[can.general] BYTE billing nonsense

henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (03/12/89)

In article <1989Mar10.135659.2392@lsuc.uucp> dave@lsuc.uucp (David Sherman) writes:
>A month ago I opened our regular VISA statement, and on it
>was a charge for $30 or so from "McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead,
>England"...  [further details deleted]
>The letter from England was mailed from Kastrup, Denmark.
>...If BYTE has to use offices in
>England and New Jersey and mailing facilities in Denmark to
>bill Canadians (after all, McGraw-Hill has offices in Canada),
>I don't really need to deal with them.  I can live without BYTE.

It seems fairly common for stupid publishers to handle *all* non-US business
via Europe.  At one point my ACM journals tended to come via the Netherlands.

I too have decided that I can live without Byte, especially since they
dropped Ciarcia's column.
-- 
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu

mason@tmsoft.uucp (Dave Mason) (03/12/89)

In article <1989Mar10.135659.2392@lsuc.uucp> dave@lsuc.uucp (David Sherman) writes:
>I've subscribed to BYTE for several years.  In past years I've
>always mailed them a cheque on my U.S. dollar account (while
>wondering idly why they don't have billing in Canada -- they must
>have enough subscribers here).
>...
>If the charge to my account does get credited back, I'm just
>going to let the subscription lapse.  If BYTE has to use offices in
>England and New Jersey and mailing facilities in Denmark to
>bill Canadians (after all, McGraw-Hill has offices in Canada),
>I don't really need to deal with them.  I can live without BYTE.

I already do live without Byte (after collecting them for 10+ years, I
decided not to renew last year).

My understanding is that about 12-18 months ago (maybe all of, but at
least) the magazine portion of McGraw-Hill (including Byte and
Electronics) were purchased by a large Dutch publishing company.  They
consolidated various parts of their operation in various countries.
They also made changes like making Electronics be totally free to
`qualified reader's rather than the previous $40/year (broke MY
heart :-).

Personally, I don't understand why it bothers Canadians any more to be
billed from Denmark, Holland or England than from the U.S.A.  (Now if
the postmark said Tehran, I might be concerned :-)  I thought that was
the whole point of Free Trade: to allow multinationals to `consolidate'
jobs out of Canada.  (Or is `rationalize' the correct word....all
these big nil content words confuse me :-)

	../Dave

dave@lsuc.uucp (David Sherman) (03/13/89)

mason@tmsoft.UUCP (Dave Mason) writes:
>Personally, I don't understand why it bothers Canadians any more to be
>billed from Denmark, Holland or England than from the U.S.A.

If the result is that a charge I mailed off to New Jersey shows
up as an inexplicable "Maidenhead, Berkshire, England" on my VISA
bill, which then results in an Official International Query and
the resulting confusion I described, I think that's enough reason.
If they'd at least put "BYTE" rather than "MCGRAW HILL" as the
billing company name for the English charge, they would have avoided
the problem.

I'll stick with my perennial free subscription to Canadian Datasystems :-)
-- 
Moderator, mail.yiddish
{ uunet!attcan  att  utzoo }!lsuc!dave          dave%lsuc@ai.toronto.edu

jim@mnetor.UUCP (Jim Stewart) (03/15/89)

>dave@lsuc.uucp (David Sherman) writes:
>>I don't really need to deal with them.  I can live without BYTE.

mason@tmsoft.UUCP (Dave Mason) writes:
>I already do live without Byte (after collecting them for 10+ years, I
>decided not to renew last year).

I didn't realize this was such an epidemic, I just stopped renewing
Byte as well (after collecting them since the first one--its hard
to break a set, otherwise I would have done it sooner).

-- 
Jim Stewart, VE3SRJ
UUCP:  {utzoo,uunet}!mnetor!jim
ARPA:  jim%mnetor.uucp@uunet.uu.net
BELL:  (416)475-8980

woods@tmsoft.uucp (Greg Woods) (03/17/89)

In article <4945@mnetor.UUCP> jim@mnetor.UUCP (Jim Stewart) writes:
>>dave@lsuc.uucp (David Sherman) writes:
>>>I don't really need to deal with them.  I can live without BYTE.
>
>mason@tmsoft.UUCP (Dave Mason) writes:
>>I already do live without Byte (after collecting them for 10+ years, I
>>decided not to renew last year).
>
>I didn't realize this was such an epidemic, I just stopped renewing
>Byte as well (after collecting them since the first one--its hard
>to break a set, otherwise I would have done it sooner).

I beat you all! :-)  (Though my collection is missing a few early ones.)

I let my BYTE subscription lapse almost four years ago.  I've only
bought a few copies on the newstand since, and I've regretted buying
most of them too!  I haven't even appreciated Ciarcia's column lately,
but that's just 'cause I don't have any need for or interest in his
more recent projects.

BYTE, like most other "hobby" computer magazines is TOO PC oriented.
-- 
						Greg Woods.

woods@{{tmsoft,utgpu,gate,ontmoh}.UUCP,utorgpu.BITNET,gpu.utcs.Toronto.EDU}
1-416-443-1734 [h]	1-416-595-5425 [w]		Toronto, Ontario, Canada

cks@ziebmef.uucp (Chris Siebenmann) (03/19/89)

In article <4945@mnetor.UUCP> jim@mnetor.UUCP (Jim Stewart) writes:
| I didn't realize this was such an epidemic, I just stopped renewing
| Byte as well (after collecting them since the first one--its hard
| to break a set, otherwise I would have done it sooner).

