Mac OS 8.5 compatibility issues: Astound; Panorama; SurfWatch; CoStar

Astound crash Astound 3.0 will crash when run with Mac OS 8.5. Similar to the situation with PaperPort, Astound confirmed a conflict with the Control Strip as the cause. Disable the Control Strip software and Astound works fine. According to Mike Cecil: "Astound says that there is no patch planned, though there should be a new version of Astound for the Mac in the first quarter of next year."

Panorama 3 problem Ernie Malaga describes a problem with Panorama 3.1 and Mac OS 8.5: "I design a database in the data sheet. Then I select 'New form' from the pop-up menu on the title bar, go to the Setup menu and select 'Tool Palette.' I then click on the 'Move All' button, and that's where the problem begins. All tool icons are supposed to appear on the right half of the window, but nothing shows up. If I click the Cancel button, I can continue working, although I have no special tools in the palette. If I click OK, the Mac freezes."

ProVUE offered a work-around: "Go to an old form that has all the Panorama 3 tools on it, switch into Graphics Design Mode, and select Copy Form from the Edit menu. Now select Paste Form, and it will ask for a form name giving you a new form with the Panorama 3 tools on it. From here, you can delete all the objects on the form. Also, in order for you to paste a form you must be on another form in Graphics Design Mode. A fix will be posted to our Web site."

SurfWatch and Mac OS 8.5: not recommended A Spyglass Web page states: "At this time we are currently testing SurfWatch with OS 8.5. Until our testing is completed, we do not recommend installing SurfWatch with Mac OS 8.5." (Thanks, Larry Haff.)

CoStar LabelWriter drivers posted: Mac OS 8.5 compatible CoStar today posted new 2.22 and 2.21 versions of their drivers. These fix compatibility issues that CoStar LabelWriters had with Mac OS 8.5.