User`s guide
I
read
Phil
Sumnerrs
letter
this month
(see
Reader
T/O)
with
great
concern"
Phil- wrote
to
say
he noticed a shift
from
general
interest
articles
in the vrPER
toward PrPs
rerated
material.
Since
f arn the
author
of the series and
am
now
editing the VIPER
as
well, I
fear
that
Phil and
other readers
may
get
the
erroneous
impression that
Tom
Swan
is
somehow
"taki-ng
over."
In
no
way
is this
true.
I certainly
didnrt
accept'the
position
of
editor
with
any
intention
of furthering my
own
special
interests,
fhe
reason
I
got
involved with
the VIP
in
the
first
place
was
because
it ains
at an
audience
generally
interested
in learning
more
about
computers
whatever
a
personts
special
interest
nay
be.
The
VIPER
will eontinue
to
focus
the bulk of
its
articles
on that
audience.
There
is
another side
to the
question.
I have
noticed several
past
issues
of
the VIPER
whicli were slanted
toward
other
special
interests, so
much
so
that they were
not
of
much
use
to
me
eithert
For
exampler
a
hardware
packed
newsletter
does
Little for
someone
who
occasional-ly
forgets
which end
of the
soldering
iron
to
hold,
I am
arl
incapable
fumble
fingers
with
a circuit
design
and
articles
that
discuss
electronics
in
detail
just
arenrt
my cup of tea" But
the
articles
deserve
to
be
published,
The
sarne
holds true
for
other
concerns. Last month|s
features
were
definitely
slanted
toward owners
of the
Tiny Basic
Board.
The
0ctober
issue
was
particularly
hardware oriented.
There
have
been
musj.c issues.
Others
may have
been
weighted
heavily toward
LS}Z
maehine
language
businesb
and
I seem to
remember
a time
when
Il".Elf
computer_held
the
gpotlight.
(And
VIPER
readers
nipped
that
one
in
the
bud
properly!
)
But
whatts
the answer?
Should we refuse to
publish
an article
unLess
it
is total-ly
general
in
nature? I
hope
not
! VIPers are
a
diversified
lot ana-tne newsletter must necessarily
reflect the
va{ied
interests
of
its
readership,
The
fact
is
r
there will
always
be some
material
in
any
publication
which some
readers
may not
find
interesting
or
useful
or
even
comprehensibleo
To
someone
else, that
very
sailre article
may
contain
answers
to
questions
long
since
given
up
as lost causes.
Damned if
you
do and
damned
if
you
donrt
publish
ito
I
do
agree, howeverr
that
no
speeial interest
--
hardwar€r
assembly
language
or PfPS should
be allowed
to
gain
the
upper
hand.
The
purpose
of
this editorial
is
to assure
Phll and
other
non-PIPS
readers
that
I
will
pay
speeial
attention
to
including
general
j.nterest
material in ea6n
anA
every issue of the VIPER;
-
Each
issue
should
have
something
potentially
useful to €verlorrer
AIso,
I
am a
great
believer
in
the
adage that the
facts speak
for
themselves. To that
end,
I
conducted my own survey
of
the
last
four issues.
Just'
how
much material
has been
publ-ished
which
requires
some
special
knowledge,
hardware
or book
in order to
be
used?
I
define
general
interest
as
any article
containi.ng software
2
,oB/09
,oLt'