 I suspect there's been a regular epidemic of people dropping or not
renewing BYTE subscriptions; I knew I wasn't going to renew when I saw
their full-page add trumpeting how they delivered more customers to
advertisers than their two major competitors -- two PClone magazines.

 In the mean time, does anyone know a good replacement for BYTE --
ie. generic leading-edge machines covered in a technical manner? If
one exists, I want to subscribe.

-- 
	"The hell I will!"	WHAK!	"Surpise, kid -- they retract!
	 Try that again and I'll kick you back. With my claws."
Chris Siebenmann		uunet!{utgpu!moore,attcan!telly}!ziebmef!cks
cks@ziebmef.UUCP	     or	.....!utgpu!{,ontmoh!,ncrcan!brambo!}cks

rellis@alias.uucp (Reid Ellis) (03/19/89)

woods@tmsoft.UUCP (Greg Woods) writes:
|BYTE, like most other "hobby" computer magazines is TOO PC oriented.

Dr. Dobbs seems to be heading this way, too.  There's still source,
though.  For now.
				Reid
---
rae@geac.uucp | rellis@alias.uucp (Reid Ellis)
176 Brookbanks Dr, Don Mills ON, Canada, M3A 2T5, +1 416 446-1644
Copyright 1989 Reid Ellis; you may redistribute only if your recipients may.

w-colinp@microsoft.UUCP (Colin Plumb) (03/21/89)

cks@ziebmef.UUCP (Chris Siebenmann) wrote:
>  In the mean time, does anyone know a good replacement for BYTE --
> ie. generic leading-edge machines covered in a technical manner? If
> one exists, I want to subscribe.

H'm... the Micro Cornucopia is pretty reasonable, and the variety of stuff
that makes in into the magazine put out by the C User's Group is pretty
amazing.  "Leading-edge machines" is a tricky one to define.  Do you want
supercomputers, mainframes, minis, high-end workstations, low-end workstations,
high-end PC's, low-end PC's, 8-bit PC's, what?

Microsoft's library is full of magazines that cover the general area, although
with a strong IBM-clone leaning.  (Anyplace that subscribes to 2600 can't be
all bad! :-})  If you have some idea, I'd be happy to go looking.
-- 
	-Colin (uunet!microsoft!w-colinp)

"Don't listen to me.  I never do." - The Doctor

shields@yunccn.UUCP (Paul Shields) (03/21/89)

In article <3784@geaclib.UUCP>, rellis@alias.uucp (Reid Ellis) writes:
> woods@tmsoft.UUCP (Greg Woods) writes:
> |BYTE, like most other "hobby" computer magazines is TOO PC oriented.
> Dr. Dobbs seems to be heading this way, too.  There's still source,
> though.  For now.

Yes, Dr. Dobbs is going that way too.   Faster than you may think.
They've had an amazing turnaround in editors lately.  The recent issue 
about neural networks is for the birds.  It caused me to go find some
REAL information in Physical Review Letters.

Communications of the ACM might be a good choice.
-- 
Paul Shields, shields@yunccn.UUCP
Who needs source?

dan@sparkles.dcss.McMaster.CA (Dan Trottier) (03/21/89)

In article <1989Mar18.215438.15817@ziebmef.uucp> cks@ziebmef.UUCP (Chris Siebenmann) writes:
>
> In the mean time, does anyone know a good replacement for BYTE --
>ie. generic leading-edge machines covered in a technical manner? If
>one exists, I want to subscribe.
>

Has anyone tried the new magasine called MIPS? From the first couple of 
issues it looks good compared to BYTE and friends. It's mostly dedicated
to the workstation market, specializing in 80386, 680x0, etc architectures.

How about good Unix mags? We get Unix World and Dr. Dobbs but there has to
be more mags out there than that. 

-- 
Dan Trottier                                            dan@maccs.McMaster.CA
Dept of Computer Science                       ...!uunet!utai!utgpu!maccs!dan
McMaster University                                      (416) 525-9140 x3444

woods@tmsoft.uucp (Greg Woods) (03/24/89)

In article <2201@sparkles.dcss.McMaster.CA> dan@sparkles.UUCP (Dan Trottier) writes:
>How about good Unix mags? We get Unix World and Dr. Dobbs but there has to
>be more mags out there than that. 

Try Unix Review.  It's a bit expensive, but has so far been well worth
it to me.  (It's $52.00US for us Canadians)

It has one, or two, good reveiws per month, articles about standards
and technology, how-to articles, good columns, some technical
articles, and of course recent industry news.
-- 
						Greg A. Woods.

woods@{{tmsoft,utgpu,gate,ontmoh}.UUCP,utorgpu.BITNET,gpu.utcs.Toronto.EDU}
1-416-443-1734 [h]	1-416-595-5425 [w]		Toronto, Ontario, Canada

evan@telly.UUCP (Evan Leibovitch) (03/24/89)

In article <1989Mar23.163632.24596@tmsoft.uucp> woods@tmsoft.UUCP (Greg Woods) writes:
>In article <2201@sparkles.dcss.McMaster.CA> dan@sparkles.UUCP (Dan Trottier) writes:
>>How about good Unix mags?

>Try Unix Review.  It's a bit expensive, but has so far been well worth
>it to me.  (It's $52.00US for us Canadians)

I agree. It's free if you live in the States, but costs here. That's a bit
absurd, considering the cover price is $4. It's cheaper to buy it at
newsstands.

Now, are there newsstands around here that carry it?
-- 

 Evan Leibovitch, SA of System Telly, located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario
     evan@telly.on.ca / {uunet!attcan,utzoo}!telly!evan / (416) 452-0504
You can lead a herring to water, but you have to walk really fast or he'll die