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3]EDITOR'S TWO CENTS
3]By Richard Ramella
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3]BYE-BYE BASIC?
     With the release of Workbench 2.0, Commodore will no longer be putting
Amiga Basic on the Extras disk. Instead, it will offer AmigaVision, a system
for arranging modules from various devices into program-like presentations.
While AmigaVision promises some wonderful times ahead, it is not a
substitution for Basic.
     There is a good reason for Commodore to drop Basic.
     Microsoft wrote Amiga Basic for Commodore and retains rights to it.
In addition to a few trifling bugs, Microsoft's Amiga Basic suffers the
disadvantage of not working on 68030 machines. I'm told Microsoft and
Commodore did not reach an agreement on terms by which Microsoft would fix
its work to make it compatible with the 68030.
     By letting go of Basic, Commodore can also let go of licensing fees to
Microsoft and at the same time eliminate a source of frustration for 68030
users.
     This is not the end of Basic for the Amiga, just the end of Basic as we
know it.
     From JUMPDISK's narrow viewpoint, there will be no problem in
continuing to publish good Basic programs. They will yield less frustration
because they will be compiled Basic in machine language and not subject to
calls from the Extras disk.
     There are several Basic compilers which can be used to turn plain ASCII
code into machine language executable programs. One doesn't need Amiga Basic
to write the code for such programs; a text editor will do. Sometimes it is
good to have Amiga Basic for the initial debugging process, though.
     Among the non-Commodore Basics:
     -- AC/Basic 1.3 from Absoft Corp, which compiles ASCII code, generates
error messages, etc., $195.
     -- Extend, Sunsmile Software, an Amiga Basic "extender" that adds 68
commands, including with IFF image and sound support, $40.
     -- F-Basic 2.0, Delphi Noetic Systems Inc., enhanced to offer
animation, IFF files, far-reaching control structures, extended integers.
Cost is $90.
     -- GFA Basic 3.0, Antic Software, adapted from versions for the Atari
ST and MEGA computers, $100.
     -- HiSoft Basic, Michtron, a compiler producing 6800 machine code in
standalone programs, $160.
     -- True Basic Language System, True Basic Inc., a compiler. editor and
debugger with built-in libraries, $100.
     Shop around to find prices lower than suggested retail prices given
here.
3]     Of the compilers, I've used both AC/Basic and HiSoft. I prefer HiSoft
3]because it produces smaller files than AC, and because its interface and
3]debugger are more comfortable to me. It also appears to be faster.
     There are four HiSoft-compiled programs in this issue, all by J. E.
Charlsen. Their drawer icons are the first four from left at the bottom of
the main J window. Source is included.
     Beyond practicalities, I do have some personal thoughts about the
presumed passage of Amiga Basic.
     Programmers will continue to write in Amiga Basic. If the old Extras
disks are not made available for sale, new Amiga users will go hither and
yon in search of contraband copies of Amiga Basic. Like suppressed
knowledge, they will be passed from hand to hand.
     It was once traditional to "give" the Basic programming language to all
who purchased a computer. Some computers manufacturers even had Basic
written into the machine. For many of us, Basic was the first spark of
knowledge that we could make the computer do something beyond pushing
buttons for preset effects. We became creators of computer programs. There
was excitement to that, much as children in the early part of this century
were excited by putting together crystal radio sets and hearing music and
voices from far away.
     With the passage of Amiga Basic, no matter how compelling the business
reason, beginners will lose a considerable portion of the magic that makes a
computer a compelling discovery tool.

3]THE PROBLEMS OF PREMATURE PUBLICATION AND HARD SCRABBLE REPORTAGE
     An Amiga 3000 was part of the office furniture at a big Amiga-specific
magazine for weeks before the model was formally announced at an April 24
press to-do in New York.
     Do you think there will be a picture of the 3000 on the cover of the
June 1990 AmigaWorld? No prizes offered for right answers.
     There's already a 3000 on the cover of the current issue of Byte. It
hit newsstands in many areas of the U.S. a week before the press conference.
It seems, ah, the printer released it prematurely. There was excitement,
and the issue was withdrawn until the April 25 release date for the
information.
     I'm certain Byte didn't mean to break the non-disclosure agreement
that's standard for people and agencies previewing unreleased Commodore
products. After all, the same thing happened with Compute's printer shortly
before the official word was to go out on the Amiga 2000. So we have a
precedent for such lamentable premature publication. Mea culpa letters from
printers, huge apologies, and a fine little news scoop!
     There was no Amiga 3000 on any desk at JUMPDISK.
     I feel a bit wistful about it, though. I've considered putting in our
bid for an Amiga 4000 review machine (should it ever appear), based on our
presence among the rapidly thinning horde of Amiga journalists. If Commodore
entertained my request to the extent of our circulation versus AmigaWorld's
(about 6 percent thereof), we might qualify for previewing an A4000 mouse.
     It was very simple when I was an editor in the newspaper field. The
papers cover events that are legally part of the public record.
Tax-supported officials can be made accountable for refusing cooperation,
and their words can be quoted as attribution. That's not always so in
computer journalism, where the goal is to extract information from a company
about events which are technically the company's business and no one else's.
     Imagine telling a Commodore vice president, "C'mon, chief, you blabbed
to Flanagan of the Blade! You owe it to our readers to let the Bugle in on
this!"
     Despite the problems, our ability to get into print very quickly makes
up a large part of the disadvantage we face in not being among the favored
publications. There's a definite pleasure in not always being spoonfed
information. Seeking it is an interesting process.
     I learned of the New York press conference less than a week before it
was scheduled. Morton Kevelson offered to cover it.
     I tore up the cover we had planned for the June 1990 issue and told
our printer to wait.
     I called the Washington, D.C. office of Fleischman and Hillard, the PR
firm that handles the Amiga for Commodore. They were completely cooperative.
They faxed me a non-disclosure statement, which I signed and faxed back.
They sent me by overnight delivery a color film image of the new computer.
There was no time to get color separations. Didn't matter. The computer is
tan and that's it. We ran black and white.
     Despite my dislike for putting computer pictures on the cover of
JUMPDISK, that's what we did. The 3000 is worth it.
     Three days prior to absolute deadline for this issue, contributing
editor Royan Webb wrangled an invitation to the Chicago section of a dealer
gathering pertaining to new Commodore offerings. She promised to send her
report by modem that same evening.
     We're hoping to hold this issue long enough to also accommodate reports
of the recent CeBIT show in Germany and the World of Amiga in New York.
     We've been in touch with many people this month, and a few things even
came in the mail.
     It's all pulling together right now.
     Meanwhile, we will have a reporter at the May AmiEXPO in Basel,
Switzerland, and a team at the late June AmiEXPO in Chicago. At that same
time I plan to be at the Amiga Developer's Conference (DevCon) in Atlanta.
We hope to nail down the August 1990 issue except for reports on these two
events. They'll be put in about half an hour before we begin disk copying.
     You'll continue to get news quickly in JUMPDISK. You may even read a
few things you won't see elsewhere until later.

3]JULY IS SPECIAL
     The July JUMPDISK is always special. It marks our anniversary. With
that coming issue, JUMPDISK will have published 48 issues. We're actually
older. We sent out the first issue starting in April 1986, calling it August
and explaining we planned the lull to attract a good subscriber base for the
second issue. And so we did.
     I have little idea what will be in the four-year anniversary issue, but
I believe we will be able to offer significantly more than the usual number
of programs.