¢EDITORIAL - Futura Issue 17¢¢THE DANGEROUS DECLINE¢by Stuart J. Murray¢¢ At NOSAUG, I have noticed a distinct decline in user support over the past six months. I must say that it becomes very difficult to maintain your determination and enthusiasm when orders do not arrive for weeks on end. Put simply, the last few months have been disappointing and I can only hope that things will pick up soon.¢¢ I have worked for three years on the NOSAUG PD Library. The completion of the 1995 Catalogue took up most of my spare time this spring and summer. Since sending out over 100 catalogue disks I have received only SEVEN orders! I would like to thank those dedicated users who showed their support by ordering disks! However, with such a poor response to the Catalogue, I'm beginning to wonder if there is a market out there for Atari 8-bit PD software (just ask Bellcom, Excel or BaPAUG).¢¢ It's not the software that's the problem. The quality of Atari 8-bit PD is at an all-time high and many of the latest titles would have been considered for commercial release in the 1980s. It seems that with fewer and fewer commercial titles being released, users are determined to buy as many as possible to ensure further releases. This is of course very important and we must make sure that so long as programmers are willing to write and release commercial software for the XL/XE their efforts are supported. However, it does seem to me that public domain and shareware is being neglected by many. This is very dangerous as the public domain is undoubtedly the future of Atari 8-bit software.¢¢ Most of the PD libraries in the UK have stated this year that orders are in decline. After the last few months I must agree with their comments.¢¢ The decline in support for PD libraries is also perhaps due to the fact that we have become a tight-knit community and people have more contacts than in the past and therefore more access to PD software. This is healthy for any computer community but the importance of the PD library must not be overlooked. Without a number of quality PD libraries many titles will be lost and most will become very hard to find.¢¢ My goal with the NOSAUG PD Library was to build a superior PD library of quality software which would serve the worldwide Atari 8-bit Community for years to come. I believe I have done this and have great plans for the future of the library. However, these plans have been thrown into doubt with the lack of support shown for my efforts.¢¢ I was planning to spend time adding dozens of new disks to the library, including the entire Antic issue disk collection, but have delayed this until I see some support for my current efforts. Don't get me wrong, if you are not bothered about the future success of the NOSAUG PD Library then that is entirely your choice and as a fellow Atari 8-bitter I will always respect your viewpoint. If this is the case then I will simply concentrate on Futura.¢¢ It is you who will shape the future of the NOSAUG PD Library. What little profit there is to be made with it is used to search out new titles. I run the library simply to offer a service to the Atari 8-bit Community. Obviosuly, if the service is not required it will eventually cease. It's over to you now...¢¢Atari 8-bit forever!¢¢Stuart.¢¢Thanks again to the Futurians who continue to show their support for the NOSAUG PD Library - enjoy your disks peeps!¢
