chuq@plaid.Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (03/04/88)
Well, it's hit the newstand. HyperAge, the first HyperCard specialty
magazine. It's got John Sculley on the cover. It's got Danny Goodman
(rapidly nearing the record for most simultaneous columns, currently held by
John "what, me worry?" Dvorak). It's got Ted Nelson, grand-pa-pa of
HyperText. It's got Mitchell Waite, who's putting together some HyperCard
books for the Waite Group.
It's got lots of sizzle. And almost no substance. I was rather disappointed.
Most first issues are, frankly, weak, because it's hard to get advertisers
for an unknown with no reader or subscriber base, it's hard to get people
lined up to write, it's hard to get hard news when you don't know your
publishing schedule (first issues tend to happen when the money does, not
when you plan them to). First issues are tough.
Still, with the exception of Waite's column, there's lots of glitz and very
little HyperCard. Ted Nelson rhapsodizes on the road to Hypertext. Danny
Goodman talks about how he found God through HyperCard (well, not really,
but it reads that way). There's an article on Lotus' Agenda (is it
hypertext? What's it doing in a HyperCard magazine?).
Mitchell Waite sits down and writes a NEAT script. The only scripts in the
entire magazine. Good Stuff, here. Hope to see it continue.
I'm being critical. I'm being REAL critical. It's not terrible. I'm not
burning the magazine, in fact I'm sending in my charter subscription. Why?
Because, while this issue is weak, it shows a lot of potential. Because this
magazine can become Hyper-Tutor, which deserves support (and a few well
placed letters). Or it can become Hyper-World, with glitz and gloss and few
techical details, at which point I've wasted $20 to give it a chance to
fulfill it's potential. To me, that's worth it.
Take a look. If you're serious about HyperCard, think hard about
subscribing, giving it a chance. If you do, let the editors know what you
want in it, and with any luck, we'll get it.
(before I go, one final note: the layout and typography is very simplistic
and not terribly consistent. Hopefully when they get this thing moving
forward they'll bring in someone who can make the words as pretty as they
are useful... It's not bad, but it's not what I'd call a professional layout
yet. I've seen much worse....)
chuq
Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM Delphi: CHUQ
There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.
Ken Olson, President, Digital Equipment, 1977alibaba@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Alexander M. Rosenberg) (03/04/88)
A very important feature in the first issue is the regular appearance of Ted Nelson. Now we _know_ what he's up to. I most appreciated Ted Kaehler's magic lamp script. Rub the button up and down, and the script pops open. Real swift, if ya ask me. Also noticeable is the article by Tim Oren. for those of you who don't know what the pictures and the cueing system are from, then check out a stack made by Tim at Apple called "Bluebusters". It's a good animation sequencer, but it still runs different speeds on a II. Special note: I'm very glad to see Amanda Goodeneough (sp???) printed. She has a very good nature in her work. It is to be admired. The only exception to this rule is a mysterious stack I saw in Boston called "Inigo goes to Hell". I _doubt_ that Amanda did that one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ Alexander M. Rosenberg ~ INTERNET: alibaba@ucscb.ucsc.edu ~ Yoyodyne ~ ~ Crown College, UCSC ~ UUCP:...!ucbvax!ucscc!ucscb!alibaba~ Propulsion ~ ~ Santa Cruz, CA 95064 ~ BITNET:alibaba%ucscb@ucscc.BITNET ~ Systems ~ ~ (408) 426-8869 ~ Disclaimer: Nobody is my employer ~ :-) ~ ~ ~ so nobody cares what I say. ~ ~
twakeman@hpcea.CE.HP.COM (Teriann Wakeman) (03/05/88)
From the review, this sounds like the same issue they were giving away at MacWorld. I'm suprized it took this long to hit the news stands when it was in print in Jan. My initial reaction was that it was lite in both pages (56) and content for $3.95. I had more or less decided to sit back and see if it lowers its hype level and raised its Hypertalk level. On the other hand, Chuq's idea struck me as reasionable. I'll also send in a subscription and a note telling them that I expect it to become more a magizine primarily for people are serious scripters or at least are trying to be. I will also mention that if at the end of my subscription, they haven't become the macTutor of Hypercard scripting, I will not renew. On the other hand, I think I remember seeing a booth at MacWorld for another Hypercard magazine that did not make it in time for Macworld. Anyone know anything about them????? TeriAnn