Editorial
As I write this, Fall COMDEX (Computer Dealers Exposition) show is about to start. If you've never attended one of these shindigs, you really should try to do so.
Atari not only has "Power Without the Price," they also have heart. When we learned that the Marine Mammal Research Project at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco had lost a computer essential to their research, we immediately contacted Atari for help. And almost immediately, Atari said that they would donate a replacement computer system. And that's how Thanks For All the Fish came to be written. I also can't thank Gordon Monnier and George Miller enough for their help and MichTron's donation of a complete set of GFA BASIC 2.0 to the Aquarium.
Neil Harris was long the spokesman for Atari in good times and bad. He's now the Director of Product Marketing for GEnie General Electric's online service. But before he moved East, we persuaded Neil to put down on paper his visions of the future of personal computing. Read them this issue in ST: 1999.
We also have some fascinating and unusual programs for you this issue:
- There's Dah-Ditter to help you leam Morse Code and earn your ham radio license.
- And we have the Moon Calendar to help students, werewolves and lovers plan their nocturnal activities.
- If you're looking for intellectual entertainment, try one of our chess variants, Killer Chess or Kamikaze Chess.
- If you're like me you have more videotapes than you know what to do with. (I think they breed in the cabinet.) To keep them all in order, try VCR Organizer, one of the slickest specialized database programs we've seen.
Oh, yes, about the cover: that is an ST in the tank with the dolphin. We stripped the insides from a defunct ST and sank it to the bottom of the tank. The dolphins loved it, teasing us and our underwater photographer unmercifully. We'd arrange the computer for the picture and one of the dolphins would nudge it out of line. We'd straighten it and they'd do it again. Humor, they say, is the hallmark of intelligence. If so, I truly believe that if we could have made a waterproof computer for them, they'd have figured out how to run it! (The picture on the screen was added later during production of the cover)
Enjoy this issue. We've tried to make this issue both readable and runnable for you. Happy New Year!
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Andrew Reese |