Floppyshop 2/Floppyshop - 2.zip/Floppyshop - 2.iso/diskmags/4671-5.790/dmg-4674/news.txt/ronwalk2.asc

Text File | 1989-04-05 | 22KB | 355 lines

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                     ∙  THE DIARY OF A PD LIBRARY  ∙
                     ∙                             ∙
                     ∙      by Piotr Piatkoff      ∙
                     ∙   a.k.a Peter the Painter   ∙
                     ∙                             ∙
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O.K.,  I  guess the time has arrived to come clean.  STEN 13 was  overdue,
John  Weller dropped me a postcard saying that he and Dave were  short  of
copy (hint,  hint...) and I agreed to produce a piece for the next  issue.

I began by writing an essay on the joys of running a PDL.  It came out  so
sickly  sweet you could rot your teeth just by reading it,  and came  over
as  an advert for my own PDL - which wasn't what I'd been  intending,  and
almost certainly wasn't what John was looking for either.  So,  I  deleted
the file,  and began again from scratch.  There had been a spate of "start
a  PDL and make loads of money" pieces in the glossies;  we stock  a  disk
called "How to make money with your computer",  (which suggests starting a
PDL as an idea,  and to which we've added a warning that it's not quite as
simple  as  that...)

A  recent  issue of an IBM magazine printed a letter  complaining  that  a
reader  had  been  charged  £1.60 for a  high-density  disk  full  of  IBM
shareware, a sum he thought outrageous, and evidence of blatant profiteer-
ing  by PDL's.  (He also specified that he'd ordered from  a  double-page,
colour  advert  - maybe he thought magazines give space away  to  PDL's!?)
Whatever,  it  all  gave  fuel to what printed magazines  call  a  'think-
piece.'  True,  I aimed to upset a few applecarts, but I am amazed to find
that the examples of coat-trailing evinced,  "well,  you may have a  point
there..."  while the areas I felt to be uncontroversial have stirred up  a
storm.

One clear message emerges:  some readers can't tell surmise from  reality.
"I knew all that already";  unless you've actually RUN a PDL it just ain't
true.   You guessed at it,  maybe,  but without having done it,  you're in
the  same league as the folks who answer the questions on Mastermind  just
a  fraction  behind the person actually sitting in the  black  chair,  and
imagine that they are as clued up as the contestant.  I spent a long while
studying  psychology,  and  as with most social  sciences,  Psychology  is
about  proving and quantifying,  "things that everyone knew already."  But
Will  Rogers was about right when he said,  "It ain't the things you  know
that get you into trouble, it's the things you *think* you know..."

Whatever,  the  'target' reader was a keen ST  enthusiast,  recently  made
redundant,  with  severance  pay burning a hole in his pocket and  who  is
thinking  of starting a PDL.  There's lots of advice about,  and  most  of
it's bad;  it seemed a good idea to put the record straight.   I'm  amazed
by the notoriety that the piece has generated:  people who haven't read it
seem  to  have  heard  about it...  I hear  tales  of  other  PDL  owners,
"spitting blood" at what they take to be a patronising attitude from  what
they (wrongly) take to be a beginner.

I  started  out  in shareware and PDL as the 'head  techie'  of  a  multi-
platform PDL called "Gemini Shareware".  At their peak,  they turned  over
an  amazing £65,000 a month;  and I handled 99% of the technical  queries.
They  also took out four page colour adverts in an equally  amazing  dozen
magazines.  Sorry guys; you think you're big time?  I ran a chunk of a PDL
that could have bought and sold you out of the petty cash.  I also made  a
series  of  suggestions  to  Gemini about how  they  could  improve  their
operation - all of which were ignored.  Gemini fell into rapid decline  as
other  (mainly IBM) PDL's started to compete,  and worked along the  lines
I'd suggested.  Long after I'd quit, they ended up re-debitting the credit
cards of their last year's customers, before fleeing back to the USA.

