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3]READERS' FORUM
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3]GENEALOGY PROGRAM? - Carl Hathaway, Dallas, TX
     Please recommend a good genealogy program? Also, is a complete index
available on disk for all the issues of JUMPDISK to date?
     Congratulations on your reliable, continuous publication.

     FROM EDITOR: Can't recommend a good program, since we have little
experience with genealogy programs. However, because a PD genealogy program
arrived not long after your letter, we've sent it to you, asking you to let
us know what you think. We hope to have it listed among the new PD offerings
this month. See the BARGAINTEX file in the AD drawer.
     Second question: There's an index on the JUMPDISK SAMPLER. See the AD
drawer.

3]SLUR ON CHRISTIANITY? - Chuck Slotter, Philadelphia, PA
     I have a problem with your August 1990 JUMPDISK. The Guru program made
fun of "A man with two Christian names." I don't find it funny. I find it
offensive.

     FROM EDITOR: You have taken offense where none was given. The
background: Guru author Nico Francois was initially mis-identified as
Francois Nico because his early work was signed with his last name first.
The remark in Guru is nothing more than a joking reference to this
confusion. A Christian name is one's given name, traditionally given to an
infant at baptism. There was no religious reference intended, only to the
fact that Nico and Francois can both be first names.
     Thank you for the religious tract you sent. We read it with true
interest, so you did find an audience.

3]GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN FASTFACTS - Marshall Friedland, Miami, FL
     . . . I am shocked to see so many blatant grammar and spelling errors
in your program FASTFACTS. It really is astounding to see so many errors in
what could have been a good educational tool. Reread the information about
the moon . . . "microscopic glass beeds (sic) . . . it's (sic) low surface
. . . excape (sic) velocity . . . another interesting occurance (sic) are
eclipes (sic)," etc. These are just a few of the examples. I hate to think
of any elementary or high school student using your program to prepare a
paper for a science project. Didn't you check it before you released it . . .
I suggest you have someone competent proofread your text . . .

     FROM EDITOR: We obviously missed these errors in the text. JUMPDISK
routinely spell-checks text files it publishes. We overlooked the text files
associated with the program.

3]LIKES AND DISLIKES - James C. Fergerson, CLinton, NY
     The AmigaDOS 2.0 article was excellent. But please, please! no more
"push the blocks from one side of the square to the other" or "shove the
pieces to cover all the spots" puzzles. Thanks for MandelBlitz, Blizzard and
music pieces. The Ad drawer is a good idea.

     FROM EDITOR: Yes, we've certainly run a few puzzles. Many users love
them. Other's don't. We can hope only that every issue will have a
sufficient amount of your style to keep you interested.

3]GAMING TIPS, REVIEWS, HINTS - Frank Politski, Huntington Beach, CA
     I buy most of the disk magazines available in stores. Others do have
more colorful displays and graphics than JUMPDISK, but I am finished with
their contents much faster than a JUMPDISK, and I get more enjoyment from
your disk. I also applaud you for your dependability and constancy.
     Please consider some gaming tips, reviews and more computing hints or
tricks in place of a utility program at some time. But if not, I still think
JUMPDISK is the best.

     FROM EDITOR: It's unlikely we'll get into gaming tips, and we have
lapsed into next to nothing in the review department. But do see this
month's column TECHNOLOG. We hope to keep it going.
    We truly don't regret not publishing gaming tips. For the vast majority,
we have no way of checking them. As for reviews, it was easier in the old
days when the Amiga market was young. However, there came
a time when so much was being released, we began to feel crowded with
reviews. Of course, there are major products which get mentioned, and at
times we do give extra mention to releases that just happened to impress us.
But with the growth of the market, we had to choose a more specific style,
so that constant readers would know what to expect from us. Whatever we
are, we are what we are. Hey, didn't Popeye say that first?

3]MORE, MORE, MORE! - A. G. Smits, Seattle, WA
     More programs by Robert Wade, Nico Francois, and Charles Vassallo!

     FROM EDITOR: Wade and Francois are represented in this issue. Vassallo
is currently immersed in a book-writing project, and we have promised not to
whine at him for more programs until he finishes.

3]I LIKE IT - Milton Green, Toledo, OH
     From the letters you print, I'd say you let readers be a bit too hard
on you. I've been buying JUMPDISK for more than a year now. Even at $9.95
retail, every issue has been a bargain. Your inclusion of at least 10
programs in every issue (a promise that is usually surpassed) truly
amortizes the cost in a short time.

     FROM EDITOR: Thank you. If we had not encouraged readers to be frank
about JUMPDISK, it would probably be history by now. So keep those critiques
coming in, folks! And we're big enough to shoulder a little praise, too.

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