xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Nigel Tzeng) (09/26/90)
I recall seeing someone in this group associated with Compute so I figured
they'd like some feedback about their "new" magazine. The magazine arrived in
my mailbox somewhat tattered but functional. The format for Amiga Resource
subscribers is a stipped version of the Newstand copy. You only get the
general section and the Amiga and PC sections. Macintosh and C128 sections are
removed. Kinda too bad as I'm more interested in Mac products than PC ones.
The Amiga section is about par with the old Amiga Resource...I did find it
somewhat less technical than I remembered but that may just be my memory
playing tricks on me. The review of Word Processor programs was as complete
and intelligently formatted as one could wish except that I didn't see a note
or column in the table about postscript capability. The review did note the
scope of general graphics and printing ability was quite large and the
purchaser should inquire over their specific setup but it would have been nice
to find out this level of detail...
The rest of the Amiga section looked okay...better than Amiga World but that is
hardly a complement. It is worse in that there are fewer ads...I saw
Montgomery Grant and maybe a couple of others but did not find Briwall or
Computability. I found the Abstractions and Taking Sides somewhat pointless
and News & Notes a bit lame. At least Amiga View (the editor's column) is
an order of magnitude better than Chief Concerns from AWhirld (that's no
overwheming complement either).
BTW: There are only 48 pages of Amiga specific stuff...not 64 as stated in the
Feedback column.
Now the bad part (if the previous was positive ;-). The general section
(supposedly included in all versions of Compute as "General Computing info")
contained so much tripe that in the end I had a very negative view of the
magazine. The Amiga got scant mention in this section and what it did get was
not overly positive. The General section was hardly more than an extra PC
section. I doubt Mac readers would be much more thrilled with it than Amiga
readers even though it did get much more coverage. The real pisser was the
Pathways column on animation - here is the mention on Amiga:
"The Amiga has long been the platform of choice for desktop animators, but two
programs for PC compatibles have recently leveled the field. Autodesk Animator
(Autodesk, 2320 Marinship Way, Sausalito, California 94965, 415-332-2344,
$295.00) and Deluxe-Paint Animation (Electronic Arts, 182 Gateway Drive, San
Mateo, California 94404, 415-571-7171, $134.95)..."
That's it. So much for general, relatively unbiased, information from the
general section...leveled the field my ass (pardon the french and any
misspellings above are mine). No mention of the Disney package or the other
(IMHO superior) packages on the Amiga. Except for this line no mention of the
Amiga at all...grrrrrrr...
The only other location Commodore got a mention (other than the leading
editorial lip service) was in the Conversations column about CD-I. A brief
comment about CDTV but no menion of its capabilities. Granted it is unreleased
but it was at CES and is a lot closer to production than CD-I.
So...what can I say? The Amiga section was shorter than claimed (48 pages)
..was either about the same as before or a little worse and the other 160 odd
pages were PC info and PC biased. I really didn't mind the huge article on the
PS/1 (amusing...) or the and pages pages of "How to install a 3 1/2" drive on
your PC" but I really draw the line on claiming that the PC is the best thing
to happen to Animation since sliced bread.
You guys better get your act together or you're going to see Amiga Resource
subscriptions dissapear. I may not be able to get a refund but I doubt that I
will consider resubscribing. That general section (118 pages of it) would be
better spent used as general machine reviews and new product annoucements from
all platforms than as sleazy way to add pages to the PC section. That way you
could ditch the News and Notes section in the Amiga Resource portion and use
the space for more informative articles or reviews.
I think I have maybe 1 or 2 issues comming to me and there better be
significant improvement in the General section. I can understand this sort of
behavior from PC rags but from a theoretical amiga magazine?
Eeech. Compute gets an overall D- rating from me. The annoyance factor is
much too high in the General section. The Amiga Resource section itself
probably would rank as a C/C+...passable but hardly awe inspiring.
