@3 Merry Christmas Amoszine Readers!!!! It's that time of year again when everybody acts stupid, eats too much unhealthy food and gets fat, and drinks so much beer they vomit until the new year, and claim they enjoy it!! So what are you going to do this Christmas? Are you going to watch Mary Poppins for the 5 billionth time or sit snugly down at your computer and read the latest issue of Amoszine? You're going to read Amoszine aren't you!! 'And why is that?' I hear you all say. It's because Amoszine contains all the latest news and gossip from around the Amos community that simply cannot be beaten. Christmas wouldn't be the same without it! @1 ============================================================================ @3 NEXT ISSUE ~~~~~~~~~~ I've just been sent a really impressive new accessory for AMOS Professional interface programmers. I was hoping to include it in this issue but due to time restrictions, it will be reviewed next issue instead. You could have had the review this issue but that wouldn't have gave me time to give a really in-depth look at it. Rest assured, it will be reviewed next issue. On the subject of the AMOS interface, I will be starting a new tutorial on the subject that will help you to understand the mysteries of AMOS Pro's most powerful feature. The manual does a very bad job of explaining the interface, so if you want to learn it, be here next issue. @2 Before I get underway, may I take this time to have a really good moan? Well, I'm going to moan anyway. Do you, the reader, want truly comprehensive reviews every issue? Well it would be nice if I actually got sent some programs to review, as it was, programs we're so scarce there almost wasn't any reviews. So if, in future I don't get anything sent, then you, the reader won't get any comprehensive reviews and it'll be your fault! End of moan. Many thanks to Andrew Campbell for actually sending me software to review. Cheers mate, and may your life be free of incident (and PCs!!!!!). @1 ============================================================================= @3 ----====****>>>><<<<****====---- @2 If you would like to comment on a review then please send all your letters to the letters page of the magazine, so everyone can read what you've got to say. @3 ----====****>>>><<<<****====---- @2 How are the reviews structured?? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @1 First off I will say what the program is, what it does and give a brief background to the program. The following paragraphs say what I actually think of the program. The last paragraph contains a summary of what I think of the program as a whole. Below this are 7 sub-sections detailing the programs strengths and weaknesses. Each section has a mark out of ten. Guess which mark is the best! Here is what each sub-section means: DOCUMENTATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is where I praise or moan about a program's instructions. If they are poorly written, then expect a poor mark. Of course if the program has excellent on-line help with helpful instructions in AmigaGuide format then expect a good mark here. USER INTERFACE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Programs that have well laid-out interfaces with drop-down menus and are extremely easy to use will be rewarded well. However if a program uses AMOS' default screen and is heavily reliant on the keyboard then I'll say so. EASE OF USE ~~~~~~~~~~~ I think this section is obvious really but it could contain anything, such how easy it was to install to hard disk, how easy it was to set-up or how easy it was to loose your temper. The latter will NOT be rewarded well! SPEED ~~~~~ The speed of the program will be considered along with programs of a similar type. If it is fast for this sort of program then I'll mention it. If the program's a ray-tracer then don't expect it to be fast, it will be compared with another ray-tracing program. RELIABILITY ~~~~~~~~~~~ Programs which don't work most of the time, crash, corrupt disks, throw a tantrum will get a zero rating. So there! VALUE FOR MONEY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If the program is a serious rival to LightWave for example and the author has released it as Freeware then: 1) The author is extremely stupid 2) and you've got to get it! (Slight exaggeration there methinks! Who would release LightWave as P.D.?) OVERALL ~~~~~~~ This is an average of all the marks and one last comment about the program. All the marks are out of 10, no prizes for guessing which is the best mark to have. ==================================================================== If you have programmed something special, then don't be shy, please send it in! Amoszine's reviews can only continue if there is enough programs sent in. Of course, it gives your program free publicity as well which can't be bad! Please send all submissions to: Andrew Smith Amoszine Reviews 2 Fairway, Hockley, Tamworth, STAFFS. B77 5HA. But please remember, if your program's not very good, I'll say so! If you think it is good, then chances are I'll think so as well. ==================================================================== Happy coding. Andy.