The Mac Orchard - HomeHelpFAQALEMIAForumsDrew's Picks

Server Applications

FirstClass

Company Page Home Page Release Notes License:
Commercial; varies

Current Version: Client: 10.009 (January 25, 2010) / Server: 10.0 (August 30, 2009)

Centrinity produces the FirstClass email and workgroup communication/collaboration system. Server software includes FirstClass Business Edition and FirstClass Education Edition.

FirstClass Client 10.009 is primarily a bugfix release; version 10.0 added/changed the following:

  • Social Media - Social Media is a new state-of-the-art browser based interface that offers customers all the social networking offerings (wikis, blogs, tagging, profiles, etc.) in a safe collaborative environment. For users of FirstClass 10 and Social Media there will be various ways to toggle between the two applications.
  • FirstClass software integrates easily with Social Media. Users can use either interface to access discussions, and blogs. From the client there will be various ways to toggle between the two applications.
  • Mobility - In July 2009, the FirstClass iPhone and iPod Touch App was released. With FirstClass Mobile, iPhone, and iPod touch users can now take FirstClass with them on the road, and have all of the power of FirstClass in the palm of their hands.
  • Search - Social Media provides our users with a "magic" search box where users can type requests and quickly receive relevancy-ranked results of information that they have permission to see.
  • FirstClass 10 also includes a brand new high-performance relevancy ranked search engine built into the FirstClass Core Server that delivers many great features to FirstClass users.
  • Platforms - FirstClass 10 will run on a 64-bit hardware and operating systems. This enables Open Text to build much more sophisticated capabilities that exploit the greater power and scalability that these platforms provide.
  • Enhanced calendar printing Support for Web DAV protocol Validation Key support Unread counters for mailboxes and conferences
  • Calendar - Calendar printing has been enhanced for Day, Week, and Month views.
  • Enhanced Unread Item Tracking - The FirstClass Unread Item Tracking System has been significantly enhanced. The key new capability is that it will now provide the count for the number of unread items in each container. This new information is displayed in our user interfaces such as the FirstClass Client and the FirstClass Mobile Client with a counter replacing the red flag on containers. The familiar red flags will still be used to provide the unread status for individual objects.

FirstClass Server 10 also introduces a number of changes that are fully detailed in the online release notes.

FirstClass Client requires Mac OS X 10.5.2 or later; FirstClass Server requires Mac 10.5.4 or later running on a 64-bit Intel processor. More details are available.

You can find the latest version on FirstClass Online in the Conferences/Downloads/FirstClass Product Updates section of your software. Ensure that you review the Upgrade Instructions located there, and have your FirstClass upgrade license before proceeding with an upgrade. You should find the upgrade license in your FirstClass Online account mailbox or can complete an online request form for it.

See the online support page for more information.

User Reviews

Currently, no user reviews have been submitted. Send me yours!


Also See . . .

Can't find what you're looking for? Try a search:

Also, if you have an older Mac, be sure to check out the "Classic" applications page for more options.

Finally, take a look at ALEMIA if you think you know that name of an application, but aren't quite sure.

Built Into Mac OS X

Mac OS X has a huge amount of TCP/IP-based server software built into it that I don't specifically cover here. Your "Sharing" Preference Pane allows you to enable and disable these services with a click of the mouse. The software running behind the scenes to provide many of these services is generally of the open source variety. The standard release of Mac OS X includes, among many others:

  • Apache httpd (web server; enabled via the Sharing Preference Pane).
  • Postfix (mail server; see Mac OS X Hints for more information).
  • tnftpd (FTP server; enabled via the Sharing Preference Pane).
  • OpenSSH (Secure Shell server; enabled via the Sharing Preference Pane via "Remote Login" but additionally configurable via selected applications listed on this page).
  • BIND (Domain Name System server; see Mac OS X Hints for more information).
  • Samba (Windows file sharing; enabled via the Sharing Preference Pane).
  • XFree86 (X Window server; enabled via the "X11" application in your "Utilities" folder, if you elected to install it with Mac OS X).

Of course, Mac OS X Server includes many more, in addition to offering more recent versions of many of the above servers.

Related Links

Graham Orndorff has written a superb collection of articles on setting up email servers and secure email clients on Mac OS X.

Also Consider . . .

These are applications that are newer and of potential interest, but which I haven't yet selected for permanent inclusion. Have a look, and let me know if you think they deserve to be part of the permanent collection!