Dave of Manchester seems to think that we'd,  "had a bad time" - far  from
it.  I enjoy running TSC, it's generated a lot of friends, and a number of
loyal customers.  We don't make a great deal of money,  but that was never
the  aim  of it.  (The piece was intended as a warning to  those  who  DID
expect to make a fortune.)  It's a part-time thing,  as I'm also raising a
two year old son;  he has first claim on my time.  We either give a  first
class  service to a small number of customers,  or Skoda service to  more:
I'd  rather do the former,  (and when Junior is at school and I have  more
time,  expand  things,)  than  start  out with  a  reputation  for  shoddy
service.

Now  for some interesting snippets.  Doubtless some smart-Alec  out  there
will write-in and say,  "I knew that already", but for the rest of you....
We  have a number of disabled  customers:  Multiple  schlerosis,  Muscular
dystophy,  Cerebral Palsy,  Dyslexia,  ME... and those are just the ones I
*know* about.  So,  I decided, as part of TSC's policy to be as helpful as
possible (there's a two-fold reason for that:  it makes me feel good,  and
happy  customers  have deeper pockets!) to contact a  "computing  for  the
disabled" organisation I remembered reading about.

I  eventually  tracked-down  "Computability",   based  in   Warwick,   and
sponsored  by  IBM,  the University of Birmingham and  other  worthies.  I
asked  for  their info pack,  with a view that I could put  customers  who
might find a use for their services in touch with them...   Turns out that
they're  geared up to advise employers who wish to employ the disabled  on
how to modify machines,  or to advise the quadraplegic disabled on how  to
use  computers  to help lead something of a normal  life.  They  offer  no
financial support or advice at all.

Well,  at least one of our customers has handwriting that not even she can
read any longer;  with her humble ST,  running "That's Write!" it takes an
age to generate a letter,  but at least it's readable, and it allows her a
degree  of independence.  So I wrote back to Computability,  pointing  out
that their "blurb" was wholly IBM and Mac oriented,  well beyond the reach
of the average person,  and the ST (with its enormous range of  affordable
PD  and  shareware software) could well be the perfect  machine  for  many
disabled users.

I  received a letter of thanks,  and was asked if I could come to  Warwick
and demonstrate an ST for them.  I'm not in the hardware  business,  don't
own  a car,  and have a two year old to worry about,  so my answer had  to
be,  "sorry,  I can't!"  But,  as I couldn't, I contacted Atari, and asked
them to do so.  Their response?  "Get in touch with our PR people". I rang
the PR people,  and after pestering them for around ten days,  the man  in
charge  of  the Atari account got back to me.  It seems that they  have  a
brief  and a budget:  a list of things that they're allowed to do,  and  a
budget to do it with.  If it ain't on the list... tough.

They did however suggest that I contacted a dealer - Dixons.  As my  local
Dixon's hasn't had an ST in stock for as long as I can recall,  as one  of
Bristol's  other  branches  sold their last ST to  one  of  our  customers
around  three months ago (an ex-demo bargain!) and as Dixons,  in the  IBM
world at least,  are famous for knowing next to nothing about the products
they sell, this advice struck me as fairly unhelpful.

Let's  back-track:  Atari were offered a deal that,  if they turned up  in
Warwick for an afternoon and demonstrated their product,  would mean  that
a  charity  concerned with advising the disabled on their  computer  needs
would (if the demo was any good!) thereafter provide Atari Corp with  free
publicity,  and advise people to buy ST's and Falcons.  Atari's  response?
"Not interested".  Worse,  yet, "Try asking a shop chain that doesn't seem
to stock any ST's,  and even if they did,  wouldn't know if you used  them
to play records or make toast." Yeah,  well,  I guess this is one occasion
when  *I* can look back and say,  "I *knew* it would be like  that".   But
when it happens, it's still beyond belief.

