aaron@proxftl.UUCP (Aaron Zimmerman) (08/01/88)
( '>' indicates quotations of Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) > Having been involved in computers in one form or another for nearly > twelve years (I am now 24), I have found the industry exciting... I'm in the middle of college now, and have been involved with computers since I was 9, with my first commercial program sold before I turned 13. > As imaginative people continue to enter the field, new and wonderful things > continue to happen all over the world. I could ramble for megabytes on this subject - the changes I've witnessed have been breathtaking, and since you're some years my senior, these changes must seem all the more great to you. Creative Computing's the one that got me upset (though not angry). This proud magazine once supported a diverse array of computer systems (albeit mostly in BASIC) provided me with a wealth of readable, useful wisdom. It gradually got thinner and thinner, while BYTE got thicker and thicker, as if it were 'eating' CC's advertising and lifeblood together. I had let my subscription run out for one reason or another (probably procrastination), but continued following the mag at newstands when one issue I brought home was labeled across the top left corner "Collecter's Item issue! See Inside, p.XX". Having already purchased it, I turned to that page, and read a sad note from the editor announcing that Ziff-Davis was going to cease publication. > To your credit, you do make attempts from time to time to present > your readers with new programming tricks, and occasionally preview new > hardware. But it seems that these articles are written around the PC, or > in comparison to the PC. It's a drag how much the content of these magazines seems to be biased by the size of the market they're directed at. What happened to the small trade journals we used to love? > Your Apple ][ coverage has dropped to almost nothing, and you only bothered > to mention Sun Microsystems when they came out with a PC-compatible > workstation. Mmm. Apple ]['s really don't seem to be in use too much any more, though they gave me many years of fun some time ago... An Apple ][ (notice I didn't say ][+) was the first machine I used that actually had <gasp> a disk drive. I enjoyed wading through the Beagle Brothers' source code and developing a solid mastery of the 6502. Still, the Apple being so antiquated, I can maybe under- stand their dropping it. Sun, however, is a very important corporation, making extremely powerful machines, the cheapest of which are in the range of the Mac II (though infinitely more functional)... After my two subscription years of BYTE ran out (about three years ago) I stopped reading it, so I don't know what sort of material they currently run (besides that each issue is bigger than some phone books, and filled mostly with advertisements). Nonetheless, I'm shocked that they ignore Sun. I suppose they don't acknowledge the existance of C or Unix, either? > Losing your diversity is, in my opinion, an unwise decision and a > disservice to your readers. While it may be true that the majority of your > readers are PC and Mac users, this is not a reason to fail to cover other > systems in a balanced way. Yeah, but I guess they have $ in their eyes. > Beginning with the July 1988 issue, underneath your new hard-edged logo, > your magazine no longer proudly proclaims, "The Small Systems Journal." Pity, ain't it. > - Leo L. Schwab - Aaron C. Zimmerman, bitching about life again. -- Aaron | Proximity Technology | #include <disclaimer.h> Charles | 3511 N-E 22nd Ave. | #include <cute_quote.h> Zimmerman | Fort Ladeda, Fla | cat flames > /dev/null
rcj@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Robert Johnson) (08/07/88)
> > I'm in the middle of college now, and have been involved with computers since > I was 9, with my first commercial program sold before I turned 13. Well, since we all seam to be bragging about how young we were when we started computing: I am now 16, I have been programing for 8 years now (since I was 8 (obviously!)) and sold my first commercial program when I was ~14. I now run a small consulting/programing firm and have released a few programs into shareware... > > Your Apple ][ coverage has dropped to almost nothing, and you only bothered > > to mention Sun Microsystems when they came out with a PC-compatible > > workstation. > > Mmm. Apple ]['s really don't seem to be in use too much any more, though they > gave me many years of fun some time ago... An Apple ][ (notice I didn't say > ][+) was the first machine I used that actually had <gasp> a disk drive. I > enjoyed wading through the Beagle Brothers' source code and developing a solid > mastery of the 6502. Still, the Apple being so antiquated, I can maybe under- Well, in case you haven't heard, the Apple ][ line is still going quite strong. The //gs came out <rather> recently and is in the market to compete with the Amiga and Ataria supersystems out there. On this subject, I still am not sure why these computers have not caught on more than they have. They are excelent graphics & sound boxxes (I mean the Amigas, Ataria, and //gs, not just the //gs...) and are very resonably priced. Is it because people just demand IBM compatibility these days? Even for home use where it offers no real advantage? Just a few cents worth, Robert Johnson P.S. I agree about Byte...I have just about given up on computer mags in general. I'll pick one up every once in a while when its looks like something new, and not just a re-hashing of the same old stuff. I really get most of my computer news off of Usenet and Fidonet. ,
ward@cfa.harvard.EDU (Steve Ward) (08/09/88)
In article <559@proxftl.UUCP>, aaron@proxftl.UUCP (Aaron Zimmerman) writes: > ( '>' indicates quotations of Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) > > > > Having been involved in computers in one form or another for nearly > > twelve years (I am now 24), I have found the industry exciting... I, too have been involved with computers for over 16 years (I am now 17) and I have been excited by it. Of course, my mother rather wishes that girls would excite me, instead. > > I'm in the middle of college now, and have been involved with computers since > I was 9, with my first commercial program sold before I turned 13. I graduated from college some years ago. My affair with computers, to mom's dismay, began in the crib, at age 1 year. My first commercial program was sold before I was potty-trained. Unfortunately I have been consistently victimized by copycat programs that stole my "look and feel." Example: my program: Jumpsuit Jimmy cheap knockoff: Leisure Suit Larry > > > As imaginative people continue to enter the field, new and wonderful things > > continue to happen all over the world. > > I could ramble for megabytes on this subject - the changes I've witnessed have > been breathtaking, and since you're some years my senior, these changes must > seem all the more great to you. Yes, as I review the GREAT SPAN OF LIFE'S FULLNESS in retroconsideration of all that has happened before my very eyes, one cannot help but feel humble, and boggled. Yes, boggled. I'm so boggled that I can't really say anything meaningful, even though I could ramble on for megabytes on this subject. > Pity, ain't it. > > > - Leo L. Schwab > > - Aaron C. Zimmerman, bitching about life again. > > - Bucolic Bill (ed. note: Bucolic Bill is currently undergoing psychiatric treatment for a computationally oriented hardware envy hangup) (either that, or his stack overflowed) :-) :-) :-) :-) (I just posted this for Bucolic -- SMW)