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With the "push" playing field changing practically daily, here's an update on four more products to consider, including the recently released PointCast 2.0. Other push technology reviews appear in Computerworld's May 26, 1997 and June 23, 1997 issues. In this occasional series, I have reviewed Marimba, Inc.'s Castanet; BackWeb Technologies, Inc.'s BackWeb; Wayfarer Communications, Inc.'s Incisa; and Lanacom, Inc.'s Headliner Professional. This week's products show progress but are still flawed.
PointCast, Inc.'s PointCast Network Version 2.0 is faster and less greedy with bandwidth than previous releases. The Connections software makes it more useful for corporate purposes because you can set up your own intranet or Internet channel. But it still relies on scheduled polling to update desktop information.
DataChannel Corp.'s ChannelManager puts the information systems department back in control, pushing selected channels out...