The following chart provides a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of 3 of the best known point programs (Apoint, WinPoint, and OpenXP) for use with fidonet systems.  There are a few other programs (such as Fido-Packet Deluxe, and Beemail) but they are either limited to 16bit operating systems and/or need multiple supplemental programs to operate properly with TCP/IP.

Apoint = https://stargate.org.uk/apoint/ (includes Windows program and BinkD toolkit)

WinPoint = https://stargate.org.uk/winpoint/ (includes Windows program and Quick-Start guide)

OpenXP = https://openxp.uk/ (includes Windows/Linux program/source and Quick-Start guide)

This chart last updated: 28/09/2020 8:02 AM

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[Apoint] PROS ● randomized "Origin" text available. ● external editor option: yes ● tree-view of entire message area ● separate windows for arealist, area, message, and editor ● http:// links clickable ● Editable right-click menus. ● Script recorder. ● Message tagging(flags). ● Extensive context-sensitive help. ● editable Toolbar menu; customize the menu in ALL windows: Area-List, Area, Message, Reply. ● elaborate threading management and display. ● Supports Styled Text(Bold, Italic, Underlined) [*8]	[Apoint] CONS ● internal editor: won't retain selected background color. ● pc beep when editing at EOF, and when message-to matches user [*1] ● AKA's of the Sender and the Recipient are slightly cropped at  the  right-hand end of the message header pane in Win7/10 with Aero themes [*2] ● JAM support broken [*6]. Only Apoint message base (AMF) supported without issues. ● no highlighting on a search match. ● nodelist browser barfs when more than one nodelist or pointlist installed. ● internal editor does not indent quoted text.
[WinPoint] PROS ● tree-view of entire message area ● retains convenient pop-up list of a search result ● font size, font colours, background colours customizable ● supports text enclosed in //'s as italic ● supports text enclosed in *'s as bold ● supports text enclosed in _'s as underline ● automatically unpacks new nodediff/pointdiff when manually dropped into \WinpointNL directory ● separate message templates can be defined for each message area ● kill-thread or twit filter: configurable in settings.	[WinPoint] CONS ● internal editor: ^Y deletes UNDER the current line. ● limited to no extended-ascii support ● external editor option: no ● no highlighting on a search match ● does not support incoming areafix lists that are in lowercase [*3] ● sometimes areafix is created for "0:8/15" address. ● received nodelists need manual intervention to \WinpointNL directory ● if you don't specify a domain, WinPoint adds "@" to the end of your AKA [*4] ● when forwarding a post to another echo/area, the Extra/Options/ Templates for the defined header/footer do not get inserted into the new message. ● when replying to a message (echo or netmail) templates (headers/footers) do not get applied. ● editor on reply removes <CR>'s on a line by line basis; therefore ordered lists/lines/columnar text in incoming messages become reflowed paragraphs. ● cannot place unfinalized reply on hold. ● some parts of WinPoint remain in German. ● reply window opens up full screen [*5] ● http:// links not clickable ● when message sort order is last “set” by Received date or Sent date and newest to oldest, the program will always resort by oldest to newest the next time the program is run. ● when message sort order is last “set” by Bytes and largest to smallest, the program will always resort by smallest to largest the next time the program is run.
[OpenXP] PROS ● "glossary"(shorthand) available in editor ● modest extended-ascii char support ● can export any message to a mail packet ● can import mail packets from any source ● http:// links searchable and clickable with a few extra keystroke shortcuts ● Real-time language switching to/from English/German. ● 4D and 5D addressing. ● Comprehensive colour configuration. ● Show hex dumps of messages. ● Archive viewer. ● Supports collection of identical echos from multiple Boss Nodes. ● Automatic nodelist/pointlist updating. ● Supports importing of file lists. ● Supports file echos, easily managed by the file echo manager. ● Autopost feature. ● Comprehensive, easy to use, echo area manager. ● Outgoing messages can be held via the "Park" function. ● Automatic RRQ confirmations. ● Editor line length configurable. ● Multi-Quote replying. ● Enable/disable dupe detection. ● Debug log. ● Twit filter (for fully qualified user: fname lname @ z:nnn.nnn.p) ● Fully integrated email/news clients(POP3, SMTP, NNTP, SSL/TLS, IPv4, IPv6) ● Open source(GPLv2) / Source freely available either by svn or by d/loadable ZIP archive. ● Actively developed / Responsive developer.	[OpenXP] CONS ● tree view thread is limited to a per message basis. ● search matches are not highlighted. ● no direct support for USB printers, but hack available [*7] ● Extremely limited message tagging. ● Cannot show message lists by posting date. ● File Requests to systems using the “mbcico” mailer do not work.

Notes:

[*1] hack available to silence beep: use, “net stop beep” at the command line.

[*2] this anomaly can be corrected by:

Win7: reducing “Border Padding” to 2 or less.

Win10(64bit): Install the Winaero Tweaker tool from https://winaero.com

Once installed, do the following:

[1] In the "Appearance Section", click on "Aero Lite" and then click on "Enable Aero Lite(default)"

[2] In the "Advanced Appearance Settings" section, click on "Window Borders", change the "Border Padding" from "4" to "0" and then click the

"Apply changes" button.

[*3] can use manually re-edited areafix list to uppercase, or create content of WinPoint\MsgBase\z.nt.nd.0.EchoAreas manually.

[*4] WinPoint is incapable of transmitting valid 4D addresses to the remote system(s), which can cause problems with some (but not all)

remote systems. It is therefore strongly advisable to use 5D addresses.

[*5] hack = use Window’s Alt-<space> to bring up the System menu and use “R” to restore the window to a smaller default.

[*6] after converting an AMF format area to JAM format, Apoint will not show any figures in the "Msgs" and "New" columns.

[*7] use: net use LPTn: \\[Computer-Name]\Printer /PERSISTENT:YES

[*8] APoint supports styled text but doesn't render it quite correctly. To get it working correctly, a small tweak is required.

Load "advanced.cfg" into a text editor and look for the following lines:

---------- 8< ----------

; Display '*', '-' and '/' style characters

HideStyleChrs=NO

---------- 8< ----------

Change "NO" to "YES" and that's all there is to it :)

 [CREDITS: Many of the pros/cons and tips above have been provided by Martin Foster]

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