[comp.sys.mac] Mac as a telephone answer

mike.walker@canremote.uucp (MIKE WALKER) (02/18/90)

In article <1990Feb8.072021.17778@deimos.cis.ksu.edu>
jxf@phobos.cis.ksu.edu (Jerry Frain) writes: 

ju>Ya know, I was thinking the other day, wouldn't it be neato if you
ju>could set your Mac up to be a telephone answering machine?

ju>Doesn't appear to be too difficult.  Run a program that sets the modem

I looked into this about a year ago. Can't be that simple, 'cause the
pros developing it are charging a fortune! (-: Anyway, there are some
folks in Mass. developing a voice interface for the Mac, (Voice
Navigator) but it's very expensive. I think I have some hype
literature from them someplace in my office if you can't find the
name. If memory serves they were just bringing out a phone link when I
last checked up...

ju>It seems to me that I have read about a card that can be put into
ju>a PC that does this sort of thing, I don't recall ever hearing about
ju>any products that do this for the Mac.

I finally went this route; a $200+ board in an IBM clone. I tested
"Watson" and bought "BigMouth" (which is now sold under some other
name). Works like a charm, and I can now make a $1000 computer mimic a
$150 answering machine! Still, the board and computer literally cost
less than the board alone for the Mac! Seriously, the ability to
random access messages is the point for me, but the system needs at
least a 286 and a massive hard drive to function as an office
answering machine for 30+ people as I want it to. No bucks in the ole'
budget for such trivia this year, so I just play with my voice mail
boxes.

Let me know if you make any headway on this one. . . . Mike
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 * QDeLuxe 1.10 #165  Since I gave up hope I feel much better...