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 July 31, 1992                                                      No.8.31
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 > 07/31/92 STR 831    "The Original * Independent * Online Magazine!"
   """"""""""""""""
     - The Editor's Desk      - CPU Report        - PORTFOLIO NEWS
     - FORBES HITS HARD!      - WINDOWS DIVERSE   - AST SLASHES $
     - WAZZUP DOC?            - PEOPLE TALKING!   - FORBES OVERVIEW
     - ALAN PAGE SPEAKS UP!   - LEGAL RIGHTS IV   - STR Confidential

                        -* ATARI ADVANTAGE SOLD! *-
                    -* REVOLVING DOOR GOING STRONG! *-
                  -* SAM TRAMIEL TO APPEAR ON DELPHI! *-


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                  ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE
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                 WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (July 31)

 VENDOR LISTING UPDATE BEING PREPARED...

 We're preparing an update to the VENDOR.DAT file that works with the
 VENDOR.ACC utility.  (This is a quick and easy database of current vendors
 in the  Atari community  that runs  as a  .PRG or .ACC and written by Bill
 Aycock.)

 If you have any  additions  or  corrections  to  our  current information,
 please  post  a  message  or  send  an Email to Ron Luks 76703,254 or Bill
 Aycock 76703,406 as soon as possible.

 INVISION ELITE

 INVISION Elite is a black  and  white  paint  program.    It  has  been in
 intensive  development  over  the  past  year  and a half and is now being
 introduced  to  the  market  from  Power  Thought  Software.  Download the
 following files from LIBRARY 10 of the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS):

  INVIPR.TXT - Announcement of INVISION ELITE, mono paint program
  INVDM2.ARC - Demo of mono paint program, part 2 of 2
  INVDM1.ARC - Demo of mono paint program, part 1 of 2
 NEW IN ATARI VENDORS FORUM (GO ATARIVEN)

 Now  available  in  LIBRARY    17  --  the  newest Calamus SL demo.  A big
 download, but worth it.

 Also look in  Library  11  for  PG22B.LZH,  a  patch  for  version  2.1 of
 PageStream updating  it to  version 2.2B.   Brought to you by the folks at
 Soft-Logik.

 The folks from CODEHEAD TECHNOLOGIES have uploaded a series of  files that
 will enable  you to  print out  font charts of all the available URW fonts
 available for Calligrapher.  The files  are  now  available  for  most all
 printers in LIBRARY 16.


                  THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM ON COMPUSERVE
                          HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AN
                OFFICIAL SUPPORT SITE BY ATARI CORPORATION

            "GO APORTFOLIO TO ACCESS THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM"



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 > From the Editor's Desk             "Saying it like it is!"
   """"""""""""""""""""""


     For what  seems like  time and eternity, there has been the consistent
 procession of 'badgers' from Sunnyvale who've engaged in  the endeavors of
 a misguided  "Truth Squad"   cajoling  and bashing the free thinkers (also
 Atari's customers) in the worldwide Atari Community at  every opportunity.
 The last  four months  however, have been the most devastating for Atari's
 credibility, integrity and stability due primarily  to the  effects of the
 efforts put forth by the Director of Communications, Bob Brodie.  
   
     Never.. Has  the userbase  been witness to a more ridiculous situation
 than now.  Atari's practices and procedures are  literally TOASTED  by one
 of the  Premier Financial  Publications in  the USA, Forbes Magazine, what
 does the customer base  see?   SILENCE... that  means the  FORBES article;
 "CHEAP DIDN'T  SELL" by Dyan Machan is hard hitting and accurate.  All the
 game playing and confusion generation in  the  world  will  not  make that
 article go away.  The premier financial publication has spoken.

     As  one  Atari  insider  exclaimed,  "ITS FRIGHTENINGLY ACCURATE".  As
 remarked in STR830's editorial,  perhaps now..  we'll find  _FORBES_ being
 plastered  with   the  label   of  being  an  "Inquirer  Type  Mag"  or  a
 "supermarket rag" by the  "Masters  of  Disinformation".    Truth  is, the
 Forbes article validates and corroborates most all that's been said by the
 truthful observers in this arena for the last year.  Shame is,  why didn't
 they  (Atari)  listen?    They  could've  corrected things quickly when it
 would've been easy.  Now, they've got their work cut  out for  them.  That
 is, if  they care to listen even now.  We shall see.  As for the source of
 the "inside" leaks, who knew from the "office pecking order"?   Who inside
 Atari has  the most  to gain  from the Forbes article?  As to who actually
 did the leaking.. that's not too difficult, who is the most naive with the
 biggest ego  and in  an 'insensitive  and relatively  easy position' to be
 "reached"?
   
                    thank you for your strong support
   
             Ralph @ STReport International Online Magazine





                           THE STORM IS COMING!


  """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""





  STReport's Staff                      DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU!
  """"""""""""""""

                            Publisher - Editor
                            """"""""""""""""""
                             Ralph F. Mariano


          PC DIVISION         AMIGA DIVISION           MAC DIVISION
          -----------         --------------           ------------
          Roger D. Stevens    Charles Hill             R. ALBRITTON


  STReport Staff Editors:
  """""""""""""""""""""""
          Lloyd E. Pulley Sr. Dana P. Jacobson         Michael Arthur
          Lucien Oppler       Brad Martin              Judith Hamner
          John Szczepanik     Dan Stidham              Joseph Mirando
                    Steve Spivey        Doyle C. Helms

  Contributing Correspondents:
  """"""""""""""""""""""""""""
          Michael Lee         Richard Covert           John Deegan
          Brian Converse      Oliver Steinmeier        Tim Holt
          Andrew Learner      Norman Boucher           Harry Steele
          Ben Hamilton        Neil Bradley             Eric Jerue
          Ron Deal            Robert Dean              Ed Westhusing
          James Nolan         Vernon W. Smith          Bruno Puglia
                              Clemens Chin

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 > CPU STATUS REPORT               LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS 
   =================
  
    Issue #31

    Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
  
   

  -- IBM may Split Off PC Division
  
 IBM may turn its personal computer division into a wholly owned subsi-
 diary to give the troubled operation more freedom to compete in the cut-
 throat industry, computer executives said.  The PC division's managers 
 are considering several options, including the subsidiary structure, to 
 give them more autonomy from IBM's corporate headquarters.
  


  -- Microsoft Changing Windows
  
 Microsoft Corp. hopes to adapt its Windows computer operating system 
 software to work with a host of other devices, from office copiers and 
 phone systems to stereos and VCRs, Chairman Bill Gates announced.  Gates 
 said Microsoft is moving beyond software to information management 
 tools.
  

  
  -- Joint High-Tech Venture Announced
  
 Four major U.S. technology companies - IBM, GE, AT&T and Honeywell - 
 said they jointly will explore advanced technology that one day could 
 allow computers to operate with beams of light instead of electrical 
 pulses.  Light-based computers would be vastly more powerful and faster 
 than the most powerful supercomputers now being made.  The companies 
 said they had formed the Opto-electronic Technology Consortium and will 
 back it with about $8 million.
  

  
  -- AST Joins the PC Price Cutters
  
 AST Research Inc. has slashed prices on its IBM compatibles by up to 47% 
 This comes after AST separately reported its quarterly profit fell 9%. 
 AST cut prices across all categories, with the average street price of 
 its AST Bravo desktop now expected to be 20% lower than competing Compaq 
 Deskpro models.



       ____________________________________________________________





 > ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine          The wires are a hummin'!
   """""""""""""""""""""""""""""
         
          
              
                           PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
                           =====================
             

              
 On CompuServe
 -------------


 compiled by Joe Mirando
            
          
             
 There are some things that you can always count on:  Death, Taxes... and
 hard drive crashes.  While not everyone has experienced the joy of a hard
 drive crash (something like the feeling you used to get when the doctor
 said "This will just hurt a little"), a lot of us have.  Novices and old
 hands alike can fall victim to a crash. And the best way to prepare for a
 crash is... (OK, folks, all at once now)  DO BACKUPS!  Let's take a look
 at the tribulations visited upon Frank Zeritsch, and brought to light by
 Atari Productivity Forum SYSOP Bill Aycock:


     "Frank Zeritsch, a correspondent, writes that he has a Fujitsu SCSI
     drive and ICD host adapter, and he's using Supra software (which seems
     to work fine).

     He recently got another drive, this one from Supra. Unfortunately,
     while attempting to format the new drive, he inadvertently zeroed his
     old drive the boot sector, root directory, and FAT are all gone. He
     says he's looked at the actual data on the drive and it's still there,
     but with no boot, root, or fat he can't get at it.

     He is now running with ICD software and has disabled all the
     partitions on the zeroed drive so it doesn't get munged any worse.

     Does anyone have any suggestions on how Frank can retrieve the data
     from this drive? Any leads at all will be gratefully accepted!"

                                                  --bill--



 Albert Dayes of Atari Advantage Magazine gives the obvious reply, plus a
 few other avenues that could be followed:


           
     "Bill,

     Restore from the backup!   The best bet is to use Supra's sector
     editor SupEdit and search through all the sectors (absolute mode)
     until you find the partition start.  It usually has some words like
     Supra3.0sys in the ascii portion of the sector ... then he can perform
     a calculation on how big the partitions are.  It will be a slow and
     painful process but if you can get the partitions up there is still
     some hope.  Within each sector one can also check for sub-directories
     ... and then reconstruct the whole thing one sub-directory at a time. 
     A couple of good books to use are Inside the IBM PC and PS/2 (3rd
     edition or higher) --- gives a good logical overview of the entire
     MS-DOS filesystem.  Another good book for getting into the nasty
     details is Dos Programmer's Reference by QUE books.  The layout of the
     boot sector, and partition table will be displayed with SupEdit in one
     of the options so you can choose ... just don't write anything to the
     disk.  Just go through the entire disk and have the partitions marked
     if they aren't already.

     Some additional information I need to work with is:  Suggested guesses
     about the size of the partitions, the total size of the drive
     (formatted), etc.

     In the Norton book the chapters of interest are Disks: The Basic
     Story, Disks: The DOS Perspective, and Disks: Deeper Details.


 Bill Aycock adds a bit more about the crash and the crash-ee:

 -
     "I believe when he zeroed the drive, it wrote new boot sector and
     partition info (and an empty root directory) and zeroed the fat. Could
     be that with the info in the books you mention he could scan through
     the drive looking for stuff that looks like directories, and recreate
     entries for them. The partitions should be the same size; he said they
     were set up for 5, 10, 10, 10, 10+ megs."

     About the backup- yep, that'd be best, but I get the idea Frank hadn't
     made one recently. One would hope that after he restores whatever he
     can, he decides backups aren't a waste of time and disks. :-)

                                   Thanks for the info!"



 Albert Dayes replies:

     "With the FAT gone it can still be very trouble-some attempting to
     find the information about a particular file.  The sub-directories are
     part of the data area of a partition so you should be able to find
     them.  If one writes down all the sub-directories names, location
     (sector) and all the files and the offsets into the fat you might be
     able to get a possible idea of where the files were located.

     Without a FAT the best bet is to dump the entire disk raw to a file
     (10 megs) or and then try to piece it back together.  What was so
     important they he has to recover as much as possible?  Is it text
     files?  It is much easier to attempt to recover text files since
     binary is close to useless with(out) some sort of fat table."



 Bill Aycock agrees and comes to a conclusion that we should all take to
 heart:

     "That was my thought too. Text files would be hard enough; binaries or
     data files, next to impossible.  This is an expensive way for Frank to
     learn that periodic backups are a good idea."