NT
BTW: I found the actual magazine to be somewhat clumsy from all the inserts
and slightly cramped formatting of the Amiga section. I don't know what you
can do about that but I thought you might find it interesting to know.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// | Nigel Tzeng - STX Inc - NASA/GSFC COBE Project
\X/ | xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov
|
Amiga | Standard Disclaimer Applies: The opinions expressed are my own. moynihan_r@apollo.HP.COM (Robert Moynihan) (09/28/90)
In article <3496@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov writes: > >I recall seeing someone in this group associated with Compute so I figured >they'd like some feedback about their "new" magazine... I thought I'd put my two cents in here as well. I sent in a subscription to Compute's Amiga Resource because I wanted a subscription to an Amiga-only magazine. Any so-called "general" computer magazine that I have seen is 90+% heavily-biased PC-clone coverage, and I wanted nothing to do with that sort of magazine. My subscription was to include six magazines with disks. I received two issues when the news hit about Bob Guccione's Omni Publications buying out the magazine. Now, I was supposed to get the new Compute instead. and *no disks*! I DON'T WANT IT! It's *not* what I agreed to when I sent in my money! I knew immediately that the new "unbiased" magazine would be heavily PC weighted, and that's EXACTLY what happened. The magazine I am receiving is in my mind 70% worthless drek. I care *nothing* about PC's and Macs. That's why I subscrbed to an *Amiga only* magazine. >BTW: There are only 48 pages of Amiga specific stuff...not 64 as stated in the >Feedback column. I.E. not only do they gloss over the fact that they are not selling what we subscribers bought, they lie about the product they *are* putting out. Apparently, if the word "Amiga" appears on a page, it counts as being Amiga specific. >Now the bad part (if the previous was positive ;-). The general section... >was hardly more than an extra PC section. Which is exactly what I (and I'm sure thousands of other subscribers) knew would happen. >So...what can I say? The Amiga section was shorter than claimed (48 pages) >..was either about the same as before or a little worse and the other 160 odd >pages were PC info and PC biased. > >You guys better get your act together or you're going to see Amiga Resource >subscriptions dissapear. I may not be able to get a refund but I doubt that I >will consider resubscribing...I can understand this sort of behavior from PC >rags but from a theoretical amiga magazine? I certainly will not resubscribe. As soon as I received the Omni magazine in the mail, I called and told them I wanted my subscription cancelled, and my money refunded. I was told that they would do that. Last week, when Compute! arrived, I called again. This time I was fed a bunch of bull. I am disgusted with Omni Publications and the new Compute! >Eeech. Compute gets an overall D- rating from me. If there were a grade lower than F, they'd get *that* from me. I wonder if there's any possibility in a class-action suit of all angry former Amiga Resource subscribers against Omni Publications? Any attorneys out there want to field this one? ============================///==================================== moynihan_r@apollo.hp.com /// "Winners are losers who got up and Plink: Moynihan \\\/// gave it just one more try." Hewlett-Packard/Apollo \XX/ -Dennis DeYoung
bbaker@cbmvax.commodore.com (Bob Baker) (09/29/90)
In article <3496@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov writes: > > You guys better get your act together or you're going to see Amiga Resource > subscriptions dissapear. I may not be able to get a refund but I doubt that I I talked with one of the head people at Omni (at the NY office) and was assured subscribers WOULD be able to get refunds if they decided to subscribe! If you need a name and/or phone number let me know! > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > // | Nigel Tzeng - STX Inc - NASA/GSFC COBE Project > \X/ | xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov > | > Amiga | Standard Disclaimer Applies: The opinions expressed are my own. -- +------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ | Robert Baker | All opinions & comments are strictly personal | | Commodore Technology Group | UUCP ...{uunet,allegra,rutgers}!cbmvax!bbaker | | (215) - 431 - 9499 | QLink = "RBaker" PC-Link = "RBaker PC" | +------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
harding%b56vxg.dnet@kodak.com (JON HARDING) (10/03/90)
In article <3496@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>, xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Nigel Tzeng) writes... > >I recall seeing someone in this group associated with Compute so I figured > // | Nigel Tzeng - STX Inc - NASA/GSFC COBE Project > \X/ | xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov > | >Amiga | Standard Disclaimer Applies: The opinions expressed are my own. Yeah. I found it clumsy as well and the "feel" is bad; like trying to read OMNI (black type on silver paper...feh). BUT... at least I got a mag and will continue to until my subs. expires, which is better than being dumped like those bums at Transactor, PC-Pilot , etc, etc. I think that in the long run it may be cheaper to buy mags on the newsstand than get ripped by subscriptions. N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J | Jon Harding, N2KZJ * I don't represent KODAK by word or deed. * | | 716-477-5944 | N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J N 2 K Z J