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3]THE EDITOR'S THREE CENTS
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3]CONFRONTATION
1]     In the third week of March I arranged a surprise meeting with a
computer store owner who was letting people copy JUMPDISK for a fee, none of
which was being shared with JUMPDISK.
     In the same town, JUMPDISK was being sold at the regular retail price
by an authorized dealer. So the action I took was not just for JUMPDISK
itself, but for honest retailers, for freelancers whose work was being
ripped off by the cheap sales, and for honest people who pay for their
software.
     I got on a plane and flew a few states away. I got myself a witness. I
went to the computer store in question.
     I paid a $10 club fee, bought a few blank disks and sat down to copy.
Every issue of JUMPDISK was available. The first 18 issues were unauthorized
copies. The most recent three were original JUMPDISKS. I copied three
issues, got a nice little VISA receipt, put it in my pocket and confronted
the owner of the store.
     No need to go into what was said. Use your imagination.
     The deeper point is this. The illegal copies of JUMPDISK possessed by
the store didn't just fall off the cabbage wagon and hit the sleazeball in
the head.
     Someone who purchased a JUMPDISK let someone else copy it. And step by
step the copies of JUMPDISK made their way into this store. The
self-constraint against copying commercial software tends to disintegrate,
the further along the chain it goes. The person who bought the issue
probably copied it for a friend, who more easily passed it on because he
placed no value on what was for him free.
     Who loses?
     Well, JUMPDISK does, of course. And that's too bad for us. But we'll
take care of ourselves.
     Contributors lose and JUMPDISK users lose even more, for the same
reason. Each month we earmark a specific large percent of the previous
month's income for purchasing freelance material. If people are getting
JUMPDISK free, it shows up quickly in the amount and quality of published
material.
     Now, you've noticed JUMPDISK has improved steadily over its months of
publication. So it follows that we're taking in more money. However, it has
become so good that it's a popular item that has begun to attract a
significant number of freeloaders.
     You can do yourself a favor by not copying JUMPDISK for anyone.
     You can do yourself a favor if you let us know of any situation in
which JUMPDISK is being marketed illegally. Call or write us anonymously, if
you want. We'll check it out with discretion.
     What are the clues of illegal JUMPDISKS? A copying operation like the
one described above. A disk without the distinctive JUMPDISK printed label.
A JUMPDISK that is sold without the cover jacket.
     I don't relish the idea of making more airplane trips when unpleasant
confrontation is the likely result.
     But I'll certainly do it to protect the great work a lot of great
people are putting into JUMPDISK.
     After I tossed a tiny fit about illegal JUMPDISKs in a past issue, a
couple readers suggested I was paranoid. I admit I am, and with good reason.
This isn't the first ripoff I've mended, just the first I've mentioned.

3]COSTS UP, PD DISKS NOW $3.25
1]     The name of this column used to be THE EDITOR'S TWO CENTS, but
inflation's effect is being felt this month.
     On April 3, U.S. postal rates were increased significantly. As example,
it used to cost 39 cents to mail an issue of JUMPDISK. That cost rose to 45
cents on April 3, 1988. Weighing in an average outgoing JUMPDISK package,
we find we're looking at a 16 percent hike in our mail costs.
     In addition, disk prices have risen by 18 cents per disk over the past
two months, and it seems unlikely we will see any quick reversals of this
trend.
     This is the spot where I'm supposed to cry about rising costs and
announce a JUMPDISK subscription price hike that ostensibly covers the new
costs but which actually gives us more profit than before. That's the way
the game is often played.
     Nope. We're keeping our subscription and retail prices where they are.
     However, we are increasing the price of PD disks we offer -- from
$3.00 each to $3.25 each. It's effective on orders postmarked April 25,
1988, and thereafter. We had to do something, and the PD offer, already a
low- to no-profit venture, depending on how many disks are in a given order,
will be used to perpetuate itself without loss and to hold the line
elsewhere.

3]AMIGA DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE
1]     Commodore will conduct an Amiga Developer's Conference April 29 to
May 1 at L'enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C. JUMPDISK will have two
participants at the event. Our aim is to offer a report on the program in
the next issue you receive -- June 1988. This is an ambitious aim, and it is
likely you will receive the June issue later than usual. Bear with us for
the sake of a quick report. If we're successful, we should reach print a
month or two sooner than any other magazine.

3]OOPS
1]     In the JUMPDISK APRIL SPECIAL, a second disk we published for $4 and
made available last month (as well as this month -- end of plug), there was
a Mandelbrot picture generated by Charles Vassallo of Tregastel France.
     We erred in claiming the picture took 56 hours to generate, Mr.
Vassallo informs us. The error resulted from our supposition that the file's
name -- hr.56 -- referred to the state of the picture after its 56th hour of
generation. In reality, it was High Resolution picture No. 56 in a series,
and the published picture took six hours to generate.

3]LUCILLE REDUX
1]     Congratulations to Bruce Yarbor of Oklahoma City, OK, whose Amiga IFF
drawing of B.B. King's Lucille, an electric guitar, was published in the
premier issue of Ahoy's AmigaUser. The same picture was published a few
months back in JUMPDISK.

3]THE BANDWAGON
1]     Speaking of the aforementioned Ahoy's AmigaUser, I can't bite back
the opinion that Ahoy has certainly made a cautious entry into the Amiga
arena. Along with the competing Run, Ahoy has been a major magazine
publishing focus on Commodore products. Ahoy appears to have waited 2 1/2
years to see if the Amiga would survive before talking itself into an
Amiga-specific magazine, although it has published Amiga material in Ahoy
itself.
     The initial Ahoy's AmigaUser, which hit newsstands about April 1, has a
good mix of tutorials and reviews. This magazine isn't afraid to publish
Amiga Basic listings -- which may get it pooh-poohed by the panjandrums of
"real" programming languages. Morton Kevelson's "Sounds Like ... Amiga" is a
good article on sound sampling. Managing editor Michael Davila's Matrix
Pattern program is like a C64 idea applied to the Amiga and seems a rather
old-fashioned concept.

3]COMPUTE'S AMIGA BUYER'S GUIDE
1]     This is little more than an excuse to sell advertising. There's an
introduction, a "close up" article on the Amiga 500, and pages and pages of
brief listings on Amiga products. Not bad, but not nearly complete.
     We'd bet Amazing Computing's delayed but inevitable buyer's guide will
have more meat and more potatoes to it.

3]SQUITTERS
1]     To the more than 500 entrants of the Squitters Puzzle Contest
February 1988 issue): We'll be announcing the winners in the June issue.
Yes, the postmark deadline is April 1, 1988, with entries receivable until
April 15. However, we'll be mailing the current issue about April 10. So be
patient.

-- Richard Ramella

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