 After Sysop Ron Luks mentions Norton utilities and wonders aloud about the
 porting them to the ST, Albert says:


     "With GEM and UIS-III it seems like we have everything else already. 
     With ICD and Beckemeyer you have good utilities for handling most
     filesystem errors that occur.  Most of the Norton Utilities don't have
     that much over the ST ... since most of it is to enhance command-line
     life or make it more bearable.
     Supra has a good sector editor for the ST but not as good as NU.EXE
     (sector editor that Norton has ... the only limitation with Norton's
     sector editor is it doesn't allow one to do examine sectors on the a
     hard disk formatted on a different system (ie MAC HFS filesystem) ...
     at least the version I used.  Also on the ST you have Ed-HAK which
     seems like a fairly nice way to examine sectors in GEM/TOS formatted
     media.

     Norton Disk Doctor is almost exactly the same as Beckemeyer's Hard
     Disk Sentry in capability and Hard Disk Sentry includes an optimizer
     which is essentially the same as Speed Disk on the Norton Package of
     utilities.  Also ICD's cleanup program offers similar capability.

     Also ICD utilities allow for the saving of partition and boot sector
     information to a file which I don't think Norton Utilities has on it. 
     Most other things are system info, which defines your system
     components (logical drives, memory, cpu ... similar to Atari's cookies
     or other desk accessaries that show the same type of information. 
     Control panel in GEM is another utility ... it seems like most of what
     Norton has is already available on the ST/TT especially when it comes
     to filesystem tools."


 Meanwhile in the Hardware section of the Atari Pro message base, another
 type of hard drive hardship comes up:  The dreaded "sticition" problem
 which is simply the inability of a drive to "spin up" when turned on. 
 Phil Jensen posts:


     "Every so often I see the suggestion that hard drives be left on
     continuously for longer life and to prevent stiction.  Does this mean
     that the ST must be left on as well, or can its power be cycled
     without annoying the attached drive?  Also, what is likely to happen
     to the hard drive in the event of a blackout and subsequent return to
     power?"


 Sysop Bob Retelle offers:

     "Phil, you can turn the ST off without turning the drive off too..
     it'll just wait patiently for the ST to return to life.

     My Seagate drive suffers from an extreme case of stiction, so I leave
     it on all the time...  unfortunately when there IS a power blackout, I
     usually return home to a completely silent room...  a sure sign that
     the drive is stuck and is straining its guts out trying to turn the
     platters.

     So far that hasn't seemed to hurt the motor any, and I just have to
     get inside (I leave all the bolts and screws out of the drive and the
     case cover for just such times) and spin it up manually.

     If your drive doesn't exhibit any symptoms of stiction, I don't think
     there's any really overriding reason to leave it on all the time
     though...  the drives in my IBMs are well behaved, and I always spin
     them down when the computers are turned off."


 An interesting possible remedy from Philip W. Payzant:

 "Bob, I don't know anything about your Seagate drive, but I've seen
 several references to stiction problems before, and it occurred to me that
 a simpler remedy might work.

 Have you tried picking up the drive and giving it a quick turn in a
 horizontal plane, counter to the platters' rotation?  I would think the
 platters' inertia would result in rotation, relative to the case,
 sufficient to unstick them.  Just a thought."


 Greg Wageman puts a new spin on the "Leave it on/Turn it off" debate:

     "I read an article recently that compared the power-on hours rating of
     a hard drive against its power-cycle rating.  Given normal usage
     parameters (you turn it on and off once a day), you could expect
     approximately 10 years of power cycles, or slightly more continuous
     power-on hours.  In other words, it doesn't really make a whole lot of
     difference, as the equipment will be obsolete before it matters."


 In the Atari Arts Forum, talk about an article in the August 3 issue of
 FORBES magazine generated quite a few messages.  John Bonavita posts:

     "What did every one think of the Forbes magazine article?  I guess it
     really wasn't that much of a surprise.  Two thinks that bothered me
     about it was A)  Not one word was said concerning the Portfolio.  Why? 
     Is the palm top still being produced? B)  I don't think the article
     was fair when mentioning the Lynx.  First off no system (when first
     released) has loads of games (just look at the SNES). And Atari has
     really pushed the system in comics, pull-out magazine sections, batman
     tie-in etc..

                                        What's your opinion?"


 Albert Dayes of Atari Advantage Magazine replies:

 John,

     "The Lynx is great but do you know of any store that has all or most
     of the titles in stock or a large number of Lynx in stock.  It seems
     to me that a big problem is just not enough product to sell.  Consider
     if you are a dealer and someone wants to buy a certain type of car
     from you.  There person must commute 60 miles per day to work ... if
     after a few weeks a dealer doesn't have the car a person would want
     they would definitely start looking for other types of cars.  That is
     one reason why the gameboy is doing so well ... of course there is the
     ad "hype" from Nintendo about it ... but if the product was widely
     available in stores it would help dispute that gameboy's power just
     from its presence alone.  There are still many more factors ... but
     product availability is a big issue.
     Compaq has a hot new low cost PC but since they can't keep up with the
     demand many customers are buying from Dell.  They same idea applies
     with the Atari if the product isn't available to buy people will
     always look for an alternative."


 John asks Albert:


     "Albert, How come the stores that do carry the Lynx (Toys R Us, Games
     n Gadgets, etc) only offer a few titles?  Is it Atari's fault or the
     stores?"


 Albert replies diplomatically:


     "I don't think its the stores fault ... there just doesn't seem to be
     enough product out there.  If you get anyone with a Lynx and a Gameboy
     (or is it Lameboy) side by side anyone in their right mind would
     choose the Lynx."


 Later Albert comes up with what sounds like a great advertising idea:


     "Addiction to the Lynx ... I can see it now ... "Your honor if he
     wasn't playing with his Lynx on the highway this accident never would
     have happened.  You know a good ad would be all the Supreme Court
     Justices playing the Lynx and all connected together via com-link
     (sp?).  I sign on the door says the Supreme Court will be in extended
     recess until final arguments over the best Lynx game are completed. 
     (GRIN)"


 Also in the Atari Arts Forum, rumors have been circulating about the
 health of Atari Advantage Magazine.  Glenn Gorman asks:


     "What's going on with Atari Advantage now???? Now I hear that it has
     been discontinued. Is there any truth to this???? I'm still waiting
     for this (GULP-Where's it at) June/July issue."


 Albert Dayes of Atari Advantage (Boy, he's a busy guy!) answers:


     "As far as I know from the Atari Explorer on-line ... the editors have
     been hired by Atari Corp.  The FALCON issue of Atari Advantage has
     been mailed out ... there is to be more information coming on
     subscription transfers, etc to Atari Explorer ... and other options. 
     Atari Explorer on-line magazine should have more details on this
     shortly.  And if I hear anything more on this issue I'll be sure to
     inform.  That is all I know currently.  But your FALCON issue is in
     the mail never the less."


 Jim Ness tells Glenn:


     "Check out Atari Explorer Online, in Lib 15 here.  It announces that
     the editors of Atari Advantage have been hired by Atari to run Atari
     Explorer, and will be moving to Sunnyvale.

     The June/July issue has been mailed, and subscribers will be offered
     Explorer subscriptions, since Atari Advantage will be discontinued.

     It sounds like a good move for everyone involved, and I wish them all
     luck.  They could EASILY have picked less able folks to run Atari
     Explorer."


 Ron Luks adds:


 That's for sure.  Mike Lindsey is an excellent choice to take over
 Explorer.


                                    ***

     I would like to take a moment to editorialize and say that John
 Jainschigg has consistently improved upon what EXPLORER was when he took
 command of it and that he has constantly proven himself to be a man of
 integrity and conviction.  We at STReport wish him the best of luck in
 all of his endeavors. I'd also like to point out that, even though John is
 a _very_ tough act to follow, we are sure that Mike Lindsey will do well
 and bring his own style to EXPLORER and that we wish him the smooth
 sailing throughout the staff transition.

                                    ***

 In the Atari Vendor's Forum, Carl Kreidner asks:


     "We have CardFile 3 (ver 3.01) , which my wife uses to keep an address
     book.  When we tried to print labels, it insisted on form feeding even
     with cfg/reports/labels/number_of_page_feeds set to zero.  Since the
     printer considers a page 66 lines and labels are 6 lines each, setting
     labels_up_and_down to 12 prints 12 labels, skips 10, prints 12, etc.
     Choosing 11 prints 11, skips 11, prints 11, etc.  Choosing 10 is seems
     to be the best since it prints 10, skips 1, prints 10, etc.  How do I
     get rational behavior?  I have spent considerable time reading the
     manual, and I am fairly sure the solution is not contained therein."

 Brian Gockley replies:


     "This is a known bug, fixed in the upgrade to 3.03. That upgrade is
     available as a patch program in the libraries here.

     If you go into the libraries (type go atariven and choose option 3)
     the select the gribnif library, then browse with the key word Stalker, 
     you should find a file that you can download that will patch your 3.xx
     to 3.02.

     Just a note, I failed miserably in my upgrade attempt and eventually
     just sent them my master disk. Sometimes things work out and
     sometimes..."


 Carl finds the file and tells Brian:


     "Well, my first worry was that you sent me looking for Stalker when
     the problem is CardFile.  But I went anyway and found a patcher to
     take 3.01 CardFile to 3.03.  However, this does not solve the
     problem.... As you my recall the problem is that CardFile wants to
     throw out a form feed every N labels where N is the number you chose
     in cfg. The closest thing to working is a choice of 10 labels per page
     which skips one, while choosing 11 skips 11.  So what now?"


 Most of us have heard the phrase "When all else fails... read the manual".
 There is a little known extension of that rule that says: "If reading the
 manual fails, call the manufacturer/distributer/whatever".  Brian tells
 Carl:

     "When I have trouble, I call Dan at Gribnif...1-413-247-5620. I call
     him often!  What is your hardware configuration (printer, monitor,
     etc.?)  In addition to having your configuration list handy, it's a
     good idea to have a list of your auto programs and accessories as well
     as your serial number handy."

 Well that's it for this week, folks.  Tune in again next week to find out
 what they are saying when PEOPLE... ARE TALKING.





  ***********************************************************************

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 $39 when you join the 20/20 Advantage Plan, a one-time $19 signup fee and
 your first month's $20 fee.

     These connect rates apply for access via Tymnet or SprintNet (within
 the continental United States) during home time (7 p.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays
 and all day weekends) or via direct dial around the clock.  Telecom
 surcharges apply for daytime or international access via Tymnet or
 SprintNet.  See Using DELPHI online for detailed information on telecom
 surcharges.

   For more information, call: DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005

 DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, Mass.

                         :IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
                     DELPHI INTRODUCES THE 10/4 PLAN.
     Effective July 1, 1992, all Basic Plan members will be upgraded to the
 10/4 Plan and receive 4 hours of usage each month for only $10!  For full
 details, type GO USING RATES.  SprintNet home time to begin at 6:00 p.m.! 
 Effective July 1, 1992, you may access DELPHI via SprintNet beginning at
 6:00 p.m. local time without incurring a telecom surcharge.  To find the
 SprintNet node nearest you, type GO USING ACCESS.

                  !*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!
                  *     Mark your calendars, folks!     *
                  !  We are proud to host Sam Tramiel,  !
                  *         President of Atari,         *
                  !   for a formal Conference here on   !
                  *  Thurs., August 13th @ 10 p.m. EDT. *
                  !  Sam will be officially announcing  !
                  *  the new Falcon 030 to DELPHI, and  *
                  !       discussing it with us.        !
                  *           Don't miss it!            *
                  !*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!

