Aladdin Systems’ venerable compression utility, StuffIt Deluxe, celebrates turning 6.0 with a redesigned interface, compatibility with the Mac OS X public beta, and a handful of new features. But although we’re pleased with the update’s ability to run under OS X, it’s only a first step. The desktop-based features – such as the ability to compress and expand files by appending or deleting filename suffixes, and Magic Menu, a Finder menu for accessing common StuffIt commands – aren’t available under OS X.
To realize StuffIt Deluxe 6.0’s greatest benefits, you must run it under the Classic environment. When doing so, you’ll probably encounter StuffIt’s most visible new features: Return Receipt and ArchiveSearch. Return Receipt lets you tag an archive so that anyone who opens it with version 6.0 of StuffIt Deluxe or StuffIt Expander will be prompted to e-mail you an acknowledgement. ArchiveSearch searches for files within archives. Under OS X, however, ArchiveSearch failed to find a number of archived PICT files on our test drive.
A New Face: StuffIt Deluxe 6.0’s new interface (seen here running under the OS X beta) makes creating archives easier.