By David Creamer

Version Cue was a good idea that never took off. It was too hard to use for small agencies and not robust enough for large ones. Evolphin Zoom 2.8 from Evolphin Software (http://www.evolphin.com) fills the gap left by Version Cue’s demise -- quite nicely, too. The software is easy to install and set up on either Macintosh or Windows.

The Zoom 2.8 software combines project management with user access controls. It can even produce timesheets -- a great asset for a time-based agency. Like Version Cue, it keeps backup versions of files as the files are checked back in (committed). The versions can then be compared for changes.

I had no problem with the software on my Mac and Windows systems; within 30 minutes, I had it running and everything worked as described.

Although not available on the website, the basic price breakdown for 1-3 users is US$250 per user with no additional charge for the server product; however, for 4–25 users it’s $250 per user and $9,999 for the server product. Perhaps there should be a slightly more tiered price structure; jumping from three to four users increases the cost $10,000 -- a bit much for a small four to six person agency.

Something I’d like in future versions is not to have to use a separate checkout and check-in menu. Instead, it would be nice if users could use the standard Open and Save menus where I envision the software would then bring up the necessary checkout and check-in versioning dialogs.

Zoom offers many more features, both big and small, than this short review can mention. If your company is in need of an all-inclusive project management, version-tracking software system, you should definitely check out Evolphin Zoom 2.8.

Rating: 10 out of 10

(This review is brought to you courtesy of "Layers Magazine": http://layersmagazine.com/ .)