May 4,1993

STATUS UPDATE OF BACKMASTER

BackMaster is VERY close to being complete.
We still need to have a good beta test run.
Once the program is out of beta then we must duplicate and box the program.
We should be able to ship a full 1.0 version shortly after IBM ships OS/2 2.1.
It will be important that you use at least the March Beta of OS/2 2.1 and the
full "G.A." release is preferred.

We are still busy "putting the pieces together".
All of the features for version 1.0 are in place and any new features will
be held for later versions and/or revisions.

One thing that many customers have requested will be in place.  We will
have a text-based restore program that will work from a boot floppy.
This will save you from having to reload OS/2 just to run BackMaster!

The next Demo and Beta will have the tape support enabled although the
demo will not have data compression available.
We expect to have the next demo and beta available within a couple of weeks
(barring any new problems).

This does however bring several of questions.

First  'Will BackMaster still support OS/2 2.0?'
        Most likely No.
        IF IBM releases a CSD to patch 2.0
        with the 2.1 corrections then YES, BackMaster will work on 2.0.

Second  'How will I get these CSD's if released?'
        We will make available any public release CSD's from IBM on this
        BBS. (With IBM approval)

Third  'Should I get the March 2.1 Beta?'
        Yes! For Backmaster to work correctly, you will need at least
        the March 2.1 Beta. Besides, it seems to work well.
        BE SURE to read any IBM readme files in the beta!

BETA Testers - Read your bulletin please.