                 DELPHI- It's getting better all the time!



  ***********************************************************************




 >  WAZZUP DOC? STR Feature              Looking over the onlines...
   """"""""""""""""""""""""




                                WAZZUP DOC?
                                ===========




 by Doyle C. Helms Jr.
 Software Editor @ ST Report


     Well, I hope you derived some use or enjoyment from the last
 installment of WAZZUP.   As I said in the first installment, I hope to
 convey an idea of what is available from the major On-Line
 (Pay-for-service) networks for your enjoyment and edification.

     Let's take a look at CIS (CompuServe Information Service) first this
 week to see what useful, helpful or maybe entertaining among the files
 that are available.

 ATARI ARTS (GO ATARIART)

                          ANIMATION FILES GALORE!

     If you are into graphics (color) on the ST, and who isn't, then you
 should definitively consider downloading the following animation/demo
 files from ATARIART on CIS.  

 WRLDWA.ARC
 ----------
     This animation involves 3 American Sherman tanks in battle against 3
 German Panther tanks.  This is a well executed and imaginative animation
 showing some of the capability of the ST in graphic action.  this file
 also includes an AVS accompaniment sound file!

 TERADA.ARC 
 ----------
     Terradactyl,another animation file for you viewing pleasure.  this
 animation was created using Chronos with the MORPH option for the wing
 movements.  This file also includes AVS sound.

 TANKAT.ARC
 ----------
     The animation involves a Sherman Tank attacking an artillery position. 
 This file was created using CyberSculpt.  AVS sound included.

 TAKEOF.ARC
 ----------
     This is a very detailed animation showing a Sopwith Camel (biplane)
 taking off and flying into the distance.  AVS sound also.

 STWARS.ARC
 ----------
     This "computer wars" animation involves the ATARI Federation versus
 the AMIGA Empire! the ship construction was done with CyberSculpt and the
 animation created with Chronos.  AVS also.

 GLASSD.ARC
 ----------
     This animation shows a .45 Colt blowing away a wine glass.  The wine
 glass has a mind of its own though!  Will execute on a one meg machine. 
 AVS Sound.

 BOB.ARC, BIPLAN.ARC and ATTACK.ARC are also a few other interesting highly
 animation files.

                         GAMES? DID YOU SAY GAMES?

 There are a couple of outstanding games featured this week in the ATARI
 ARTS forum.

 SEEKER.LZH
 ----------
     GoldSeeker is a Lode Runner type clone.  Many levels with plenty of
 challenge.  User definable levels.  Color Only.

 MOONLD.ARC
 ----------
     MOONLORD, Shareware by Clayton Walnum.  Graphics by Maurice Molyneaux. 
 The Dreaded _M outdoes himself in this game! This is a strategy game by an
 expert game maker.  Color Only.

 DROID.LZH
 ---------
     Simple platform type game.  Fight your way through HORDES of enemy
 robots and artillery to break free from the myriad of caverns in which you
 have become lost! Low Res COLOR Only.

                       ATARI PRODUCTIVITY (ATARIPRO)

 SYSTEM.LZH 
 ----------
     This is a neat ACC from Germany.  This file can be used as either an
 ACC or a executable program depending on how YOU name it.  The program
 shows the various information on you disks (HD and Floppy), the amount of
 free and used memory.  The user is also allowed via a small control panel
 to set system time and date, turn the bell on/off and some other useful
 little things.

 GRAPH.LZH
 ---------
     Grapher program is a "sub-set' of the famous BSTAT 2.xx series of
 spreadsheet/graphing program.  This program only has the graphing ability
 of BSTAT.  If you need a GOOD graphing program that allows the user to use
 GDOS(G+Plus) to output excellent quality hardcopy graphs, then you need
 GRAPH! Non-GDOS screen dumps output available for Epson 9 and 24 pin
 clones and also to the HPLJII series printers.

 BSTAT4.LZH
 ----------
     This is version 2.43 of the famous BSTAT program.  This program allows
 the user to graph different statistics in a wide variety of graph types. 
 This is a fully working program with NO restrictions.  The author requests
 a Shareware fee and will provide a nicely done user manual for the
 submission of the fee.  This program will output EXCELLENT hardcopy
 graphics to you printer (Laser or Pin) via GDOS(G_Plus).  If you do not
 wish to use, or cannot use GDOS(why not?), the user is afforded the option
 of screen dump type outputs to Epson dot matrix 9 or 24 pin printers or
 the HPLJII printer.  You cannot BUY a program of this quality for the
 shareware asking price, nor can you buy a program of this type with this
 kind of quality output at ANY price for the ST!

 AUTORA.LZH
 ----------
     AUTORAISE is a nice little accessory that allows the window that is
 under the mouse pointer to be brought to the top of the "stack".

 LED.LZH
 -------
     This program lights the LED (light) of drive A whenever a HD partition
 is accessed.  Also includes LED_B which does the same for drive B.

 G_MAP.ARC
 ---------
     This program displays a graphic map of your HD and in turn you can
 decide if de-fragmentation is necessary.  From the people who brought you
 Beckmeyers Hard Drive Sentry!

 SCRLFX.LZH
 ----------
     This program is similar to Codeheads BUTTNFIX program.  This program
 fixes the double-scroll problem found in TOS 1.4 and up.  This program
 WORKS in 2.06-3.06.  PD from Ian Lepore.

     That about it from CIS this week, of course there were other uploads
 that deserved attention, but I just don't have the space for them.

 Doin'Delphi --

     DRWARBEAU took the time to post some very nice Postscript type 1 fonts
 for all to use.  User DRWARBEAU also included a small file that shows a
 sample of the fonts for print out.  Altogether DRWARBEAU posted 11 files!
 ANNSTONE, BEFFLE, BELLBOTTOM, El GARRETT, GOUDY 100, GRIFFIN DINGBATS,
 HARRINGTON, KRAMER, MIRA, JEFF NICHOLS and lastly PEPITA! Thanks
 DRWARBEAU! 

     FREDTUT uploaded a version 5.0 of GOGO ST/TT.  All resolutions of the
 ST and TT are supported as of version 5.0!! GOGO ST/TT is a hotWire type
 file runner that is well executed and well supported.  The file message
 posted with GOGO says nothing of this being a DEMO.  The program IS a full
 blown version, BUT there is a one minute title display that is shown at
 first use that the author will eliminate for you once the shareware fee is
 paid.

     FREDTUT has been busy this week! FREDTUT also posted the WARP_9
 replacement font from Cherry fonts.  This font is for use from within Warp
 9 as a replacement for the standard system screen font.  This font is one
 that should be STANDARD on all ST's!

     BOOZGEM 2.1.3 was also posted by FREDTUT! BOOZGEM beta is a full GEM
 implementation of BOOZ, the Un-ZOO utility.  this version does NOT handle
 subdirectories within archives.

 Here are a couple of helpful files for you PASCAL programmers!

     PASCAL PROGRAM LISTER allows selected procedures to be printed, page
 number of all procedures and function calls.

     FOREST 2 PASCAL HELPER produces a table of contents from a PASCAL
 source code file.  Thanks to PLEFEBVRE for these helpful files!

     PLEFEBVRE also posted AND authored JumpSTart 2.7. the latest version
 includes View text files, load uninstalled programs.  Improved Dialog
 boxes! This program is also similar to Hotwire (in concept) and GOGO
 ST/TT.  Shareware.

     Someone that goes by the username of STartwo uploaded some Calamus
 font files that were converted from PostScript type 1 fonts.  A total of
 27 of these fonts were uploaded.  What/which are they? Well, you will just
 have to log-on and check them out!

     Be sure when you log onto Delphi The ST Advantage, to drop by the
 FORUM, you will be entertained, amused and a plethora of other human type
 emotions.  The discussions are enlightening along with informative and
 enjoyable.  Be sure to check out the upcoming conference with Sam Tramiel
 were he will hopefully announce and inform the userbase about the code
 named FALCON computer project!
 Until NeXt time...
   
  ______________________________________________________________________





 > FORBES OVERVIEW STR FOCUS!   Taking a look at the BIG Picture
   """"""""""""""""""""""""""



                        FORBES TURNS ON THE LIGHTS
                        ==========================



 by R.F. Mariano
   
     Last week's issue carried an overview of the Forbes Article dated
 08/03/92, where they paint a picture many folks have seen for quite some
 time in the Atari Arena.  Many people in the Atari world have small
 fortunes tied up in the Atari realm of things.  One can only speculate as
 to the size of the monetary investment of all the loyal Atarians.  One
 thing is for sure its these people who have made Atari's fortune for them
 and have the ability to do so again if given the chance.  
    
     There has always been those who jump right up and say; "you pays your
 money and you takes your ride", they are right to an extent.  If its only
 a ride one is paying for then it stands to reason its usefulness is only
 as good as the length of the actual ride.  But when it comes to a computer
 where ongoing developments and the precedent of downward compatibility has
 been set, one can indeed expect a bit more than just a "simple ride".
   
     The world of computing is quite volatile in respect to advancing
 technology, there is no doubt of this but when a company on one hand
 actively recruits its users/customers to "evangelize" their products it
 stands to reason the customers are now part of "the action" and can indeed
 expect a bit more from the company.  
    
     When users/customers are repeatedly buffeted with disappointments, the
 company must come to expect criticisms galore.  A truly professional
 reaction on the part of a company might be to acknowledge the shortfall,
 take obvious steps to correct the shortfall and involve those affected by
 the shortfall in its correction.  Do we see this with Atari??  Nope... not
 in the slightest.  Instead we are faced with the old "tell 'em what they
 only need to know".  A prime recent example would be FSM GDOS.  For almost
 three years Atari played out excuse after excuse including the packaging
 boondoggle excuse.  When the truth finally became known, there was no
 adverse reaction from the users about the truth.  The only significant
 negative reaction was to Atari's blowing smoke at them for so long a time. 
 Its a given that if this was a one time or even seldom occurance it would
 be a non-issue but unfortunately.. its not.
    
     Through the years, Atari has engaged the expertise of the masters of
 'information' to explain away the disparity involved in a large number of
 _sore_ spots.  For example, 

 (a) the Chinon drive refresh problem.

 (b) the Federated getting the double sided drive equipped 520stfm units
     before the dealers corps received theirs.

 (c) the cancellation of the user favorable exchange program because of a
     single abuse cited.

 (e) the consistent forty folder problem.

 (f)  Flow control being broken.

 (g) the initial release of the 1040STe units clobbering hard drives, no
     recall issued, if you happen to get one and don't complain or use a
     hard drive, tough luck you'll never know if you're sitting on a time
     bomb until you try to use a hard drive.

 (h) the MSTE shipping with TOS 2.05 installed and the dip switch #7 in
     the High density position while 2.06 is on sale everywhere.

 (i) The business of the MSTE shipping with the OLDER Tos 2.05 that is
     acknowledged as being "broken" when it comes to a high density floppy
     drive's use and of course Flow Control.

     While anyone can _buy_ Tos 2.06 and install it themselves even if they
 bought the MSTE a week ago they must pay extra for the TOS 2.06 upgrade. 
 Until recently, the same was true for the TT they were not being shipped
 with the high density drives installed.  There are a number of older TT's
 out there that are not anything like the more recent models shipped. 
 Some, are still only 16mhz.  
    
