
^C{Letters From Our Subscribers}
^Canswered by Sean Golden

This file contains letters from our subscribers, along with answers from our editors and programmers.  We also have a file of letters which contains comments from our subscribers that don't need a response.  That file is available as our "SUBSCRIBER COMMENTS" column.

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To On Disk Monthly:

Excellent new version of "On Disk!"  I really like the on screen graphics.  Especially the Statue of Liberty graphic.  Super job on the TrueType font.  I've downloaded a lot of fonts from bulletin boards, and a lot of them are ho-hum.  This one is really good.  One question on PCX Viewer: when I view color graphics they aren't the same colors on screen as they actually are in the graphics.  When I view them from Windows Paintbrush they look fine.

I like the idea of an "On Disk" icon.  Included is a screen capture from your last issue.  Use it if you like.

Chip Schmidt

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Mr. Schmidt:

Thank you for your suggestion for our Windows icon.  I've talked with our art department about it and we are working on an icon.  (I know, how long can it take to put an icon together?)  The real delay in publishing the icon is in figuring out how to publish it on the disk and still give our users access to it from the shell.  I'm working on it.

PCX Viewer is a VGA program that uses certain colors in its own interface.  Because we felt that changing colors around each time a new graphic was loaded would confuse our users, we "locked" down the colors needed by the PCX Viewer itself.  So, if a .PCX file uses too many colors for the viewer to display, the image is "mapped" into the colors that PCX Viewer has reserved.

To see the "true" colors of the graphic from within PCX Viewer, simply press your F10 key and the rest of the screen will "blank out," showing the image in it's true colors.

Sean Golden, ODM Product Manager}

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Dear ODM:

Is there any way the "GO" shell can be loaded into extended memory, when available, and stay resident rather than reload from disk each time a feature is terminated?  I run from a hard disk, but the present procedure is still too slow.

Earl T. Blaylock

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Mr. Blaylock:

Actually the "GO" driver IS loaded into memory and remains there as you run other programs.  What isn't in memory is the "VGASHELL" program which does most of the actual work for ODM each month.

Why don't we load it into extended memory?  Well, there are a lot of reasons.  As many reasons as there are memory drivers and RAM drives and many, many other extended memory programs.

Without getting too technical, as long as you stay in standard 640K memory you can expect things to be pretty stable.  When you start using extended memory, look out.  Now your program is at the mercy of whatever else wants to roam around in extended memory itself.  In other words, trying to leave the VGASHELL program in extended memory creates an exponential increase in the number of possible problems you might experience with ODM.  We decided to get a stable shell program written and tested before trying to experiment with extended memory.

We are now looking at doing exactly what you request, and we are also looking at other ways to improve the speed and responsiveness of the current shell.  I think it is too slow myself.

-Sean Golden, Product Manager, ODM}

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Dear Sir or Madam:

I am sending you the Report Card plus this letter to let you know how much I appreciate the service I received from On Disk Monthly.  I went on vacation and on returning I got all my mail in a bag which I believe was placed close to something powerfully magnetic.  The disk would not work, so I called On Disk Monthly and my disk was replaced right away.  I have enjoyed the programs on each disk since I started with #79.

I would like to see some programs that would help keep medical records for insurance.  I have high blood pressure and have to keep a record to take to the doctor.  Sometime, you may make something to help me chart my medical records.

Sincerely,
Guy H. Collier

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Mr. Collier:

Thank you for the kind words.  I will discuss your request with our programmers.  If we do such a program would you want it for Windows or for DOS?

-Sean Golden, Product Manager}

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Dear Sirs:

Just a couple of quick comments about your change into "Windows" format.

I timed it out and your new format doubles the intro time of On Disk Monthly.  This is a pain in the neck!  We know the procedure and want to get into each month's programs.

Second, if you are going to publish "Windows" programs you had better include the procedure for running them in Windows in your help area.  For example, all programs have a "Run" button but the "Win2Do" on disk #83.  A novice, as most of your subscribers are, could go nuts trying to figure out how to run this program because you do not say a word.

Last question!  Do you have an "E-mail" address?

Thank you.  Your product is fine or I would not have purchased a year's subscription.

William Herbig

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Mr. Herbig:

Good letter.  You are right on all points.  (Especially that part about "fine product...")

You know, we are really working hard on speeding up the shell.  The extra graphics do, in fact, take more time to load.  But we may have some ways to speed it up, so stay tuned.

