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^CBy Daniel Tobias

   There was a time, a few years ago, when the "hackers" and hobbyists dominated
the personal computer field.  Some of today's leading computer magazines, such
as Byte and Personal Computing, were founded in that period, and early issues
were devoted primarily to computer enthusiasts.  To these people, a personal
computer was a hobbyist's toy which, incidentally, also had potential as a
useful tool in many areas of human endeavor.

   However, in the intervening years, as more people outside the "hacker"
subculture discovered how useful computers could be, the mix of people involved
in computers changed.  Now, the big-business corporate users dominate, and the
remainder of the people are largely novice home and educational computer users.
The "hackers" are a small minority.

   While it's nice that so many people discovered what the hobbyists knew all
along about how useful computers could be, I find it unfortunate that the
hackers who started the whole field are largely ignored by the mainstream
computer publications.  Look through any computer magazine on the stands, even
the long-standing ones which were founded of, by, and for hobbyists, and you'll
likely see little but pictures of people in three-piece suits and articles about
spreadsheets and databases.

   BIG BLUE DISK has a wider focus.  While we provide much of interest to the
mainstream corporate user, we also cater to the home, education, and
entertainment segments, as well as providing novel uses for PC's that don't fit
into anybody's rigid categories.  However, even so, we still can't devote much
space very often to the hardcore hackers, since most PC users these days don't
program.

   But, for a change this month, we're giving the hackers a special program of
their own.  Structured Programming Language is a shareware compiler that turns
programs written in a structured style into standard BASIC for you to run in
your favorite BASIC interpreter or compiler.

   If you're not a hacker, there's still much of interest this month.  George
Leritte has just finished an excellent solitaire card game, Klondike.  This
program is designed to work in color or monochrome, graphics or text, with
mouse, joystick, or keyboard.  It's really neat.  Expect to see more card games
from George in future issues.

   Also:  The curator of a museum has been killed.  Can you find out whodunit
in Murder In The Museum?  Find a graph to fit a set of points with Interpolat-
ion.  See Saturn's satellites revolve.  And finally:  Some of you love him, some
of you hate him.  But you can't keep a good stickman down:  Alfredo is back!