Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!cs122aw From: cs122aw@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Scott Alfter) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: develop, Dynamo, and life in general Message-ID: <1990Feb10.064836.9379@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Date: 10 Feb 90 06:48:36 GMT References: <1604@umigw.MIAMI.EDU> <21844@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <38402@apple.Apple.COM> <-533196065@cpl-mfh.UUCP> Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 100 In article <-533196065@cpl-mfh.UUCP> martya@cpl-mfh.UUCP (Marty Adelman) writes: >Since were on the topic of develop then maybe someone can straighten me out >I received my copy of it the other day and from my impression if you are >only a member of APDA and not a certified developer then you must pay $30 >for 4 issues a year. How they can charge $30/year for 4 issues while >magazines like NIBBLE, the old PC_tech journal, Dr. Dobbs and such could >publish 12 issues a year for less than $30 is beyond me. Nibble currently goes for $26.95 for a one-year, 12-issue subscription. No Apple II user should be without it. A2-Central is equally indispensible at $28.00 for a one-year, 12-issue subscription. $30.00 for a paltry four issues of develop is as much a ripoff as $20.00 for APDAlog. (More on APDA below.) >I had thought that at one time my membership in APDA would provide me with >something more than a catalog of overpriced software., I guess I was living >a delusion. This probably means that the APDA periodical will now >deteriorate to nothing more than a catalog and make me feel like I really >wasted my $20. Indeed. I've had the same frustrated experience with APDA. I was so pissed that I fired off a letter to Nibble last June about the problems I was having with APDA. They published it in October. I originally mailed the letter to someone who requested it, but I think this relates to the issue at hand, so here's the text I sent to Nibble. ------------------------------------start------------------------------------ Mr. Scott A. Alfter 43 Megan Drive Henderson, NV 89014 4 June 1989 Letters Nibble 52 Domino Drive Concord, MA 01742 Dear Sir: "Raw Data" in the June 1989 issue of Nibble was right on target! I especially appreciated the section, "How Do You Like Them Apples?" It seems that Apple is rapidly digging itself into a hole that it has no hope of getting out of. Never mind that the Beatles are fools to think that Apple Computer's use of "Apple" on the Macintosh, IIGS, and MIDI interface (among other devices) is going to hurt them in any way--it won't! I'm talking about APDA, the Apple Programmers and Developers Association. I renewed my membership days before APDA moved from TechAlliance to Apple, so I was able to con them, if you will, into getting a "two-for-one" deal. Not that that two-for-one has done much good. TechAlliance isn't too bad (no Mac material in Call-A.P.P.L.E.), but it emphasizes the IIGS way too much. However, APDA is much worse. Almost the entire program, newsletter, etc. is Macintosh-related. I don't have a Macintosh. I will never have a Macintosh. If you took all of the Mac-related stuff out of APDAlog, you wouldn't have much left, and what would be left isn't worth the paper it's printed on. What APDA lacks in substance, it doesn't even make up for in service! I waited for two months after renewal for my membership card to arrive in the mail. The receipt TechAlliance sent when I renewed said that Apple would send the card. Since I didn't know where at Apple to send anything, I sent them a letter through TechAlliance. Their reply was that the cards were "currently being sent in batch mailings" and that I would receive mine "very soon." Three more months have gone by--almost half of the term of the membership! I just sent them a nasty letter regarding all of this. In that letter, I included a copy of "Raw Data." Nibble isn't always put into the position of Consumer Reports, but this time it has pointed out APDA as the scam that it is. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in my estimation of APDA. I told them that I will let my membership run out. However, you can rest assured that I don't foresee letting my Nibble subscription run out anytime in the near (or far) future, for as long as I own an Apple II. You guys are the greatest! Yours truly, (signed) Scott Alfter -------------------------------------end------------------------------------- Somehow I think nobody at APDA saw this; I never got a reply to this letter, either directly from them or through the letters pages of Nibble. They're too busy concentrating on the Mac end of things. Assuming that they have Internet access, maybe they'll see it this time. Seeing as my subscription expired last month, they'll see that I followed through on my promise, and I don't think they could persuade me to renew my membership. (OK, they could give me a ROM 04 GS with 8 megs, 100 MB HD, 2 each of 3.5 and 5.25 drives, LaserWriter IINTX... :-) ) Scott Alfter------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet: cs122aw@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu _/_ Apple IIe: the power to be your best! alfter@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu/ v \ saa33413@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu ( ( A keyboard--how quaint! Bitnet: free0066@uiucvmd.bitnet \_^_/ --M. Scott, STIV