     Speaking of the TT, it is STILL only Class A accepted by the FCC. 
 WHY?  What is Atari's problem with the FCC?  Why is it the TT and many of
 Atari's previous products, such as the SLM Laser Printers, had so much
 trouble and ultimate never were certified for class B.  Forbes pretty much
 sums it all up in the expression they used for the title of their, hard
 hitting to the core, article....  

                            "CHEAP DIDN'T SELL"

     Truly its time for sweeping changes to be made in Sunnyvale.  The
 "cheeps" didn't do the trick, the vendettas aren't working and the hairbag
 politics are backfiring.  Atari must make some serious changes; they must
 end the friction in the userbase and above all else they simple have to
 stop trying to manipulate the press into giving them favorable coverage. 
 The proper way to enjoy favorable press coverage is to _earn_ it.

     Fortunately, other, more prominent publications are very much aware of
 the secretive coercive efforts being undertaken by Atari's Brodie and soon
 the entire escapade will be made public for all to see.  You see, we've
 been supplied with ongoing accounts of his activities and emails from the
 getgo.  Its not a pretty picture at all.  It reeks of censorship,
 manipulation and deception in the worst possible way.


   _____________________________________________________________________





 > SAY WHAT?!? STR FOCUS!                   "Facing Reality"
   """"""""""""""""""""""




                       LETS SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT
                       ============================



 by Alan Page


     I am no fan of MSDOS software and hardware.  The DOS world is  a Tower
 of Babel  with dozens, if not hundreds of different hardware options, many
 of which can conflict with each  other.   Not to  mention all  the various
 TSR's and device drivers that can interact in inappropriate ways.

     As MSDOS  hardware proliferates,  MSDOS software  gets harder to write
 and support.  The lack of  standards (or,  dozens of  different standards)
 makes supporting  all that  stuff the  domain of  large software companies
 that can afford to  test their  software on  all sorts  of different CPUs,
 graphics cards,  operating systems,  and other  hardware options.   Not to
 mention having to write custom drivers for a lot of that hardware as well.

     And, when a manufacturer introduces a  new and  exciting graphics card
 or  other  device,  the  poor  guy  who  buys  the card has to worry about
 updating each and every graphics-based  program  to  use  the  card, again
 because of the general lack of standards, which has only recently begin to
 be addressed by the major manufacturers.

     Into this mess Microsoft introduced Windows, and kept on upgrading and
 enhancing it  year after year.  Windows conquers the hardware confusion by
 requiring  only  a  single  Windows  compatible  driver  for  any  Windows
 software  to  use  that  device.    With  the release of Windows 3.1, this
 includes sound cards and other multimedia  devices.   There are  also some
 standard   file   formats   for   graphics,  text,  and  spreadsheet  data
 interchange.

     This is no small feat.  I have  the Windows  Resource Kit,  which is a
 500+ page  book (with accompanying software) explaining how to install and
 configure Windows, and troubleshoot problems.   The book  lists over 1,000
 different  IBM  PC  type  computers  that  are known to be compatible with
 Microsoft Windows.  Not to mention  14 different  types of  video graphics
 adapters, 11  different keyboards, 8 different mice/pointing devices, over
 300 printers, and 11 different networks.   No  wonder the  MSDOS community
 has rushed to Windows.

     Now  the  ST  enthusiast  is  probably aghast at all this confusion of
 hardware and software.   The easy  solution, he  says, is  for everyone to
 throw away  all their  IBM hardware  and buy  the ST,  with its handful of
 hardware options and single operating environment.

     Let's take a look  at the  situation for  a large  company which might
 want to switch to ST's.  The first question is, where is a dealer?  If you
 are lucky, perhaps there is one in the  same state.   What  about service?
 Can you get same-day on-site service for dozens, perhaps hundreds, of ST's
 and peripherals?  After all, it can cost you a lot of lost revenue if your
 computer goes  down and  you depend  on it,  whether you  are a small or a
 large business.  Atari's MegaSTE manual  suggests you  bring your computer
 to a service center.  Too bad if the nearest one happens to be hundreds of
 miles away.  How many Atari dealers are able to offer on-site service?

     Next, can you get  adequate, professional  training for  your ST's and
 the software  you are  using?  It's not enough just to throw the manual at
 your staff and tell  them  to  read  it.    Not  in  a  large corporation.
 Microsoft  University  has  ten  regional training facilities across North
 America and  there  are  39  Microsoft  University  authorized third-party
 training centers  across the  USA, where qualified instructors licenced by
 Microsoft  can  teach  courses  on  installing,   customizing,  and  using
 Microsoft  Windows  3.1.    Plus,  there  are  over  100 smaller Microsoft
 Authorized third-party Training Centers scattered across the USA.

     What about qualified consultants to help  you solve  problems and plan
 your  computer  operations?    Microsoft  offers  exams  to  qualify  as a
 Microsoft-certified consultant.  Many of  the  larger  MSDOS  software and
 hardware  companies  offer  similar  certification,  testing, and training
 (e.g Novell) for their hardware or software.   So our  business person can
 be reasonably  sure that  the people that claim to be consultants actually
 have qualifications.

     Atari (in the MegaSTE user manual)  suggests  you  WRITE  to  them for
 technical assistance.  They don't even list their phone number.

     What about networking and network-aware software?  There are all sorts
 of different LAN products for the IBM PC.  My MegaSTE manual is remarkably
 silent  on  the  subject  of  the  LAN  port.    Assume that a third-party
 developer  creates  LAN  software  for  the  ST,  is  our  business person
 expected to  install and  configure the  LAN him/herself, from reading the
 manual?  What ST business  software  is  LAN-aware?    Any  business large
 enough to  need to  network computers will also want qualified consultants
 to install and service the  LAN  on-site  and  same-day.    Hands  up, all
 qualified Atari ST LAN installers or LAN consultants.

     Atari  devotes  five  sentences  in  the  MegaSTE  manual  to  a brief
 description of what a LAN is.   No  mention is  made of  where to  get LAN
 software.

     What about  communicating with  mainframes?  There is a whole industry
 built up around custom  hardware and  software to  communicate between IBM
 PC's and  various mainframe  computers.  As far as I am aware, there is no
 equivalent to this on the ST.

     How about them VME  cards?   I have  yet to  hear from  anyone who has
 actually plugged  a VME  card into  their MegaSTE.   I wonder how many VME
 cards come with ST software drivers?    Referring  to  my  MegaSTE manual:
 (quote) "For  complete instructions on how to connect a VME device to your
 computer, consult the device owner's manual." Is it really that simple?

     What about supporting all  sorts  of  different  and  exotic printers?
 Windows comes  with support  for over 300 different printers.  Third party
 software vendors and hardware manufacturers offer  drivers for  many more,
 including many  24-bit color  printers.   How many different printers have
 GDOS or FSMGDOS drivers?

     Over the years, I have heard dozens of Atari users whine about how the
 ST is  perceived as  a game  machine and  how unfair it is that businesses
 ignore a machine that  has spreadsheets  and databases  and lots  of other
 'business' software.   If  only, they moan, Atari would just advertise the
 ST, things would turn around and businesses would start buying ST's.

     Lets face reality, folks.  You can talk till you are blue  in the face
 about  the  (supposed)  superiority  of  Atari  hardware and software.  It
 doesn't matter!!

     The fact is that  there is  no significant  support infrastructure for
 the  ST  in  North  America.   No training facilities, no on-site same-day
 service, no pool of Atari ST  hardware/software/LAN consultants.   Without
 that level  of support,  no business  of any  significant size is going to
 take a serious look at the ST.  If I'm wrong, please set me straight.

     Whatever success Atari is going to have in North America,  either with
 the  current  ST  or  any  new  machines, will mostly be in niche markets,
 MIDI/Music, and home entertainment.  It isn't going to be in business.

                                    ***

      Copyright 1992 Alan Page.  May be copied and distributed freely
              as long as it is reproduced without alteration.

     MSDOS, Microsoft.  Microsoft  Write,  and  Windows  are  trademarks or
     registered  trademarks  of  Microsoft  Corporation.   WordPerfect is a
     registered trademark of Word Perfect Corporation.  Atari,  MegaSTE and
     ST are all trademarks or registered trademarks of Atari Corporation.






  ***********************************************************************

                    :HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
                     _________________________________

                       To sign up for GEnie service:

      Set your communications software to Half Duplex (or Local Echo)
                     Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.
               Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
                         Wait for the U#= prompt.

                 Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.

         GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric
            Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission

  ***********************************************************************




 > LEGAL RIGHTS IV STR Feature                "TRUTH SQUADS"
   """""""""""""""""""""""""""



                       SAN DIEGO COUNTY--TRUTH SQUAD
                       =============================


 by Albert Silverman
  
 From the Mac RT on GEnie

 Introduction

 This is the fourth article in a series on "piracy"--with a reverse 
 twist. This series currently includes the following articles:

 (1)  Great Software Licensing Hoax   (LEGAL RIGHTS PIRACY1)
 (2)  Software Copyright/License Quiz (LEGAL RIGHTS PIRACY2)
 (3)  Great School Copyright Robbery  (LEGAL RIGHTS PIRACY3)
 (4)  San Diego County--Truth Squad   (LEGAL RIGHTS PIRACY4)
 (5)  ADAPSO and SPA--Trade Pirates   (LEGAL RIGHTS PIRACY5)
 (6)  Aldus--Snaring a Pirate Chief!  (LEGAL RIGHTS PIRACY6)
      -------------------------------------------------------------

     This article  presents a  legal opinion  issued in November of 1987 by
 the San Diego County Counsel: the  attorney  for  San  Diego  County. This
 opinion  answers   penetrating  questions   about  the  computer  software
 copyright laws, which were posed  by  myself  and  relayed  to  the County
 Counsel via the San Diego County Office of Education. These questions were
 formulated in order to expose the industry's piracy of the legal rights of
 computer-using personnel  in the California public schools. The details of
 this ingenious  scheme of  software industry  piracy, and  its effect upon
 both the pockets of the California taxpayers and the integrity of computer
 education in California, are  explained  in  the  reference  given  at the
 conclusion of this article.

      -------------------------------------------------------------

 November 9, 1987

 Dr. Thomas C. Boysen
 Superintendent of Schools
 San Diego County Office of Education
 6401 Linda Vista Road
 San Diego, California 92111-7399

 Attention:  Glen N. Pierson, Assistant Superintendent

 Dear Dr. Boysen:

 Re:  Request for Opinion: Computer Software
 (Assignment No. 87-01153/DB-L)

 You have requested our advice regarding computer software copyright law 
 and have specifically asked that we respond to the following questions:

 "QUESTIONS FOR CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION

 "1.0 What is the meaning of the phrase 'for archival purposes' in 
 Section 117 of the U.S. Copyright Law?

 "2.0 What is the difference in the intent of 'archival use' in Section 
 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law versus that of Paragraph 2, Section 117?

 "3.0 What, if any, is the difference between an 'archival' copy and a 
 'backup' copy as it applies to Section 117 of the U.S. Copyright Law?

 "QUESTIONS OF LEGALITY

 "4.0 Is it legal to make (as opposed to use), at one time, more than a 
 single archival copy of a copyrighted computer program?

 "4.1 If the answer to 4.0 is 'yes', is there a limit to the number of 
 archival copies which may be on hand (but not used) at one time?

 "5.0 Is it legal to use an archival copy of the original computer 
 program, with the original program being protectively stored away?

 "5.1 If the answer to 5.0 is 'yes', and if the archival copy is damaged 
 during use, can another archival copy be made from the original and used 
 without the permission of the copyright owner?

