^C^1Blue Notes

Gentlemen,

A few notes regarding your first issue of Big Blue Disk.  Unfortunately, I 
found the overall effort a bit disappointing, but first issues tend to have 
bugs and hopefully future issues can see improvement.  In the spirit of 
constructive criticism, I'd like to offer the following:

1) Provide an option or toggle for color or monochrome screen users (I have 
only monochrome).
2) Find a way around all the DOS disk swapping when running programs -- a 
tremendous bother.
3) Versaform review overly wordy -- product features don't even seem worth 
reviewing compared to other more capable report generators/database programs.
4) Watch spelling typos -- you've got a few tucked away here and there.
5) Programs: hangman poor, where's the graphic hangman figure?  Robots 
interesting but nothing unusual in a word adventure format.  Calendar fine but 
I've seen 8 versions of this in public domain.  Loan amortization I've seen in 
public domain but overall not a bad program.  String array artwork fine.  
Hacker tips fine.  News items very good, nice concise style.  Blueline editor 
needs a mono version.
6) Front cover photo and design reasonably crisp despite the less than 
professional photograph.
7) Advertising not too appreciated.  I can get ribbon and disks at better 
prices.
8) You don't want to be another BYTE magazine, but something approaching 
Compute! or Family Computing might be good.

Additional:  You've got a huge market of IBM users who could use a good disk 
magazine.  Your current format seems about 45% programs and 55% text.  I'd 
suggest 70% programs and 30% text.  Move towards medium power original 
applications programs, batch files, much more daring graphic games, some 
hardware projects, best buy sources, good programs (PC-Write or PC-File), 
tutorials on leading programs, multiple function home financial calculators, 
more advanced hacker notes.  True, you must keep things reasonably simple for 
first time users, but I think you'll find that IBM users want programs that 
are a bit more subtle than what you might find for a Timex, Commodore, or 
Atari.  (By the way, my first computer WAS a Timex!)

I'd definitely like to see Big Blue survive and prosper.  I'll buy a couple 
more issues off the magazine rack, but your first issue earns applause and a 
suggestion not to simply fill a need for an IBM disk magazine but to become 
superbly trend setting in excellence.

^RJim Hood
^RMercer Island, WA

> Thank you for your letter.  Constructive comments are always appreciated,
> even when they are critical.  To answer your specific points:
> 
> 1) From the third issue on, we support monochrome as well as color.  Our
>    operating system automatically senses which kind of display adaptor you
>    have, and adjusts its display accordingly.
> 2) If you have only one disk drive, you're stuck with the swapping; however,
>    if you have two floppy drives, or a hard drive, you can avoid the swapping
>    by following the instructions on the enclosed sheet of paper.  On double-
>    disk issues, like this one, there will be a little bit of unavoidable
>    swapping when you wish to run a feature on the second disk.
> 3) VersaForm XL 4.0 is a LOW-COST database, and is quite powerful for the
>    price.  Of course, it isn't as powerful as dBase III Plus or RBase Sys-
>    tem V, but then again it doesn't cost anywhere near as much as those.  We
>    feel that for this reason it does indeed rate a review.  In fact, we use
>    it inhouse for much of our business operations.  Maybe the review WAS
>    too wordy, though.
> 4) We're only human; sometimes typos slip through.  We'll try to improve our
>    proofreading, to weed out misteaks.  (Oops, "mistakes.")
> 5) We are always trying to improve the quality of the software we publish.
>    We hope you have found the software in later issues to be more to your
>    liking. The quality should keep going up as we expand our subscriber base, 
>    and thus have a greater number of "hackers" out there submitting their 
>    work.
> 6) We do our photography and cover design in-house.  We appreciate the 
>    qualified compliment.
> 7) In order to allow more disk space for our programs and articles, we have
>    moved most of our advertising material to paper sheets enclosed with
>    BIG BLUE DISK.  However, if we have a new product or special offer, we
>    might still use a disk article to bring it to your attention.
> 8) We're not trying to be "another BYTE magazine," or another Compute! or
>    Family Computing either.  We create our own unique identity by doing those
>    things that only a disk magazine can do.
>
> Regarding your additional comments:  As you can see, PC-WRITE is included
> as a Blue Plate Special this issue.  We hope to have other such specials in
> the future.  You can expect to see a wide variety of software, in many
> different categories, aimed at users at different levels. 