There  was  a  happy ending though:  I contacted  Ladbrooke  Computing  in
Preston,  and after a long and happy conversation with them,  they  agreed
to demonstrate any Atari-related products in stock (i.e.  most of 'em!) to
Computability.  I've  also  begun to make noises about a  self-help  users
group  for  disabled  Atari users.  If anyone  out  there  is  interested,
willing to help,  or whatever,  then let me know.   I've already made some
contacts:  disabled customers;  found that there's a BBS dedicated to  the
disabled;  Computability;  and  found  three  other PDL's  that  would  be
willing to help out (one in Wales, another two in Canada).  All I need now
are some enthusiasts to take over and let me get back to running a PDL!

One  of the Canadian contacts rubbed my nose in something I was aware  of,
but hadn't actually 'taken on board'.  In the USA and Canada,  local phone
calls  are free,  and "local" means a much bigger area than it does  here.
Logic  thus dictates that most North American computer owners own  Modems.
It  also  means  that  PD is passed around not  by  PDL's  but  by  BBS's:
Vancouver  alone supports over 300 BBS's!  It seems that  U.S.  BBS's  are
like  mushrooms  -  one day they're there,  the  next  they've  gone;  the
overall  number  remains  around the same,  but there's  a  60-70%  annual
turnover.

Meanwhile,  back  at  the ranch...  did you know that the  Brits  are  the
world's most insatiable magazine readers?  It means that,  if you start up
a magazine with a limited readership,  you're more likely to succed in the
UK than most other places.  And having started up,  you can then sell your
rag all over the English speaking world:  Canada, the USA, Australia... as
well  as  much  of the rest of the world,  where English is  spoken  as  a
second  language.  So  far,  nothing controversial.  But one of  the  side
effects  of Atari ST Format,  ST User,  and to a lesser extent  ST  Review
being  widely  read  the world over is that Britain is  perceived  as  THE
world centre of Atari activity.

The  owner  of  one of Canada's best Atari-orented BBS's came  to  the  UK
recently,  and contacted TSC.  We exchanged a number of letters,  and  now
seem  on  the  point  of exchanging large  amounts  of  PD  software.  His
experiences  over  here  were  written up  and  are  widely  available  on
Canadian  BBS's - I hope to secure a copy for inclusion in a future  STEN.
I  had  the impression that while Mrs Lyster was off seeing  the  standard
tourist  sights,  Stuart  was  looking for  Ataris.  He  made  a  personal
pilgrimage to Gasteiner,  and was deeply disappointed to discover that the
head  office that generates those glossy adverts drooled over by  Canadian
Atari owners was a,  "shabby warehouse", and as for his unannounced visit,
well... let's just say he wasn't greeted with open arms!

Oddly  enough,  had Stuart been an Amiga owner,  he perhaps wouldn't  have
felt as disillusioned;  the A500 sold around twice as many units in the UK
as  in  the USA!  British PDL's are also regarded by Canadian  users  with
some  respect:  they  judge  by adverts and reviews and  see  that  the
average  British  PDL  has been around for over a year -  and  are  almost
household names amongst Atari users.  (Unlike BBS's, which in the Canadian
experience  tend to be here-today,  gone-tomorrow outfits.  A BBS is  also
limited  to  the  size of the Hard Drive it's run from -  and  large  SCSI
unit's aren't exactly cheap!  Many IBM BBS's seem to be run from CD ROM's,
and putting TSC's collection of around 1,800 disks - NO DEMOS!!!  - onto a
hard drive would take a fairly B-I-G unit.)

Surprise  of the month:  after being contacted by FOG,  the Falcon  Owners
Group,  and  agreeing to place an advert,  Richard Davey,  who runs it  at
present,  asked if TSC would take over the running of the Falcon  PDL.  We
don't yet own a Falcon,  (but he does!) so duplication of DSHD disks would
be based on an IBM,  but then again, DR DOS 6.0 allows clever disk-copying
and  the  creation  of "Image files" of floppies on  Hard  Disks  -  which
speeds up copying considerably.  Richard will have 100%  editorial/library
control over the Falcon side of things,  while we'll do the actual copying
and paperwork.  One advantage for Falcon owners will be that TSC can  take
credit  card orders,  is available on the phone during office  hours,  and
generally gives customers a 24-hour turnaround.

