editorial

Top row, left to right: Andrew Pope, Hun-sik Kim, Lorene Kaatz, Diane Lindley, Doug Millison; Second row from top, left to right: Maria Chavez, Gary Yost, Michael Ciraolo, Brenda Oliver, Marni Tapscott, James Capparell; Second row from bottom, left to right: VJ. Briggs, Jack Powell, Linda Tapscott, Charles Jackson; Bottom row, left to right: Les Torok, Steve Randall, Nat Friedland, Harvey Bernstein. Not pictured: Eve Gowdey, Patricia Fostar, Monica Burrell.

With this issue of Antic, the magazine starts its fourth year of publication.
   The early issues were put out from the kitchen table of a former NASA programmer who had founded ABACUS, the San Francisco Atari Users Group. And the magazine rocketed to a 120-page monthly with over 100,000 circulation-almost before we had time to stop keeping our records on scraps of paper stuffed into shoeboxes.
   In many ways, 1984 was Antic's most challenging year. The micro-computer shakeout hit the market hard. Suddenly many computer stores wouldn't accept Atari products and a number of our steadiest advertisers went out of business. Some of the best-established computer magazines went under during 1984. Frankly, there were computer business "experts" who wouldn't have been surprised to see Antic call it quits too..
   But the Antic staff is just too innovative and dedicated to ever give in to a downturn. We simply tightened our belts and looked for more ways to work smarter. And now we've come through stronger than ever- as the turnaround of the past few months vindicated all those who believed in the Atari as the best 8-bit personal computer ever made.
   New subscriptions have been pouring into Antic at the rate of nearly 1,000 a week. More and more third-party manufacturers who'd turned their backs on Atari are now coming back to show their support in the pages of this magazine. Even more important, Antic has lived up to the pledge we made to our readers last autumn-to find new ways to fill the vacuum in Atari information and services...
   You can now read full details of the latest Atari news just hours after it happens, in the ANTIC ONLINE edition on CompuServe. And in only a few short months, the Antic Arcade catalog has become one of the most important outlets for top-quality Atari books and software-including many of the previously out-of-print APX software classics.
   These are only two of the new services Antic began providing this year; there's also the national directory of authorized Atari service centers, the Worldwide Users Group Network (WUN)... and more!
   So the Antic Third Anniversary arrives right in the middle of our most productive and exciting period ever. Thanks for coming along with us. Antic will have even bigger and better surprises for you during the rest of 1985!
   And you can bet that the best coverage of the new Atari XE and ST computer models will continue to be found right here in these pages!

...and we won't take it anymore!

Dear Antic
Attached is a copy of the letter I sent to Broderbund Software expressing my disappointment in their decision not to publish an Atari edition of Championship Loderunner.
   I think all Atari owners should unite and start writing letters to software companies to let them know how many of us are out there.

Timothy E Hitchings
Staten Island, NY

Mr. Timothy F. Hitchings is absolutely right. . . and Antic has received many letters similar to the one above. It's time for Atari owners to demand firstclass citizenship in the personal computer software world!
   Now is the time to take action, because there is no longer the slightest excuse for major software companies to avoid bringing out their hit products for the Atari.
   Just about half a million Atari 800XLs were sold during the 1984 holiday season. In many stores, Atari 1050 disk drives moved out just as fast-as previous owners upgraded to disk.

   Add this to nearly a million previously-sold compatible Atari computers and you have a vast user base that does not have to take second place anywhere in the personal computer market.
   So when YOU see a piece of software you'd like to buy, and you learn it isn't being released for the Atari, your next step should be to write a letter to the president of the software company explaining what a big mistake they are making.
   You can usually find the company s address on the software package or on the advertisement for the product. You don't need to look up the name of the person who heads the company-just write PRESIDENT on the envelope above the company name and address. Feel free to enclose a photocopy of this editorial along with your letter, in order to add a second voice to your argument.
   On my desk at Antic as I write this, there's a pile of superbly packaged color-graphics adventure software from Spinnaker-all for the Apple and Commodore computers.
   Spinnaker's Teralium line (originally called Trillium) features graphic adventure software adapted from famous science fiction books including Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451, Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama and Michael Crichton's Amazon.

   The Windham Classics line from Spinnaker presents interactive graphic software adaptations of some of the best-known children's books. In this series are Swiss Family Robinson, Treasure Island, Alice In Wonderland and Below The Root.
   But at this writing, Spinnaker says it won't release any of these products for the Atari.
   If this makes YOU a little angry, then it would be a good idea to write a letter to:
William H. Bowman
Spinnaker Software
One Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA 02139
   Antic will continue to report on this situation until all important software companies stop short-changing Atari owners.
   Please feel free to send Antic copies of your letters to software companies-and let us know about any responses you get from the companies. This will help us keep everybody informed about the latest victories and opposition in this ongoing struggle.

    James Capparell
    Publisher