 "6.0 Is it legal to use a purchased program sent from a manufacturer 
 labeled 'archival' simultaneously with the original copy of the program 
 received at the same time?

 "6.1 Is it legal to make an archival copy of a rightfully owned disk 
 that is labeled 'archival' by the software manufacturer?

 "6.2 Is it legal to transfer the ownership of a disk labeled 'archival' 
 by a manufacturer while retaining the purchased original copy of the 
 same program?

 "6.3 If the answer to 6.2 is 'yes', is the new holder of the 'archival' 
 disk then entitled to copy the 'archival' program they have been given?

 "7.0 Is it legal to load a copyrighted program from a single disk into a 
 distribution network or into individual stand-alone computers for 
 simultaneous use, without the permission of the copyright owner?

 "8.0 Is it legal to alter a copyrighted computer program in any way 
 during the process of making an 'archival' copy?

 "8.1 If the answer to 8.0 is 'yes', may this archival copy be used in an 
 educational setting?"

 Our conclusions may be summarized as follows:

 1.0 The  use of  the phrase "for archival purposes" in 17 U.S.C.A. section
 117 (2) [note: All references hereinafter  are to  Title 17  of the United
 States Code unless otherwise stated] means that the owner of a copy-
 righted computer  program may  prepare a copy or adaptation of the program
 for the limited purpose of protecting use of the program against dest-
 ruction or damage by  mechanical  or  electrical  failure.  The  making of
 copies for  archival purposes  protects the owners of computer programs by
 granting them the right to make backup copies.

 2.0 We conclude that the difference  between section  108 and  section 117
 (2) is that section 108 uses the term "archives" as a reference to a place
 in which public  records  or  historical  documents  are  preserved [note:
 Webster's  New  Collegiate  Dictionary  defines  archive as: "a government
 house; a  place  in  which  public  records  or  historical  documents are
 preserved."] rather than the use to which a copy of a computer program may
 be put. Section 108  authorizes libraries  or archives  to make  a copy or
 phono record of a work for specified purposes such as the replacement of a
 copy or phono record that is  damaged, deteriorating,  lost, or  stolen or
 when the  library or archives determines that an unused replacement cannot
 be obtained at a fair price.  Section 117  on the  other hand  is aimed at
 owners of  computer programs  as opposed to libraries or archives. In both
 instances it appears that the intent is to authorize the  making of copies
 for purposes of preservation.

 3.0 We conclude that there is no difference between an "archival" copy and
 a "backup copy" as these terms are used in the context of section 117 (2).
 It appears that the terms are used interchangeably.

 4.0 The  owner of  a copy of a computer program legally may make more than
 one copy for archival purposes.

 4.1 Section 117 does not impose any limitations on the  number of archival
 copies that an owner of a copy of a computer program may make.

 5.0 We  conclude that  it is legal to use an archival copy of the original
 computer program with the original program being protectively stored away.

 5.1 If the archival copy is damaged during use, another  archival copy may
 be made from the original and used without the permission of the copyright
 owner.

 6.0 Although not free from doubt, we conclude  that it  is legal  to use a
 purchased  program  sent  from  a  manufacturer  labeled "archival" simul-
 taneously with the original copy of the program received at  the same time
 provided said use is permitted by the terms of the sales agreement.

 6.1 It  is legal  to make an archival copy of a rightfully owned disk that
 is labeled "archival" by the software manufacturer.

 6.2 We conclude that it is not legal to transfer  the ownership  of a disk
 labeled  "archival"  by  a  manufacturer  while  retaining  the  purchased
 original copy of the same program.

 6.3 The new holder of the "archival disk"  would be  entitled to  copy the
 "archival" program  they have  been given  provided that  is the only copy
 they were given.

 7.0  We  conclude  that  the  loading  of  a  copyrighted  program  into a
 distribution  network  or  in  individual  computers  for simultaneous use
 without the permission of  the copyright  owner would  be in  violation of
 copyright law.

 8.0  We  conclude  that  it  is  not legal to alter a copyrighted computer
 program in any way during the  process of  making an  archival copy unless
 such an alteration is an essential step in the utilization of the computer
 program in conjunction with a machine.

 8.1 We conclude that an archival copy altered  during the  copying process
 may be used in an educational setting.

 DISCUSSION

 On  December  12,  1980,  President  Carter signed into law (P.L. 96- 517)
 which amended  the 1976  Copyright Act.  The amendment  in effect repealed
 section 117 of the Act, and replaced it with a new section 117. The former
 section 117 dealt with the use of copyrighted  works on  computers and did
 not address the issue of copyrightability of computer programs. The repeal
 of section  117  was  a  result  of  a  study  conducted  by  the National
 Commission on  New Technological  Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU). Based
 on the recommendations made by CONTU, section 117  was repealed  and a new
 section  117  was  enacted  to  govern  the  copyright ability of computer
 programs.

 There is very little case law on the interpretation of section 117 and the
 legislative  history  is  also  scant. However, since Congress adopted the
 recommendations of the CONTU report  without  alteration,  it  is  fair to
 conclude that  the CONTU report reflects the congressional intent. (Midway
 Mfg. Company v. Strohon, 564 F.Supp. 741, 750 (n6) N.D. Ill. (1983).)

 "1.0 What is the meaning of the phrase 'for archival  purposes' in Section
 117 of the U.S. Copyright Law?"

 Section 117 states in pertinent part:

 "Notwithstanding the  provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement
 for the owner of a computer  program to  make or  authorize the  making of
 another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided: 

 (2) That  such new  copy or  adaptation is  for archival purposes only and
 that all  archival  copies  are  destroyed  in  the  event  that continued
 possession of the computer program should cease to be rightful . . ."

 In explaining  the limited  purpose of  the archival  exception, the CONTU
 report at page 31 states:

 "One who rightfully possesses a copy  of a  program, therefore,  should be
 provided with  the legal right to copy it to that extent which will permit
 its use by that possessor. This would include the right to load  it into a
 computer and to prepare archival copies of it to guard against destruction
 or damage by mechanical or electrical  failure. This  permission would not
 extend to other copies of the program."

 With this  guidance, the  court in  Atari, Inc. v. JS&A Group, Inc. (1983)
 597 F.Supp. 5  held  that  "[w]here,  and  only  where,  a  medium  may be
 destroyed  by  mechanical  or  electrical  failure, the archival exception
 protects the owners of programs stored in that medium by granting them the
 right to make backup copies." (supra at p. 9.)

 We conclude,  therefore, that  the phrase "for archival purposes," as used
 in section 117 (2) means that an owner of a computer program is authorized
 to make  a copy  or adaptation  of said  program for  use as a backup copy
 where there is a danger that the original  may be  destroyed by mechanical
 or  electrical  failure.  The  purpose  of  section 117 (2), is clearly to
 protect the use of computer programs  against the  risk of  destruction or
 damage.

 "2.0 What is the difference in the intent of 'archival use' in Section 108
 of the U.S. Copyright Law versus that of Paragraph 2, Section 117?"

 Section 108 provides in pertinent part
 "(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an in-
 fringement of copyright for a library or archives, or any of its emp-
 loyees acting within the scope of their employment,  to reproduce  no more
 than one  copy or  phono record  of a  work, or to distribute such copy or
 phono record, under the conditions specified by this section, . . ."

 The application of  this  section  is  clearly  limited  to  libraries and
 archives. The use of the word "archives" in this provision is in reference
 to the place in which public records or historical documents are preserved
 and a  further reading  of section  108 reveals the conditions under which
 places such as archives  may  reproduce  or  distribute  copyrighted work.
 Section 117,  on the  other hand, is applicable only to owners of computer
 programs and specifically makes reference  to  the  making  of  copies for
 "archival purposes."  The use  of this  latter term is in reference to the
 actual use to which copies may be put.

 A library or archives, under the conditions specified in section  108, may
 reproduce or  distribute no  more than  one copy or phono record of a work
 provided the collections of the library or archives are open to the public
 or  available  to  persons  doing  research.  (Section  108  (a) (2).) The
 reproduction  or  distribution  of  the  work  must  include  a  notice of
 copyright. (Section  108 (a) (3).) A library or archives may not reproduce
 or distribute a copy or phono record of a work  if it  is for  a direct or
 indirect commercial advantage. (Section 108 (a) (1).)

 For example,  under the circumstances stated above, section 108 authorizes
 a library or archives to make a copy of a copyrighted work for purposes of
 replacement  of  a  damaged,  deteriorating,  lost  or  stolen copy if the
 library or archives has  determined that  an unused  replacement cannot be
 obtained at a fair price. In addition, section 108 addresses the making of
 copies by users of the library or archives.

 We conclude that the difference in the intent of "archival use" in section
 108 and  section 117 is that section 108 states the conditions under which
 a specific type of entity (libraries or archives)  may make  copies of any
 copyrighted work  whereas section  117 provides  the purpose for which any
 owner may make copies  of a  specific type  of copyrighted  work (computer
 programs). Section  108 does  not use the term "archival use" and does not
 limit the use of copies for "archival purposes" as the latter term is used
 in section 117. (See discussion of meaning of the term "archival purposes"
 under 1.0.)

 "3.0 What,  if any,  is the  difference between  an 'archival'  copy and a
 'backup' copy as it applies to Section 117 of the U.S. Copyright Law?"

 There does not appear to be a difference between the terms "archival" copy
 and "backup" copy in  discussions dealing  with section  117. Our research
 indicates that both terms are used interchangeably. In Atari, Inc. v. JS&A
 Group, Inc. (1983) 597 F.Supp. 5 at p. 9, the court states:

 "The archival  exception protects  the owners  of programs  stored in that
 medium by granting them the right to make backup copies . . ."

 "4.0 Is  it legal  to make  (as opposed  to use), at one time, more than a
 single archival copy of a copyrighted computer program?"

 It is unclear whether more than a single archival copy  of the copyrighted
 computer program  legally may  be made  at one  time. However, a review of
 section 117 and portions of the  CONTU report  suggest that  more than one
 copy of a computer program may be made for backup purposes only.

 Section 117  states in  pertinent part ". . . any exact copies prepared in
 accordance with the provisions  of this  section may  be leased,  sold, or
 otherwise transferred,  along with  the copy  from which  such copies were
 prepared, . . ." A National Science Foundation report to CONTU as cited by
 the court  in Apple  Computer, Inc.  v. Formula International, Inc. (1984)
 594 F.Supp. 617 states as follows:

 "In order to effectively use  a  copyrighted  computer  readable  work, an
 owner of a copy should have the right to make and retain additional copies
 for his internal use . . ." (at page 621).

 The CONTU report also states at  page 31:  ". .  . This  would include the
 right to  load it  into a computer and to prepare archival copies of it to
 guard against destruction or damage .  .  ."  In  addition,  the  court in
 Atari, Inc.  v. J  S &  A Group, Inc. (1983) 597 F.Supp. 5 also recognized
 that ". . . the archival exception protects the owners  of programs stored
 in that medium by granting them the right to make backup copies."

 We conclude  therefore that  in the absence of a statute that specifically
 prohibits the making of more than  one archival  copy, the  above language
 found in  the CONTU  report, cases  and in  section 117  suggests that the
 owner of a computer program may legally make more than  a single  copy for
 archival purposes.

 "4.1 If  the answer  to 4.0  is 'yes',  is there  a limit to the number of
 archival copies which may be on hand (but not used) at one time?"

