drs@bnl.UUCP (David Robert Stampf) (11/22/84)
As I get ready to have a wonderfull Thanksgiving reunion, I thought I'd leave
the net with three products which nearly ruined my week.
1) The PC TECH Journal is a disgrace. If they would spend as much time
with the contents of their articles as they do selecting the art work
it may be reasonable. (To think that this is what replaces MicrosystemS!)
The December issue has a review of the XT which is cute in extremus and
tells nothing that can't be gleaned from any number of sources. The
Modula 2 review article really sugar coats a particular compiler, but
that is another story (See 2) I can think of any number of ways to
spend the $3.95 that this rag costs.
2) My copy of Modula-2 which I ordered last August (and was charged for
in September) finally arrived this week - I could have waited much
longer. The Company is Modula Corporation at 960 N. University Ave.,
Provo, Utah 84604.
This is the first compiler which CONSISTANTLY crashes my system. I mean
a complete crash - power down required. Don't try aborting a compile
with a ^C - Don't try to access files in a subdirectory - In fact, don't
even breath - it will probably crash your system in an instant.
I could almost live with this except for the fact that it is SSLLOOWW.
The ad said compiler, but this is an interpreter. It also has the
charming habit of crashing your system if a tab sneaks into your source
code! This is progress. I didn't know anything about Modula-2 before
I bought this and now I doubt I ever will. Nick should sue for
everything they have.
This piece of Software will never darken my CPU again.
3) Finally, a story with a happy ending. I BOUGHT an editor from Mark
of the Unicorn years ago - MINCE and SCRIBBLE. It was super - it came
with lots of source code, samples etc. I recommended it to all my
friends, many of whom BOUGHT their own copy. Later on I BOUGHT a copy
to run under VENIX on a PC. It was super - a simple word processor on
a UN*X system, and a very nice editor.
Then, last week I was asked to give a presentation to a group of
professional people with money of a editor for a PC. I went out and
BOUGHT a copy of the Final Word. Surprise! Now it is copy protected!
I gave a presentation which showed how much grief a copy protected
program causes and quite frankly recommended against buying it. Sorry
Mark of the Unicorn.
The happy ending - I spent an hour with the DOS debug program and
uncopy-protected the program. It turns out that whatever scheme they
used must have been implemented by some brain damaged programmer - I
bet he's working for Modula Corporation!
Have a good Thanksgiving