HotFax MessageCenter 3.0 can match TalkWorks Pro's feature specification largely point for point and can even boast some exclusive extras, like 3D fax formatting, which uses a digital coding of the fax document to squeeze a claimed maximum of 50 pages into the space occupied by just one page. HotFax also supplies a comprehensive datacomms terminal emulation and file transfer application, though this would have been a lot more useful three or four years ago, before the Internet and the Web made comms virtually transparent. Nevertheless, this also incorporates a powerful scripting language which can be used to enable clever hosting actions for the ambitious. HotFax MessageCenter can read Outlook/Exchange address books, but can't be tightly integrated into Outlook like TalkWorks.

Other nice touches in this product include a call transfer feature for re-routing inbound calls, linking voice messaging to Internet email and a pager alert feature which can include the contents of an email if you are using an alpha-numeric pager. Of less obvious value is the capability to set up as many as 90,000 individual mailboxes, although HotFax offers more security than TalkWorks by providing up to five digits of pass-number protection compared to the latter's three digit maximum. HotFax MessageCenter will also support more types of modem chip set than TalkWorks Pro.

In use, HotFax looks a lot more functional, whereas TalkWorks could be described as pretty. HotFax has been around in various forms for several years and MessageCenter is its latest incarnation. Its age does show a little and we feel a power-user would be more at home with HotFax than a novice user. However, we did like the easy to use instant fax feature.