August 11th, 1997

The Skinny [The Bottom Line:] Quid Pro Quo is an excellent choice for a Web server, as it is packed with features and is extremely easy to use. It runs on most Macs, and it's a free download. PROS Easy to setup. Supports plugins, CGIs, and AppleScript. Stable and reliable. Low hardware requirements. Best of all, it's free. CONS No included support for processing HTML forms. Quid Pro Quo 1.0 Processor: PowerPC or 68K Versions Memory: 2.5MB Hard Drive Space: 3-6MB Price: Free Publisher: Social Engineering www.socialeng.com by: Oliver Dueck ([email protected]) Quid Pro Quo (formerly known as WebCenter) is a powerful Web server solution from Social Engineering. It has a wide array of features, and best of all, the program is a free download, but don't let the price fool you into thinking you are getting a program with skimpy capabilities. Quid Pro Quo runs on pretty much any Mac, as long as you have a full-time Internet connections (an ISDN or faster connection is recommended). You'll need at least 2.5 MB of free RAM, although the more you have, the better, and the program runs comfortably in less than 10MB's of hard drive space. The great thing about Quid Pro Quo is its ease of use. The first time I downloaded and installed the program, I had a Web site up and running within five minutes. The Quid Pro Quo application allows you to configure MIME mapping, realms, passwords, etc. You can also administer your server remotely via the Web. Your sites can be highly customized and dynamic, thanks to support for CGI applications, AppleScripts, server side includes, and both MOS and WebSTAR plugins. You can also restrict access to your Web site using allow/deny and realms. The Quid Pro Quo package includes some nice extras, like counter, indexer, and image map plugins, as well as support for six server side includes commands. We found Quid Pro Quo to be extremely reliable. We had it running for a period of three days (on a PowerCenter 132 with Mac OS 7.5.5, on a T1 connection) without any problems. Unfortunately, Quid Pro Quo doesn't include a CGI application or a plugin to handle HTML forms. Other than that, we found no major problems. If you're looking into setting up a Mac Web server, but can't afford dropping $500+ on high-end server software like WebSTAR, give Quid Pro Quo a try. Not only does it have all of the essential features you'll need, it has an unbelievable price. In the Macintosh Web server market, you simply won't find a better price-per-capabilities ratio than what Quid Pro Quo offers.