Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!dftsrv!amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov!xrtnt From: xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Nigel Tzeng) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Tentative Review of _Compute_ Message-ID: <3496@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> Date: 25 Sep 90 22:29:47 GMT Sender: news@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov Reply-To: xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD, USA Lines: 88 News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4 I recall seeing someone in this group associated with Compute so I figured they'd like some feedback about their "new" magazine. The magazine arrived in my mailbox somewhat tattered but functional. The format for Amiga Resource subscribers is a stipped version of the Newstand copy. You only get the general section and the Amiga and PC sections. Macintosh and C128 sections are removed. Kinda too bad as I'm more interested in Mac products than PC ones. The Amiga section is about par with the old Amiga Resource...I did find it somewhat less technical than I remembered but that may just be my memory playing tricks on me. The review of Word Processor programs was as complete and intelligently formatted as one could wish except that I didn't see a note or column in the table about postscript capability. The review did note the scope of general graphics and printing ability was quite large and the purchaser should inquire over their specific setup but it would have been nice to find out this level of detail... The rest of the Amiga section looked okay...better than Amiga World but that is hardly a complement. It is worse in that there are fewer ads...I saw Montgomery Grant and maybe a couple of others but did not find Briwall or Computability. I found the Abstractions and Taking Sides somewhat pointless and News & Notes a bit lame. At least Amiga View (the editor's column) is an order of magnitude better than Chief Concerns from AWhirld (that's no overwheming complement either). BTW: There are only 48 pages of Amiga specific stuff...not 64 as stated in the Feedback column. Now the bad part (if the previous was positive ;-). The general section (supposedly included in all versions of Compute as "General Computing info") contained so much tripe that in the end I had a very negative view of the magazine. The Amiga got scant mention in this section and what it did get was not overly positive. The General section was hardly more than an extra PC section. I doubt Mac readers would be much more thrilled with it than Amiga readers even though it did get much more coverage. The real pisser was the Pathways column on animation - here is the mention on Amiga: "The Amiga has long been the platform of choice for desktop animators, but two programs for PC compatibles have recently leveled the field. Autodesk Animator (Autodesk, 2320 Marinship Way, Sausalito, California 94965, 415-332-2344, $295.00) and Deluxe-Paint Animation (Electronic Arts, 182 Gateway Drive, San Mateo, California 94404, 415-571-7171, $134.95)..." That's it. So much for general, relatively unbiased, information from the general section...leveled the field my ass (pardon the french and any misspellings above are mine). No mention of the Disney package or the other (IMHO superior) packages on the Amiga. Except for this line no mention of the Amiga at all...grrrrrrr... The only other location Commodore got a mention (other than the leading editorial lip service) was in the Conversations column about CD-I. A brief comment about CDTV but no menion of its capabilities. Granted it is unreleased but it was at CES and is a lot closer to production than CD-I. So...what can I say? The Amiga section was shorter than claimed (48 pages) ..was either about the same as before or a little worse and the other 160 odd pages were PC info and PC biased. I really didn't mind the huge article on the PS/1 (amusing...) or the and pages pages of "How to install a 3 1/2" drive on your PC" but I really draw the line on claiming that the PC is the best thing to happen to Animation since sliced bread. You guys better get your act together or you're going to see Amiga Resource subscriptions dissapear. I may not be able to get a refund but I doubt that I will consider resubscribing. That general section (118 pages of it) would be better spent used as general machine reviews and new product annoucements from all platforms than as sleazy way to add pages to the PC section. That way you could ditch the News and Notes section in the Amiga Resource portion and use the space for more informative articles or reviews. I think I have maybe 1 or 2 issues comming to me and there better be significant improvement in the General section. I can understand this sort of behavior from PC rags but from a theoretical amiga magazine? Eeech. Compute gets an overall D- rating from me. The annoyance factor is much too high in the General section. The Amiga Resource section itself probably would rank as a C/C+...passable but hardly awe inspiring. NT BTW: I found the actual magazine to be somewhat clumsy from all the inserts and slightly cramped formatting of the Amiga section. I don't know what you can do about that but I thought you might find it interesting to know. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- // | Nigel Tzeng - STX Inc - NASA/GSFC COBE Project \X/ | xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov | Amiga | Standard Disclaimer Applies: The opinions expressed are my own.