 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Editorial Ash Nallawalla ash@melbpc.org.au |
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This Issue
Welcome to another issue of PC Update. This one will also appeal to
beginners, but please give the more experienced members a break. I would like to publish an occasional
technical article, so please don't complain too harshly.
Accuracy of Articles
Some errors in our articles (and those from other clubs) have been detected,
and I apologise for that. I have no time to analyse every line of code, although the ones spotted were so
obvious that I should have spotted them. Sometimes articles from other clubs do not have accompanying
figures. I presumed wrongly that such articles had been properly edited.
Our Bulletin Board
BBS users will know that our sysops Charles Sandercock and Colin Macauley
have resigned. I extend to them a big thank-you and wish them well in their 'retirement'. As I am a keen BBS
user I could sympathise with both sides of the argument but chose not to take sides.
Ventura Publisher 2.0?
Where did Roger find the time to publish "38,000 pages of sheer genius"? If
you have seen the advertisements for Ventura's Professional Extension then a quick calculation will reveal
(based on one minute per page, eight hours per day, five days per week and twenty days per month) that Roger
obtained his copy 3.95 months ago. Just look at Roger's face now-give the man a medal!
I would dearly like to hear from anyone who can tell where this club can obtain an upgrade for our own copy
of Ventura 1.1 which we purchased at full price some time ago. Don't suggest Rank Xerox Australia, because I
have written to them four times and both Charles Wright and I have spoken to their DTP officer Veronica
Kotarski several times, but I have not received a written reply. I had also asked if they could donate two
copies for use by the sub-editors who flatly refuse to use a pirate copy for their work. Clubs such as the
Boston Computer Society (16,000 strong in their IBM PC sub-group) have no problem getting freebies every
month, judging by reports in their magazine, but we cannot even upgrade our legal copy for hard cash? At my
previous job we had five copies, which Rank Xerox upgraded to version 1.2 for free ($39.95 each normally) as
they were trying to interest us in their high-end publishing system. Just before I left I received an upgrade
notification for all five copies, which stipulated that an upgrade would require, in addition to the cash and
one original disk, a special form that was attached. I have been trying since September to get this precious
form and I now feel that we should have tried Megavision (other Ventura distributor) earlier. Hopefully, by
the time you see this I should have heard from them. I have written to Xerox Corporation in the USA to say
that such ser-vice (I use the term loosely) is not good enough. They haven't replied either. I love the
product, and I cannot afford to drop it in favour of another. Maybe IBM will donate a PS/2 Model 70 with 6 MB
of RAM and a copy of Interleaf! I think that some local companies feel that our club can afford to buy
everything.
Lack of version 2.0 has meant I could not open an item supplied by Lloyd Borrett presumably in this format,
and that for a while I could not open a WordPerfect 5.0 submission until I obtained a PD utility to convert
it to ASCII.
Version 1.1 claimed a theoretical limit of some thousands of pages, but we found that working with more than
40 pages of technical material was unbearably slow on a 10 MHz AT with 640 kB RAM. So I'd find out first how
much EMS is required before tackling a 38,000 page job (the Encyclopaedia Britannica is only 32,000 pages)
with version 2.0.
Xerox has also received criticism in the local press about delays with VP 2.0, and I have been cured of the
delusion that computer companies would have time for PC Update, the largest user group magazine in
Australasia.
Buy Direct From USA?
You will note from my growing cynicism that Australian software buyers (of
imported packages) have little tangible evidence of the 'support' element built into the local pricing. I am
tempted to buy directly from the USA in the future even if the local agent refuses to upgrade such software.
Sometimes you can buy two or three US products for the price of one Aussie equivalent.
Wanted
I would welcome a donation of a fast 80 MB or larger hard disk for the
editorial PC in return for an equivalent value of advertising space. 40 MB is not enough for desktop
publishing as I constantly have to purge the disk of semi-essential material which would be handy to have
on-line, not on some floppy. The BBS could use a tape drive too, as regular backups will reduce the aftermath
of crashes that we have suffered in the past. Such deals require committee approval, so please write or phone
the Admin Officer in the first instance.
Technical Cornucopia
I received a copy of MicroHelp's new magazine Technical Cornucopia, which is
edited by Lloyd Borrett. It will appeal to those who are comfortable with technical developments in the PC
world and is definitely worth its price, which is free.
Public Domain Software Catalogue
Half of the group's public domain/shareware library catalogue is published
this month, with the rest to be published next month. Note that it reflects the status of the library in
January 1989 and you will need to consult this magazine's monthly updates to have a complete picture.
Deadlines
The closing date for the receipt of articles (direct to sub-editors) and
advertisement space booking for the next issue is 5 April. (As the Easter weekend has upset our timetable you
will probably read this a week later, so some SIG reports may miss the boat next month. We'll do our best,
though.)
Reprinted from the April 1989 issue of PC Update, the
magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