 We have found no case law or statutes on the issue of  whether there  is a
 limit on the number of archival copies which may be on hand (but not used)
 at one time. However, since the clear intent of section 117 is  to protect
 the use  of a  computer program  against the risk of destruction or damage
 and the backup copy provides said protection, and is not  to be  used as a
 second copy  of the  original, we  see no reason why there would be a need
 for more than one archival copy. The intent of section 117 (2) as has been
 discussed  above  is  to  protect  the original copy of a computer program
 against a particular type of risk--in this case  destruction or  damage by
 mechanical or  electrical failure.  The making  of more  than one archival
 copy would be within the spirit of the law provided said copies are stored
 and used only as backups.

 "5.0 Is it legal to use an archival copy of the original computer program,
 with the original program being protectively stored away?"

 By using an archival copy and storing away  the original,  the owner  of a
 computer  program  would  in  effect  be  protecting  the original against
 destruction or damage and  would not  be going  against the  intent of the
 law.
 We  conclude  that  it  is  legal  to use an archival copy of the original
 computer program while the original program is protectively stored away.

 "5.1 If the answer to 5.0 is 'yes',  and if  the archival  copy is damaged
 during use,  can another  archival copy be made from the original and used
 without the permission of the copyright owner?"

 If the archival copy  which  is  being  used  is  damaged  during  use, we
 conclude that another archival copy may be made from the original and used
 without the permission of the copyright owner. Since the purpose of making
 an archival  copy is  to provide  the owner of the computer program with a
 backup copy, it follows that upon  damage to  the archival  copy, which is
 being used  in lieu  of the  original, the owner should be able to produce
 another copy even if the original is to be used as the backup.

 "6.0 Is it legal to use  a  purchased  program  sent  from  a manufacturer
 labeled 'archival'  simultaneously with  the original  copy of the program
 received at the same time?"

 The limited  purpose  of  the  archival  exception  is  to  "guard against
 destruction or  damage by  mechanical or electrical failure" (CONTU report
 at p. 31; Atari, Inc. v. JS&A  Group,  Inc.  (1983)  597  F.Supp.  5). The
 archival exception  of section 117 (2) applies only to owner made or owner
 authorized copies of the original. Furthermore, there is  no indication in
 the cases  discussing the  CONTU report  that section  117 was intended to
 apply to manufacturer supplied archival copies.  It would  appear from the
 above that  a manufacturer  supplied archival copy would not be subject to
 the restrictions of section 117 and that section 117 does  not prohibit an
 archival copy  supplied by  a manufacturer  from being used simultaneously
 with the original copy. We recognize  that this  technical construction of
 section 117 is inconsistent with the intent of the legislature in enacting
 section 117. We caution  therefore  that  there  is  a  certain  degree of
 uncertainty  as  to  how  a  court  would  decide  whether  such use of an
 "archival"  copy  supplied  by  a  manufacturer  is  in  violation  of the
 copyright law.  We therefore  conclude that  whether or  not the use of an
 "archival" copy supplied by  the manufacturer  may be  used simultaneously
 with the  original copy, would best be determined by the contractual terms
 of the sales agreement.  In view  of the  uncertainty discussed  above, we
 would suggest  that an owner who is being supplied with an "archival" copy
 and who intends to use it  simultaneously with  the original,  ensure that
 such use is covered by the terms of the sales agreement.

 "6.1 Is  it legal to make an archival copy of a rightfully owned disk that
 is labeled 'archival' by the software manufacturer?"

 The owner of  a  computer  program  which  is  labeled  "archival"  by the
 software manufacturer  is authorized  by section 117 (2) to make a copy of
 said program for "archival  purposes." If  the archival  copy is  the only
 copy of  the program that the owner has in his or her possession, then the
 making of another copy to protect the "archival" copy would  be authorized
 by section  117 (2). However, if the owner has an "archival" copy provided
 by the software manufacturer in addition  to an  original copy,  we see no
 reason for the making of another archival copy since there appears to be a
 backup in existence.

 "6.2 Is it legal to transfer the ownership of a disk labeled 'archival' by
 a manufacturer  while retaining  the purchased  original copy  of the same
 program?"

 Section 117 requires that copies made for "archival purposes" by the owner
 of  a  copy  of  the  program  be  destroyed  when  the  owners "continued
 possession of  the computer  program" ceases  to be  rightful. The section
 goes on further to state that archival copies prepared pursuant to section
 117 may be leased,  sold, or  otherwise transferred,  along with  the copy
 from which  such copies were prepared, only as part of the lease, sale, or
 other transfer of all  rights in  the program.  It is  not clear, however,
 whether  this  provision  would  apply  to archival copies supplied by the
 manufacturer. Any right of a purchaser  to transfer  the ownership  of the
 original copy  of a  computer program  or a manufacturer supplied archival
 copy would usually be governed by  the  terms  of  the  purchase  or lease
 agreement. In  the absence  of a  provision of the agreement governing the
 ability to transfer ownership  of  the  original  or  archival  copy while
 keeping  the  other,  we  believe  that  the owner of such a copy would be
 subject to the provisions of section 117 since the archival  copy provided
 by the  manufacturer is  designed to  be used  as a backup pursuant to the
 intent of section 117. The archival copy may therefore be transferred only
 if  the  owner  is  also  transferring  the  original  copy from which the
 archival copy was prepared. The owner may, however, transfer the ownership
 of an  archival copy provided by the manufacturer and retain the purchased
 original  where  such  transfer  is  authorized  in  a  contractual  sales
 agreement between the manufacturer and the owner/purchaser.

 In view of the uncertainty in this area, we would advise that the owner of
 a computer disk  labeled  "archival"  by  a  manufacturer  not  attempt to
 transfer  the  ownership  of  said  disk  without the authorization of the
 manufacturer.

 "6.3 If the answer to 6.2 is 'yes',  is the  new holder  of the 'archival'
 disk then entitled to copy the 'archival' program they have been given?"

 In view of our response to 6.2, a response to 6.3 is not necessary.

 "7.0 Is  it legal  to load a copyrighted program from a single disk into a
 distribution  network  or  into   individual  stand-alone   computers  for
 simultaneous use, without the permission of the copyright owner?"

 The court  in Apple  Computer, Inc. v. Formula International, Inc., (1984)
 594 F.Supp. 617, 621 quotes an excerpt from the CONTU  report which states
 that  an  owner's  right  to  internal  use of his copies of a copyrighted
 program "should not include  the  right  to  make  the  work  available to
 outsiders by  a computer  network or  otherwise." The  court in Apple also
 notes a CONTU Commissioner's opinion that  if a  copy of  a work  is to be
 stored  in  a  computer  and  subsequently  made accessible to others, its
 creation  would  have  to  be  properly  authorized  by   the  copyright's
 proprietor. (supra  at 621.) The court concluded that a copy of a computer
 program authorized by section 117 may  be made  only for  the owner-user's
 internal use.  Section 117 does not authorize the loading of a copyrighted
 program from a single disk into  a distribution  network or  to individual
 stand- alone computers for simultaneous use where it would allow access by
 persons other than the owner-user. If,  however, the  distribution network
 provides communication  only to  the owner-user's  business or  all of the
 individual's stand alone computers are used in the  owner-user's business,
 then such use would be appropriate.
 Section 107 articulates the so-called "fair use" doctrine that:

 ". .  . the fair use of a copyrighted work, . . . for purposes such as . .
 . teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), . . . is  not an
 infringement of  copyright. In  determining whether the use made of a work
 in a particular case is a  fair use,  the factors  to be  considered shall
 include: 

 (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of
     a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.

 (2) the nature of the copyrighted work.

 (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion  used in  relation to the
     copyrighted work  as a  whole and  (4) the  effect of the use upon the
     potential market for or value of the copyrighted work."

 Although the use  of  a  computer  program  by  the  County  Department of
 Education  or  a  school  district  might  be  for  nonprofit  educational
 purposes, the nature of  the work  to be  reproduced in  this instance, an
 easily duplicated  computer program,  would weigh against its being exempt
 under the "fair use" doctrine when section 117 of the Act, which expressly
 addresses  computer  programs,  is  considered. By loading the copyrighted
 program into a distribution network, the  program would  be made available
 to a  wide range  of educational institutions thereby negatively impacting
 the potential market for  the sales  of that  particular computer program.
 Loading  the  copyrighted  program  into  a  distribution network which is
 accessible  only  to  the  owner-user  would  however  be  permissible. We
 therefore conclude that the loading of a copyrighted computer program into
 a distribution network accessible  by persons  other than  the owner- user
 would be in violation of copyright law.

 "8.0 Is it legal to alter a copyrighted computer program in any way during
 the process of making an 'archival' copy?"

 Section 117 (1) states  that an  owner may  make a  copy or  adaptation of
 computer program  provided that  "such a new copy or adaptation is created
 as an essential  step  in  the  utilization  of  the  computer  program in
 conjunction with  a machine and that it is used in no other manner, or . .
 . (2) such a new copy or adaptation is for archival purposes  only .  . ."
 The right to make a copy of a computer program exists only "to that extent
 which will permit its use by that possessor . .  ." (Apple  Computer, Inc.
 v. Formula  International, Inc. (1984) 594 F.Supp. 617). As further stated
 in the Apple case  "The  intent  of  that  section  117  is  to  provide a
 legitimate holder of a computer program with permission to do that copying
 of the program which is necessary  for him  to be  able to  use it  in his
 computer without  running afoul  of possible infringement actions." (supra
 at p. 621.)

 Based on the  above,  we  therefore  conclude  that  the  alteration  of a
 copyrighted computer program during the process of making an archival copy
 is permissible only if the alteration is necessary for the  owner's use in
 his computer.

 "8.1 If  the answer  to 8.0 is 'yes', may this archival copy be used in an
 educational setting?"

 As discussed earlier, an archival copy may be used as a backup  copy or in
 lieu of  the original  and may  be used  in an  educational setting by the
 owner. However, an archival copy may not be used as  a second  copy of the
 original neither  may it  be used over a network system for utilization by
 persons other than the owner-user.

 Please note that the right  to  make  a  copy  or  adaptation  for  use or
 archival purposes as discussed above extends only to the owner of the copy
 of a computer program and not to someone who merely acquires possession of
 the copy  by rental,  lease, or  otherwise, without acquiring ownership of
 it.

 Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions.

                             Very truly yours,

                   LLOYD M. HARMON, JR., County Counsel

                                    By 
                       DESIREE A. BRUCE-LYLE, Deputy

      -------------------------------------------------------------

 This lengthy opinion will not be  analyzed here.  Although (reflecting the
 fact that  its author  was not  a specialist in copyright law) it contains
 several errors in the more obscure  areas of  the law,  it is nevertheless
 right on target in its treatment of the most basic areas (such as archival
 backup and the use of  backup  copies)  of  vital  importance  to computer
 users. A detailed analysis is given in the reference cited below.

                                  -------

     Read all  about it in "THE COPYRIGHT GAME, ETC.--A Strategic Guide for
 the Computer Software User," by Albert Silverman. ISBN  0-9527435-1-8. 330
 pages in nominal 8-1/2"x11" format, softbound with an attractive cover.

     What is the purpose of this book? Replacing the legal Mumbo-Jumbo with
 plain English,  it  provides  an  all-inclusive,  detailed,  and impartial
 explanation  of  the  computer  software  copyright laws, using past court
 cases for clarification of obscure language in the  written letter  of the
 law.  Since  there  is  NO commercially-generated distortion, it is likely
 that you will  find  some  surprises;  i.e.,  which  run  contrary  to the
 industry's self-serving  "interpretation" of  the law. Thoroughly debunked
 is the industry's attempt  to pirate  your legal  rights by  the use  of a
 phoney  "licensing  strategy."  Included  is  a  detailed and entertaining
 analysis of several leading Software License  Agreements. In  summary, you
 are  provided  with  sufficient  and accurate information (i.e., the legal
 FACTS) to permit you  to  handle  your  computer  software  in  the manner
 intended  by  the  U.S.  Congress,  while  safely  ignoring those industry
 perversions of the law which seek to gain for it an unfair  advantage.. at
 YOUR expense.

