Because of our deadline pressures, I have to write this editorial before we have received any response from our subscribers on the subject of our new shell and presentation. I'll assume that the response has been overwhelmingly positive and that everyone is simply amazed by our new product.
As I write this, the sweltering Louisiana heat has a firm grip on our area. Each time I step outside I am blasted by the withering heat of the sun. I think I can FEEL the ozone hole, the sun is so blisteringly hot. I don't understand why the government doesn't do something about it. I think they should send some of our weather up north and get some of the rain from up north down here. I'll think I'll write a letter to President Clinton and her husband about this.
But seriously folks, we are trying something new on this issue and I NEED YOUR FEEDBACK!! Our editorial staff is looking through the incredible explosion of shareware programs for the best things we can find. We will publish a "shareware report" on each issue, starting with this issue, and we will pick an "editor's choice" shareware item to place on some issues of ODM. This gives you the opportunity to try out a nice shareware program without the trouble and expense of searching through the bulletin boards yourself. Of course you will have to send in your shareware fees to get a registered version of the shareware item.
Why are we doing this? Well, to be honest, it is to provide our customers with the best programs we can at the lowest cost. Some shareware authors have spent years fine-tuning their programs and have created great programs at a very low cost. We can only spend a month or two on a program here at Softdisk, so we can't write programs that are as full-featured as some shareware items. We want to provide our subscribers with powerful programs at a more than reasonable cost, and picking the best shareware programs we can find seems the best way to do it.
Let me know what you think about this new policy. If you like it, we'll continue it. If you hate it we'll stop it. But we need to know!! So fill in the spot on the report card for your response to publishing shareware items. We'll decide whether to continue with the policy when we get a consensus from our subscribers.