Dear Big Blue:

I have #1 so please start my subscription with #2.

Remark- I also get Loadstar and Softdisk [our magazines on disk for Commodore
and Apple computers respectively -- Ed.] and was not fully satisfied with your
premier issue #1 -- I would have made it so good that people could not resist
ordering, but I'm giving you the benefit and hope they are better from now on.

^RE. Tatulinski
^RCleveland, OH

> Thank you for giving us a chance.  Now that you've seen more, is BIG BLUE 
> DISK more to your liking?  If there's anything else that you would like to see
> changed, let us know. 

Dear Big Blue:

Thanks for access to your great BBS.  I heard about it in BIG BLUE DISK
magazine.  Hope to be on again soon.

^RLouis Dees
^RHickory Corners, MI

> You're welcome.  For those of you who haven't heard already, we have a
> Bulletin Board System that is accessible 24 hours a day at (318) 636-4402,
> for 300 or 1200-baud modem users.  Give it a call.

Dear Editor,

This is the first disk (No. 2) that I have purchased.  I have a PCjr with 128K 
with one disk, and have added a Microsoft Mouse with 128K.  This would give me 
256K and enough memory to run your disk.

The disk loads and works to perfection for most of the menu items.  For some 
reason this configuration will not work for the following programs for lack of 
enough memory:

^F1. Logical Choice
^F2. Computer Yahtzee
^F3. Abacus

I would appreciate any help you can give me in this matter.

I like the format of Big Blue and would like to use it on a monthly basis.  It 
would also be nice to include all the PCjrs out there into your format.

^RBen DeSpirito
^RLancaster, CA

> I'm not sure why those programs won't run while our menu (which also requires
> 256K) works.  Those programs are in Microsoft QuickBASIC while our operating
> system is in Turbo Pascal; perhaps QuickBASIC's memory management is unable 
> to recognize your expanded memory.  Some PCjr memory expansion modules are
> not recognized by MS-DOS, and can cause problems for programs.  We are using
> a PCjr with a Tecmar jrCaptain expansion unit, and we can run all programs 
> on BIG BLUE DISK with no problem.

Dear Sir:

As an owner of an IBM PCjr, I am always looking for bargains on IBM compatible 
software.  Seeing your magazine on disk, selling for $5.00 less than a competing
disk magazine, grabbed my attention.  Since my Junior has 256K of memory, two 
floppy disk drives, and I run it on DOS 3.1, it has the power of a PC.  I 
thought I could run your product on my machine.  Such is not the case.

Your host program will not recognize my color/graphics card, which was factory 
installed.  The programs that I can run (Robots, Calendar, Hangman, Loan 
Amortization, and String Art) all seem to be top quality.  I only wish that I 
could use Blueline Editor to compose this letter, instead of one of your 
competitor's.  But then, if I could, I wouldn't be writing you this letter.

Until I know that you support all IBM machines, including the top-notch but 
orphaned PCjr, I will not be purchasing your product.  I would have liked to 
have subscribed to your product.

^RGary L. Dupree, Jr.
^RLithonia, GA

> The first two issues of BIG BLUE DISK failed to correctly recognize what kind 
> of display adapter you had if you were in 40-column mode when you started 
> running BIG BLUE DISK.  Since the PCjr boots up in 40-column mode, this 
> problem mostly affected Junior users.  To run those issues on your system, use
> the "MODE CO80" command to get into 80-column mode before you type "GO" to 
> start BIG BLUE DISK.  (The MS-DOS system master disk must be in your drive to 
> use the "MODE" command.)  Our operating system has since been modified, so 
> this issue should run fine no matter which screen width you have set. 