     Exposed in  great detail is the outrageous software industry piracy of
 the  legal   rights  of   unsophisticated  software   users  (directed  by
 unconcerned  educational  administrators)  within  the  California  public
 schools. For  the  first  time  ever,  this  well-hidden  scheme  has been
 unearthed  (with   supporting  and  incriminating  documentation  from  my
 extensive research into the inner educational  sanctum) and  is being made
 public.  Although  this  ongoing  effort is particularly well organized in
 California, the premier "computer state," it  blankets the  entire nation,
 leaving no educational level uncovered.

     The disastrous  result of this exceptionally cozy relationship between
 the computer software industry and the California Department  of Education
 is explained.  If you  are at  all concerned  about the  way in which this
 illicit  educational-commercial  "partnership"  affects  the  integrity of
 computer education  in your  public schools and drains away your tax money
 to line the software industry's  pockets  with  unwarranted  profits, this
 book is essential reading.

     What will  NOT be  found in  this book?  Since its  sole purpose is to
 ensure that  you understand  precisely what  conduct is  required for your
 (simultaneous) compliance  with federal  copyright law and state licensing
 law, there  are no  sermons about  your "moral"  or "ethical" obligations.
 That  is,  it  is  only  your  hard  and  fast LEGAL obligations which are
 addressed. The industry's "moral suasion" is most often an attempt  to get
 the  software  user  to  obey  the  law;  i.e., it is a substitute for the
 economically-unfeasible prosecution  of  small-  scale  violations  of the
 copyright law. On the other hand, there may also be a piratical attempt to
 make an end-run around the law. That is, when there is NO ground for legal
 action against  the software  user, the  industry may seek to gain its own
 way, either by shaming the user  with claims  of immoral  and/or unethical
 conduct or  by the  use of a phoney (and usually coercive) "license." This
 book sorts it all out for you.

                                 -------- 

     The  price  of  $19.92  (check  or  money  order)  includes  $4.50 for
 handling,  shipping  by  UPS,  and  sales  tax  if shipped to a California
 address.  A  street  address  is  required  for  shipping  purposes.  Off-
 the-shelf delivery from:

                             INTELLOGIC PRESS
                               P.O. Box 3322
                            La Mesa  CA  91944

                                 --------

     Any questions?  If you  want information  about the  subject matter of
 this article, or if you want  more information  about my  book, send  me a
 message by  GE Mail.  My GEnie  mail address  is A.SILVERMAN4.  Or you may
 write to me at the  above  address,  enclosing  a  stamped, self-addressed
 envelope if you would like a reply.



      _______________________________________________________________





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     software that comes with it is unbeatable."

     CD-ROMs are now supported!   Since  The  LINK  supports  extended SCSI
 commands  we  wrote  MetaDOS  drivers  to  support the SCSI-2 standard for
 CD-ROM players.  Floptical drives  are  now  fully  supported!    With the
 Insite Floptical  drive you can read and write IBM-compatible floppy disks
 at 720K,  1.4Mb,  and  21Mb  configurations  on  your  Atari  ST computer.
 Magneto-optical drives  are also  supported!  We now support virtually all
 R/W optical drives in the 3.5 and 5.25 inch formats."

     The ICD LINK is competitively priced  and  will  be  premiered  at the
 Atari Messe  in Duesseldorf,  Germany in August.  ICD is taking orders now
 with shipments expected in  mid-August.   The LINK  comes with  a full one
 year warranty.

     For further  information, contact  Thomas Harker  at ICD in the United
 States by phone (815) 968-2228 extension # 120 or fax (815) 968-6888.

     The LINK is a trademark of  ICD, Incorporated.   Other  trademarks are
 those of their respective holders.



                             ICD, Incorporated
                               1220 Rock St.
                          Rockford, IL  61101 USA

                       Telephone:    (815) 968-2228
                       Facsimile:    (815) 968-6888
                       Sales....:    (815) 968-8550


           ____________________________________________________





 > KILL THE MESSENGER! STR Spotlight           THE GAMES NEVER END
   """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""





                           A NEVER ENDING STORY
                           ====================



 by Dana P. Jacobson


     What will it take for the foolishness to end?  Many people, myself
 included, have been asking that question for well over a year now, at
 least.  Apparently, there is no simple answer to such a simple question. 
 The madness continues...  

     It's extremely obvious that there is an ongoing campaign to stifle the
 opinions of Ralph Mariano and STReport on as many venues as possible.  The
 latest "attack" was the pulling of the STReport flags in the GEnie Atari
 Roundtable for no logical and specific reason.  Apparently, the reason(s)
 will not be discussed in the open; the flags were apparently revoked due
 to lack of support by STReport and its staff.  I wish that someone in the
 Atari RT would define "support" for me, because it's obvious to me that we
 have differences of opinion as to what is involved in this regard. 
 Figures to back up the amount of support that STReport has provided over
 the years has been posted numerous times in the STReport category on
 GEnie, so I will not repeat them.  But, let's see what type of support
 STReport provides.  

     Each issue of STReport is uploaded _every_ Friday evening to all of
 the online services, including GEnie Atari RT.  Rarely have I seen an
 exception to that self-imposed policy.  Our readers have come to expect
 that service on a timely basis, so we do our best to make sure it's
 available.  Obviously, we have no control over _when_ the appropriate
 SysOps make it public for download.  Download counts for _each_ issues has
 been in the hundreds.  STReport, until fairly recently, supported its own
 Category.  A short time ago, that Category was phased out by the Atari RT
 and we were added to the Atari Magazines Category.  This move had
 "political" undertones, but at least it was done "fairly" across the
 board, as the Znet Category was also phased out and added to the magazines
 category.  

     With the STReport flags pulled, STReport and its staff are now
 required to support their area on GEnie Atari RT, and _pay_ to do so. 
 Unless Business 1.01 has changed over the years, those who provide the
 service do not pay to do so.  No one has told STReport that they cannot
 post STReport issues anymore.  No one has stipulated that STReport cannot
 maintain their message Topics and support them.  No one has said that
 STReport cannot utilize the Atari RT and other areas within GEnie Atari RT
 to gather news items.  All that the folks in the Atari RT are saying is
 that STReport must now pay to do so!  Many have decried that this is
 censorship, but I must disagree with that assessment.  STReport can still
 do everything that it was allowed to do prior to this; but now, it must
 pay for the "privilege".  'Tis not censorship, it's an unfair business
 tactic.  It's a method used in the hopes that STReport will be put in the
 position of financial upheaval and decide that the process of gathering
 news from GEnie Atari RT will turn out to be financially draining and
 STReport will just exit from the GEnie Atari RT arena.  

     Why do I make such claims?  Well, have other publications currently
 online had their free flags revoked?  Not that I am aware.  There are only
 two Atari-specific online magazines currently available, on all of the
 services.  Anyone wish to hazard a guess as to what the other magazine is? 
 Let me give you a hint, just to make sure that you can only guess once: it
 was recently called Z*Net.  Does AE Online provide any more "support" than
 STReport does?  Other than occasional "words of wisdom" from Atari's Bob
 Brodie, no.  Until very recently, AEO was bi-weekly; STReport is weekly. 
 This can equate to twice as much support.  Perhaps the staff at AEO
 realized that in order for them to maintain "up-to-the-minute" coverage,
 they had to go to a weekly format.  Still, both magazines provide similar
 coverage of the news and online support, yet, STReport's flags were
 revoked and AEO's are active!  Makes you wonder.  

     So, Atari RT, please define "support" so that our readers can be
 informed.  Could it be that GEnie Atari RT's Atari RT staff feels that
 STReport doesn't support GEnie Atari RT and the Atari RT enough in its
 online coverage?  Or does the Atari RT staff want exclusive coverage and
 not provide coverage of the other online services?  Or, do they want a
 much bigger slice of the pie so that the GEnie Atari RT Atari area can
 maintain the claim of the "official support" service of Atari, with the
 slanted "proof" supported by STReport's coverage?  Sorry folks, it just
 doesn't work that way.  Free flags, at least the way in which _I_
 understand them, are provided with the intention that they be used to
 provide support for the users of the service, resulting in more activity
 on that service and generating income for the host service.  STReport
 downloads equal activity which generates revenue for GEnie Atari RT.  The
 same can be said about the message activity in the STReport message
 topics.  So, where is the lack of support?  Ralph Mariano is online every
 day to check messages and replies to those that do not have worms
 camouflaged on barbed hooks.  Lloyd Pulley was almost as active.  That
 accounts for the two flags; there was also activity by other STReport
 staff members who are normal paying GEnie Atari RT customers, but they
 helped to support the STReport areas.  How many people with free flags can
 honestly state that they call regularly to support their areas?  How many
 of those visit areas other than their own and answer questions and
 provided help when able?  If someone answered 50%, I'd be suspicious of
 that high figure.  So, Atari RT staff, what's the real reasons behind
 this?  

     Initially, I thought that this was all due to an ongoing beef on the
 part of the Atari RT with Ralph.  Then I saw a message from Ron Luks of
 Compuserve that stated that he was "approached" by someone from Atari. 
 That person, nameless to the public, offered more visible online support
 from Atari personnel in exchange for revoking the STReport free flags
 from Compuserve!  Hmmmm!!  Isn't there an ongoing survey in which a
 certain Atari employee is trying to solicit from the various online
 services response to the question: where do you want me to be?  

     Could it be possible that Atari, or an Atari representative, is
 seeking some kind of leverage to use on various online services to get rid
 of STReport?  Let's see, the STReport's flags were revoked from GEnie
 Atari RT; and GEnie Atari RT would certainly NOT want to lose their
 contract.  Compuserve was approached with the means to gain more visible
 support in return for STReport's flags being pulled.  These two service
 are the two largest in the world, and obvious choices for online support
 for Atari to situate themselves.  Gee, all that Atari is doing is asking
 that some free flags get pulled, and that online support will miraculously
 be there!  We wouldn't want STReport around to muddy up the water, now
 would we?   

     Well folks, the scheme didn't work as nicely as a few people would
 have liked it to work.  STReport supporters, and even some who aren't
 'regular' supporters but saw a raw deal in the making made some generous
 contributions by way of "gifts of time".  This has allowed STReport to
 continue to gather news and maintain an online presence on GEnie Atari RT. 
 To all of you who provided this magnanimous support, we thank you.  To Ron
 Luks and his staff, we wish to thank you all for your maintaining your
 impeccable integrity and not accepting what can only be defined as a
 bribe.  I believe that Mr. Luks felt that how he reacted to this "offer"
 was not in the best interests of his users, regardless of the possible
 benefits that may have been generated by more Atari visibility on
 Compuserve.  It appears that some people have a keen sense of reality and
 fair play.  

