"If I look confused, it's because I'm thinking."

I'm in this Samuel Goldwynian state by way of being bedazzled by what is potentially a revolution in how we look at, use and value e-mail. E-mail is forwarded via your Internet service provider's server via various routers to your addressee's ISP's server, then eventually retrieved. If all goes well this may take seconds, minutes or hours. If not, it may take days, or never arrive at all. If you attach large files you may encounter size limitations imposed by the ISPs.

Enter Hilgraeve, a small communications software firm in Michigan, makers of DropChute+, an instant personal file delivery program. At its best DropChute+ combines the best features of e-mail, terminal programs and instant messaging into a new kind of communication.

If your contact is on the Internet, connect directly to his PC via Hilgraeve's address servers (which disconnect once the connection is made), watch files being delivered and chat simultaneously. Or, like a terminal program, dial a contact's modem directly and do the same.

DropChute+ compresses files so they are delivered speedily, and encrypts and virus-checks them on the fly so they are delivered securely. Notes can be attached. A key feature permits files and/or notes to be queued for delivery the next time you and your contact are both on the net. Another, Internet Rendezvous, enables unattended direct receipt of files, while minimizing long-distance charges. It calls the other modem directly, tells it to hang up, dial the Internet and collect your notes and files.

You can give free client versions to anyone, though they will be able to communicate only with you, not with each other. The full version costs $50 if downloaded, or $60 for a CD and manual. (The manual can also be downloaded free, in Adobe Acrobat format.) DropChute+ tells you when your contacts are online so you can communicate instantly.

But as noted above, I'm looking confused, because I haven't been able to get it working consistently, and I don't know why. When I 1st fired it up it took only a minimal amount of configuration to set up and transfer a set of test files while chatting with the recipient. But if I disconnect, then try to reconnect later, DropChute+ doesn't always recognize both parties' IP addresses. I haven't been able to use Internet Rendezvous at all.

After two days of intermittent success I called Hilgraeve's tech support, and I hope they'll return my call. As it stands, DropChute+ could be a panacea for a variety of Internet ills, but I'm not sure. There may be a problem with my setup, my computers, Hilgraeve's address servers, or several other variables I'm not in a position to test.

The potential value of this product is so high, and its cost so reasonable, that I strongly recommend you download a 60-day trial copy at www.hilgraeve.com and try it. My DropChute name is nnnews@ibm.net. DropChute the results to me and I'll help you test it.

I'd like to know how it works for you, but won't attempt a prediction. I follow another Goldwyn aphorism: "Never make forecasts, especially about the future."

[Addendum, February 1, 1999: Hilgraeve has now released a new version, DropChute Pro, which seems to have fixed many of the glitches we encountered. We may publish a follow-up review after working with it for a while.]

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