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== Soft-Logik Conference on GEnie ==
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(C) 1994 by GEnie and the Soft-Logik Roundtable. May be reprinted only
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OCTOBER 30, 1994
The following is a transcript of the real-time conference with Deron
Kazmaier, president of Soft-Logik Publishing Corporation, on GEnie. This
transcript has been edited only for spelling and clarity.
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<[Michael] SL-DEV> Welcome! In conference with us tonight is SoftLogik
President Deron Kazmaier. This conference will have two parts. The
formal part of the conference will begin now and will be in listen-only
mode. When you want to ask a question, you will have to 'raise your hand'
by typing /RAI and then pressing Return to get my attention. Please
prepare your questions before your turn or keep them short. After the
formal part of the conference there will be an informal segment where
everybody can talk freely.
<[Michael] SL-DEV> Remember that Deron isn't here in conference with us
very often. Use this opportunity to ask him questions about the future of
Soft-Logik and PageStream, not when bug X will be fixed or what the
technical support phone number is. I can answer those questions for you
at any time.
<[Michael] SL-DEV> I'm going to post a few words from Deron before we get
started...
"Thank you for coming to tonight's conference. I'm glad to have this
opportunity to speak with you in person. Tonight is my chance to share
with you our plans. I know you all have a lot of questions, and I'll
answer them all in a minute. First I would like to outline our directions
for the future.
"Our main priority at this time is PageStream3 for the Amiga. We are
committed to finishing the unimplemented features, and fixing any problems
in the program. We want to make it the best desktop publisher possible.
I don't have anything new to announce for the Amiga at this time, and I
think most of our customers would be happiest if we'd concentrate on
finishing version 3.
"The answer to whether or not there will be a PageStream 3.0 for the Atari
is no. I know that there are many people out there who love PageStream
and who would love to upgrade to 3.0; however, we have come to the
conclusion that it would not be profitable to do a new version.
"We don't think we could sell enough copies of a new Atari version to
justify the development expense. We have analyzed it every possible
way---not writing an Atari specific manual, contracting the programming to
somebody else, etc---and it just doesn't make sense. If it was at all
financially possible, we would do it. We had hoped that Atari's success
with the Jaguar would lead to revitalized sales of their computers, but
that has not happened unfortunately.
"I hope that the Atari and Amiga users here who are thinking about
changing computers will continue to use PageStream into the future. If
you've been wanting to buy a Macintosh or Windows computer but shudder at
the thought of leaving PageStream, I have good news for you. There will
be PageStream for Macintosh and PageStream for Windows.
"I can't tell you when they will be available, but we have already begun
work on them. The first version for each platform will be very similar to
the finished version of PageStream3 for the Amiga with just a few features
specific to each platform. We will have a very affordable upgrade path
from the Amiga and Atari versions. Subsequent versions will add support
for other machine specific features. There will also be a Windows version
of TypeSmith, our font editor."
<[Michael] SL-DEV> That's the end of Deron's prepared words. The floor is
now open to questions. Remember to type /RAI to raise your hand to ask a
question.
<[Michael] SL-DEV> I'm going to cheat and put the room in talk mode, but
please, still type /RAI to raise your hand to talk. It's just easier for
me to work this way. I'll tell you when to speak.
Room is now in the talk mode.
<[ScottJ] S.CORLEY1> Deron, given the situation concerning Commodore, how
much longer will you be able to support the Amiga? A related question,
what platform and OS is PageStream 3.0 being ported to? PowerMac,
Windows, Windows NT, OS/2?
<[SL-PREZ] DERON.K> Well, I won't lie and say forever. I think it will be
for several more years to come. The Atari basically stopped being
financially viable years ago. The mac will require system 7 or above, and
the PC will be windows 3.1 or later, using win32s for 3.1, or native on NT
or later.
<[ScottJ] S.CORLEY1> Thanks, Deron.
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