I made a critical error on Win2Do.  I simply did not provide enough help for the program.  That was, in fact, the single most common complaint about issue #83.  I sincerely apologize to everyone involved, and I think you will much prefer the instructions for Circuitry on this disk.  I'll do better in the future.

Thanks for the wake-up call.

We are working on getting an E-Mail address, but we haven't decided where to "make a presence" so to speak.  We are on Prodigy, listed as Softdisk Publishing, and you can leave us messages there, and we are considering monitoring a Compuserve account for ODM messages.  I'll make an announcement when we make up our minds.

-Sean Golden, Product Manager}

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Dear Sir:

Just wanted to write to you and say that I am very pleased with your efforts to turn ODM into a first class publication.  To say the least I am very impressed with your initial VGA disk.  I find it very easy to use, and as always your new programs, as well as the regular sections, rank right up there with the best on the commercial market.  Keep up the good work!

Question:  How can I tell when my subscription is going to expire?  Before, you used to tell us on the order form in the address section of the card.  But you have removed that bit of information, so we now have to guess when our subscription is going to end.

Your response will be greatly appreciated.

LeRoy Blanchard

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Mr. Blanchard:

Thanks for the kind words.  We have been very happy with the initial customer response to ODM #83.

We have recently revamped our "X-cards," the inserts you get with your issue that have your name and address printed on them.  They used to give information about when your subscription was going to expire.  We no longer specifically list that information, but we print out special messages with different issues.  For example, when you have six months left on your subscription the X-card prints a message telling you that you have six months left and encouraging you to renew for six months.  At three months a similar message appears, and at one month.  On your last issue the X-card contains a warning that your subscription has expired but offering a last chance to renew.

We use this method because it now allows us to include information about special offers depending on the length of time you have left on your subscription.  So, simply read your X-cards and you'll know when your subscription is about to run out, and you should have plenty of time to renew.

-Sean Golden, Product Manager}

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Dear ODM:

What is the purpose of the questions on your report card titled "Secret Word (from PokerFace)" and "New Cartoon Caption?"  I'm in no mood to search for answers or "play" guessing games.

I also wonder why you ask for my age.  This is an entirely unnecessary question.

Carolyn Smith

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Ms. Smith:

Please forgive my editing of your letter.  I thought you had posed some useful questions and decided to use your report card comments as a way to clear up some confusing things.

You know, it's funny.  Every issue something turns out totally different than I expect when I put an issue together.  On issue #83 more than half of our respondents did not understand the purpose of the two blanks on the report card that confused Ms. Smith.  I was very surprised by the confusion, but I'll try to clear it up here.

We have plans to publish a cartoon presenting program that lets the user view a series of suggested captions for a single cartoon.  We wanted to get suggested captions for our published cartoons from our subscribers.  The idea was to republish a cartoon (like "Nerd Hell") on a future issue with captions written and mailed in by our customers.  That is why the "New Cartoon Caption" blank is on the report card.  When we get the cartoon presenter written we'll republish the original cartoon and as many of the suggested captions as possible.  This has been done in some magazines and the results are sometimes much funnier than the original caption.  For example, a suggested caption for "Nerd Hell" might be "Now he'll pay attention to us instead of that machine!"

We also want to reward our game players by publishing their names in a "Hall of Fame" column.  Therefore, we have included a "secret word" for each game we publish and the report card allows you to mail in the word if you discover it.  Usually the word will appear when you "beat" the game.  In PokerFace you see the word when you "break the bank" by scoring more than $4,000 dollars.  In Halloween Hijinx, from issue #84, you see the secret word when you successfully complete the 30th level, no matter what your score is.  For Circuitry you have to score a certain number of points to get the secret word.  If you send in the proper secret word, we'll list your name in our "Hall of Fame."  Oh, a final note about PokerFace.  Unfortunately we thought it would be "cute" to have PokerFace mangle the words "Thank you for playing PokerFace" in different ways when  you quit the game.  Many of our customers thought they were seeing the "secret word" when they quit and saw "Fank Pou Thor Flaying YokerPace" or something like that.  I apologize for the confusion.

Finally, we ask for a lot of information on our report cards.  Now, I am like a lot of you and I would not like to answer some of those questions myself.  If you think they are intrusive or in bad taste, I apologize.  Feel free to leave them blank.  We ask them to get a better idea of who our customers are, and what type of equipment they have.  It helps us to know what kind of programs to publish.  In other words, if we don't know who our customers are, we will never be able to decide what kind of product to publish.  The risk of irritating some of our customers is a chance we take.  I hope you understand.

-Sean Golden, Product Manager}

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