card interface that is used with First Resort takes advantage of a Novell network messaging feature to notify each user whether or not a credit card transaction that has been submitted for processing was accepted or denied. In a Windows NT environment, these messages are no longer seen and it is up to the user to look on the credit card interface machine to see what the status is (or wait for a slip to print.) This generally creates a less desirable functionality situation with this interface.
4. TTS - Another feature of Novell networking is TTS (transactional tracking.) TTS ensures that interrupted transactions (i.e.: if your server crashes) are backed out at the time the server comes back up rather than left incomplete. When a transaction is posted from within First Resort, both multiple files and links are updated, making TTS a very valuable anti-data corruption feature of the network environment. Windows NT environments do not contain this feature.