Interestingly,  for those who read the last STEN,  FOG's second choice was
"Coral  Bryce and the Last Page PDL" - oddly enough,  Jack  McPain  wasn't
even shortlisted.  Which goes to show that character assassination can  be
a  double-edged weopon.  I don't know Jack McPain at all,  but  have  know
"Coral" for quite a while - and would trust her with my last fiver.  Guess
who *I* wind up regarding as the dodgy customer?  (Oh,  and any similarity
of   names   to  persons  living  or  dead  is  just   a   truly   amazing
coincidence...)  Jack's  piece sounded like sour grapes  to  me:  a  while
back,  when  SWSL  died,  a punter wrote-in to MicroMart's  Atari  column,
asking  for suggestions as to where a former SWSL customer  should  divert
their loyalty:  the reply came back "try Last Page".  If I wasn't  running
my own PDL,  I'd be inclined to offer the same advice - although Last Page
is  more  geared to games and demos,  while we're more geared  to  serious
applications;   for  some  purposes,  she's  better  than  us,  while  for
others...

Almost lastly,  while STEN is small and beautifully formed, I have a small
collection of Amiga disk-mags,  dating back to the days when we toyed with
the  idea of an Amiga PDL.  (And as Amiga PD isn't a patch on  ST  PD,  we
dumped  the  idea;  anyone  want to buy around 850  slightly  dusty  Amiga
disks?)  The shells of these magazines makes STEN look positively  antique
-  they really were a triumph of form over content.

And  as for the contents...   You're familiar with the terms  "elite"  and
"lamers"?  The "Elite" are, so it seems, a bunch of anorak wearing, pimply
nerds by day,  who by night are transformed into...  pimply faced, anorak-
wearing  nerds who give themselves silly names.  On the Amiga  side,  they
seem  obsessed  by  coding demos based around  not-very-good  rock  music,
stealing  rock music from genuine artists,  and coding "demos"   featuring
bouncing  balls.  I  mean,  you  can really see why these  guys  think  of
themselves as an "elite",  no?  The resulting "Megademo" is then sent  out
to  other  members of the "elite" all over the world,  (and,  on  a  small
budget, this led to a spate of postage stamp forgeries!)

The  magazines  are packed with paranoid fantasies,  and glimpses  into  a
truly  depressing world:  the "elite" are being ripped off  by,  "parasite
lamers"  (ie  the  people who run PDLs) who make money  from  selling  PD.
"Getting  your  own  back",  involves  sending-off  for  every  free  disk
catalogue  on offer,  regardless of platform (a 3.5" disk is a 3.5"  disk,
and  you're only going to format it,  so what the  heck?!).   Deliberately
submitting virussed disks was another form of 'direct action'.

I particularly recall the poignant tale of a young New Zealand lad  caught
after stealing $16,000 of phone time - his comments?  No trace of remorse,
merely  advice to anyone following his example on how not to  get  caught.

We  used to advertise a free catalogue - and I'm sure we got  ripped  off.
Our  customers  admit that they'll cheerfully send off  for  'free'  disks
from  other  PDL's with no intention of buying.  We still give  away  free
catalogues:  when  people  ring  and seem to be  genuinely  interested  in
making a purchase,  when someone rings with a query and buys software  "on
spec",  and  whenever  anyone buys a disk we've  had  reviewed.   Clearly,
these  people  are worth sending a catalogue to.  We ask for  three  first
class stamps OR a disk and SSAE (STAMPED self-addressed envelope;  it used
to be just an "SAE", until we twigged that around 30% were unstamped)

The   "disk" that gets sent in varies amazingly in  quality:  virgin  high
density  disks (returned,  plus a free DSDD containing the  catalogue  and
the suggestion that DSDD hold data better in ST drives)  Quality,  branded
DSDD's...  tatty,  falling-to-pieces  cover  disks with  the  labels  half
ripped  off....  In  an average week we have to  replace  three  catalogue
request  disks with new DSDD's of our own because the joker who sent us  a
"disk" sent the oldest,  mankiest disk in their collection,  and it has so
many bad sectors that it wouldn't hold the data.

