info-mac@uw-beaver (info-mac) (08/31/84)
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@UTEXAS-20.ARPA> Keywords: Ads for MacCable, Professional Composer, new books just seen in Popular Computing, October 84 (page 140) MacCable - A Volksmodem cable for the Apple Macintosh "The G cable ($12.95) connects any Apple Macintosh to the Anchor Volksmodem .... The 6-foot cable ... details from Anchor Autom. Inc, 6913 Valjean Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91406 " [ no idea, if this cable might be usable with other modems - Werner ] (page 190) Professional Composer - for the Macintosh $495 [ ouch ] Mark of the Unicorn, 222 Third Str., Cambridge MA 02142 "This powerful music editor simplifies writing and transposing musical scores. It functions much like a word processor, except that you enter notes instead of characters. The system can transpose scores, discplay scores by voice, check timing, and search for composition errors. It displays music as it would look on paper, with notes, rests, accidentals, beams, chords, ties, n-tuplets, time signatures, clefs, measure lines, and embelishments. Supports mouse input. " [ WOW - the accompanying screen snap-shot looks real encouraging - Werner ] (page 87) McGraw-Hill (to order 1-800-227-2895, in CA 1-800-772-4077) --> MACTELECOMMUNICATIONS; Jon Erickson and William C. Kramer (available 11/84) order# 155-X $16.95 "with this guide, you'll get the inside story on all the popular network and information services available today for the Macintosh computer. [ sounds like a crock to me - Werner ] --> Microsoft WORD Made Easy; Macintosh Edition; Paul Hoffman (available 11/84) order # 152-5 $14.95 " .... introduces you to the basics of word processing ... " [ another crock ??? ] --> MULTIPLAN Made Easy: Macintosh Edition; Walter Etlin (available 11/84) order # 153-3 $14.95 " Now there's a version for the Macintosh .... " --> Using MacWrite & MacPaint; Tim Field NEW [whatever that may mean] order # 137-1 $11.95 " tap the potential of ... to produce visually exciting ...." [ Let me suggest that if any of the above books has no extensive sections pointing out the short-comings, bugs, and performance limitations encountered, it was not written for the consumer, but to get a juicy advance from someone .... Cary Lu's book was terribly disappointing to me, especially in that department. on page 31 of Popular Computing of 10/84, Steven Levy writes in his column "Micro Journal": 'The all-consuming rush to get computer books on the market often results in half-baked "instant" product that leaves much to be desired.' "... whereas he might have made a profit with a cover price of $10, he took a chance and, almost at impulse, decide to charge twice that. The computers were bestsellers" ... are part of comments on Dave Gordon's approach to publishing. " ... with people spending upward of $1,000 on computing equipment, 20 bucks for a book doesn't seem like much. And if the book doesn't turn out to deliver very much information, people don't complain. In fact, you might do better by selling a book that looks good in a store but proves almost useless once a buyer gets it home. That way, buyers will still be looking for a book that answer their questions the next time they're in the store." In the past, it never occured to me to return books when they did not live up to my expectation, but recently, partly because of the "new" prices for soft-covers in the $10+ range, I have begun to return them, too, when I felt 'taken for a ride'. - Werner ] -------