Most  of  our  customers are *great* people,  and  many  users'  technical
problems  are  solved  by  simply  putting  them  in  touch  with  another
customer.   One guy had a second-hand copy of Calamus,  but no driver  for
his  HPLJ3;  we put him in contact with another customer who  has  Calamus
SL,  complete with an HPLJ3 driver which he'd modified to work with v1.09.
The  kindly second customer we were able to put in contact with a  printer
who  uses Calamus AT WORK!!!  No more handing over  lasered  artwork,  and
getting  it scanned into a Mac' - now he can ship data from  Calamus  user
to  Calamus  user on disk,  (and no problems about who  has  which  fonts:
they'd both bought every one in our collection!)

But  we also have the customer who reads the catalogue,  and then sends  a
long  letter  asking for pages of technical information  about  two  disks
which he's,  "considering purchasing".  Hell,  shareware's supposed to  be
'try  before  you  buy' - take a test run before  you  part  with  serious
money.  I  think  that asking a PDL to do research and supply a  two  page
report on two disks is going above and beyond the call of duty.  We  stock
1,800  disks  -  we haven't memorised the doc' files  from  all  of  them!
Doubtless  Dave from Manchester thinks otherwise - why not write  a  piece
on  what *YOU* think running a PDL's about,  Dave?!  You might find  that,
like  running one,  it's easier to say,  "I know all that" than it  is  to
actually *do* it.

The  best  joke in STEN #14 has to be Dave Mooney's review  of  TSC.   The
trouble is,  funny though it was, probably only two people saw the joke. A
long  while  ago,  I  bought a PDL consisting of 326 disks  from  a  bloke
called  John,  together with the ASCII files that made up  the  catalogue.
The  ASCII  files were cut and pasted into my own,  catalogue and  as  his
prose  style and my own are sufficiently similar,  even I find it hard  to
see the join after all this time.  The PDL was called the "Enthusiasts' PD
Library",   and  the  bloke  I  bought  it  from  was....   John   Weller.
Congratulations Dave:  3/4 of your review was based on a critique of  text
written  by your co-editor - we still have a few disks with  the  original
custom  ENTHUSE PDL desktop.inf files on them!  We give F-copy3 away  with
the catalogue - and in the catalogue textfile "Freebies.DOC",  you'll find
what *I*, rather than John, have to say about F-Copy!

And  genuinely  lastly:  beware duff disks.  BMP Trading Co  is  currently
selling  floppies at attractive prices;  we've found them to have a  worse
than  2% failure rate,  and their latest batch has a built-in  and  unique
anti-virus protection:  the write-protect shutter ONLY clicks "locked"  in
the  open  position  -  disks  thus  have  a  tendency  to   write-protect
themselves in mid-copy. We've changed suppliers.


                                                      RCW  14.08.'93



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Thanks Ron.   I know you don't like me adding postscripts and replies onto
your  columns,  but  I  can't let that dig about  Dave's  review  of  your
catalogue go unanswered!  The whole point of the review was to compare how
four libraries had described the same discs;  Dave thought that this was a
lot fairer (and a much better guide to the librarian's  conscientiousness)
than simply commenting on the way the catalogues were presented.

Dave knew that the The Shareware Collection catalogue was based on my  old
Enthusiasts'  PD  Library,  but  he  *didn't* know that  some  of  my  old
catalogue  descriptions  were still current.   If you reread  the  review,
you'll  find  that  TSC scored well  against  the  other  libraries...  so
where's the problem?   Or is it me who's missing the point this time?


                                                    John Weller

Ron, I'm going to add a postscript too. I would like to stress that all of
the  reviews  were  absolutely fair.  I did know that John  sold  you  his
library, what I didn't know was that you were still using some of his disc
descriptions.

My comments still stand and if John had submitted a catalogue using  those
same descriptions nothing would have been changed.  My aim was to be fair,
not play favours.

                                                     Dave Mooney

                              ~~~~~eof~~~~~