     So where does that leave STReport with regard to GEnie Atari RT?  Will
 STReport fade away once the gifts of time are exhausted?  Don't bet on it.
 (there's almost $500.00 in GOT now and its building by the day!)  By now,
 you may or not know that STReport is now attempting to be sponsored and
 located in a completely separate area outside of the influences of Atari
 RT.  Where we would no longer "governed" by the politics surrounding the
 Atari RT.  No longer would strings be attached to STReport staff with
 flags and internals held over their heads.  The STReport flags and
 internal will hopefully be restored so STReport can be unencumbered
 financially and editorially to provide excellent online support in our
 _own_ category once again.  It appears that GEnie staff outside the realm
 of the Atari RT has a real world sense of fairness; and it is much
 appreciated.  STReport is still being hampered by arguments from the
 proprietors of the Atari RT and Bob Brodie.  They find us to be a
 "valuable" Atari resource and want the issues there but _Darlah claims_ we
 do not contribute a significant value to _her_ RT to warrant consideration
 for the internal account, category and the flags to be restored.  Oddly
 enough, others at GEnie seem to think we _do_ provide _more_ than a
 "significant value".  That only leaves us with the obvious impression that
 Darlah and Brodie want to be able to "control" STReport to serve their
 purposes, whatever they may be.  They can easily do this by holding the
 accounts and access "hostage".  We, at STReport want out from under this
 oppressive thumb.  We want the ability to serve in an RT where we are
 welcome.  An appropriate RT.  The GEnie Lamp RT.  For the benefit of all
 the GEnie subscribers who appreciate the efforts of STReport, we can only
 hope that this happens.  Perhaps, if they were to hear from our readers
 and from those who still believe in a sense of fair play and freedom of
 the press, things will change for the better.  For if this outrageous
 precedent is allowed to occur, all we can ask is ... who or what will be
 next?  It is a bad precedent to set..... for anyone.

     So, what did all of this behind the scenes behavior by an Atari
 individual(s) accomplish?  Nothing but continued affirmation at
 unsuccessful attempts to either "control or run STReport out of town". 
 Nothing but more unsuccessful attempts to force STReport to take the
 position that every Atari user has this feeling of "unrequited love and
 affection" for a company and its personnel; that the company and its
 personnel can do nothing wrong and all's well in the Atari world.  Nobody
 is that perfect, including the staff of STReport.  We all make mistakes;
 and we all say things that we may come to regret later.  

     To force the Atari userbase to be further split is not the answer; and
 Atari can ill-afford to do so.  The things that STReport has been saying
 all these years, however unflattering to Atari and some of its employees,
 has been true.  We are not the only publication to point out Atari's
 failings over the years.  Need proof?  Go to your local bookstore or
 newsstand and pick up the August 03, 1992 issue of Forbes Magazine.  In an
 article titled "Cheap Didn't Sell", the "teaser" claims that "computer
 game maker Atari Corp. is "in trouble again", a prime example of the
 dangers of pinching pennies on everything from marketing to expense
 accounts."  The article is very informative, but it is not flattering at
 all.  It does seem, after all, that Atari needs to take a refresher course
 in Business 101.  It really is time to get rid of the personality
 conflicts that surround Atari and do what they have proved before: make
 damn near the best computer on the market.  Maybe the Tramiels will
 realize this with the upcoming Falcon.  STReport will, despite Brodie and
 Darlah's efforts, be there unrestricted, reporting ALL THE NEWS.  You can
 bank on it!


      ______________________________________________________________





 > STReport CONFIDENTIAL    "Rumors Tidbits Predictions Observations Tips"
   """""""""""""""""""""



 - Sunnyvale, CA                      REVOLVING DOOR DOING JUST FINE!
   -------------
   
     When is  the constant flow of bright young minds going to stop zipping
 through Atari's grasp.   It  never  ceases  to  amaze  this  reporter when
 another of  the Bright  young stars  in the  computing industry disappears
 from the halls of Atari.    Mike  Groh  has  now  joined  that  long, long
 procession of  bright young  men who have spent what amounts to a vacation
 time in Sunnyvale.  Why can't Atari hold onto the bright minds?  Why is it
 that those  who have  the ideas and the drive soon bite the bullet?  Tough
 questions all.. Forbes said 27 left in a short time.  Now, make it  28. No
 wait, we forgot about John Jainschigg make it 29.  Uh oh, now there's Gary
 Rodgers he is also gone.. make it 30.  <sigh>  
   
   

 - Toronto Canada                          ATARI CANADA CUTS ARE DEEP
   --------------
   
     Rob McGowan hit the bricks and  now the  phones for  Atari Canada have
 only an answering machine working?  After 16 tries through the course of a
 day, only the machine.  What is the story there?  Hmm  this ought  to be a
 dilly.   More Consolidation  of the  company's resources?  An illusion?  A
 wrong number?
   

   
 - San Leandro, CA              ATARI REPRESENTATIVE DISCUSSES STREPORT
   ---------------
   
     It appears one of our "super snoops" was in the same room  when one of
 Atari's "finest"  was busy singing the praises of STReport and its editor.
 Its one thing to brag about us but to brag about how  we seem  to have the
 "phones bugged" at Atari?  'Tis a bit much..  Of course, the party who was
 there, running his mouth, knows exactly what was said as we do  too.  Soon
 the entire Atari community will know also.  
   


 - Sunnyvale, CA                     ATARI UPSET ABOUT FORBES ARTICLE
   -------------
   
     Oddly enough  Atari's head  honchos seemed to be quite upset about the
 Forbes article but not the way most would imagine.   It appears  they were
 more "tight-jawed"  about the  office changing remarks than they were over
 the criticisms of the company and  its lackluster  performance.   In fact,
 our snoop  sez the ruckus raised over the remarks about Sam's "NEW office"
 was "quite a scene and lasted all day  long."   Ah yes..  kill a  leak and
 watch a flood.  Only from graduates of business 101 and a half.



 - Merlin, OR                             ATARI ADVANTAGE SOLD
   -----------

     ATARI ADVANTAGE, offshoot of ST Informer, reportedly has been sold to
 Castle Publishing in Texas.  Atari Advantage, in its shortlived process,
 has been very well received by the userbase as a factual, well-written
 Atari publication that was more accuracy than sensation oriented.  The
 previous owners and editor of Atari Advantage are now in Atari's employ. 
 They are to take over the operation of both the hard copy and the online
 version of Atari Explorer.
  


        __________________________________________________________





 > STR Mail Call             "...a place for the readers to be heard"
   """""""""""""


                            STReport's MailBag
                            """"""""""""""""""


 FROM CIS

 (Handwriting on the Wall?)

 #: 67884 S8/Hot Topics
     30-Jul-92  13:03:19
 Sb: #67876-#Forbes Article
 Fm: CodeHead Software 76004,2232
 To: INTERSECT Software 76004,1577 (X)

 Jeff,

 I disagree.  You only have to look at the Commodore/Amiga to see an
 example of the good that advertising does.  Back when CBM did their
 massive Amiga advertising push, it was de rigueur for Atari reps to mock
 them and say they were "wasting" their money.  But talk to any developer
 that markets products for both Atari and Amiga, and they'll tell you that
 their Amiga sales are 5 to 6 times greater than their Atari sales. 
 Coincidence?  I doubt it...

 Compare this to the Atari's current position.  When I tell acquaintances
 that my company develops software for Atari computers, the universal
 response is, "Atari -- you mean they're still in business?  I didn't know
 they made computers..."

 The impact of this Forbes article is going to be very major, and very
 negative.  Forbes is one of the most respected business magazines in this
 country, and investors listen to what Forbes says.  The cows are
 definitely coming home.

 - Charles @ CodeHead Tech


 #: 67938 S8/Hot Topics
     31-Jul-92  07:53:45
 Sb: #67884-Forbes Article
 Fm: INTERSECT Software 76004,1577
 To: CodeHead Software 76004,2232 (X)


 I agree that Atari Management thinks the money spent by Commodore in
 advertising the Amiga was wasted.  They think this so strongly that they
 assumed that the difference in sales figures was because the Amiga had
 more colors and better (stereo) sound, thus the STE with the SAME specs
 for sound and somewhat for video.  Also the MINT (multi-tasking TOS) to be
 released soon is somewhat like the Amiga multi-tasking.

 Did I mention that the STE now has analog joystick ports like the Amiga.

 I think you are right and much of the sales gains for the Amiga are due to
 advertising.  BUT did they come out ahead after spending that money on
 advertising.

 I realize that DEVELOPERS >>ALWAYS<< benefit from advertising dollars
 spent by a computer manufacturer.  AND because of that DEVELOPERS are
 willing to spend more effort in developing software for that computer
 platform.  The Amiga market is MUCH stronger than the Atari market.  In
 the long run it's better for Commodore.  BUT Commodore is very cash poor
 at the present time.  They have been hurt by this recession as much as
 Atari has.

 I run a business in a somewhat small market.  For every dollar I spend in
 advertising I net a dollar.  That means I work an extra 10 hours a week if
 I advertise and make NO extra money (I work those extra 10 hours for
 free).

 In a DOS market spending a dollar in advertising nets a dollar.  That's
 not the answer.  It's necessary but you MUST LEVERAGE that money some way
 or you are spinning your wheels.

 The customer must see some value to him in your advertising.  The music
 industry sees value in a computer with built in MIDI ports and Atari has
 consistently been advertising in MUSIC Magazines.

 Atari must have a machine with features not found in a DOS machine for
 advertising to be effective, I think they have this in the Falcon.

 Now it remains to be seen how they LEVERAGE the advertising and how much
 they spend.......


  [Jeff]


 EDITOR NOTE:
   
     The Forbes article has created quite a stir in the marketplace.  To
 see the pointed depictions of Atari's leaders as they are is somewhat
 rattling to many of the Atari Apologists.  You see, its very difficult to
 laugh or chide away the reports carried in a highly respected financial
 publication.  As I see it, the fat lady is climbing the staircase to go on
 stage.  Only some quick action on the part of Atari's "renowned and
 famous" leadership can save the day.  We can always look for minor
 miracles.  After all, they happen every day.

 We present the synopsis of that article again for reference;

 From GEnie's ST RT
 Category 18,  Topic 2
 Message 47        Tue Jul 21, 1992
 LEPULLEY [Lloyd Pulley]      at 22:22 EDT
  
 Jeff,

 Here's basically what the article said - PLEASE people, I am not saying
 these things, I'm paraphrasing what the Forbes article said...

 Basically the article said the same things that have been said here for
 years. The T's are 'penny-wise and pound foolish'.  Jack still hasn't
 realized that what worked for him at Commodore - spending almost nothing
 on marketing, pro- motion or overhead, but undercutting the competition
 with cheap computers - won't work in today's market.

 The author goes onto give some examples of Jacks bad decisions and/or
 cheap-ness....

 Buying Federated for $67 million, losing $124 million in the first year
 and putting his son Garry - then in his mid-20's - in charge.

 Holding back the 7800 Prosystem videogame for 18 months and then deciding
 to upgrade an older system that couldn't compete with Nintendo.  When
 Atari did release the Model 7800 in '86 they spent about $300,000 to
 promote it while Nintendo and Sega spent $15 million each promoting their
 systems.  Now Nintendo has 80% of the market.

 Even when Atari finally came out with the Lynx, according to the author a
 superior system to Nintendo's Gameboy unit, Atari again went the cheap
 route and spent almost nothing on national advertising.  Also, because
 Atari had cut their software development to almost nothing, there were
 only 4-5 games for the Lynx compared to more than 80 for the Gameboy. 
 Atari's cheapness helped result in the Gameboy today having 81% of the
 market and 16,000 outlets, while the Lynx has 3% of the market and
 available in less than 3,000 stores.

 Another example he gives of the T's cheapness is the confidential memo to
 Sam T. that was leaked.  The one where Gary T. refused to allow computer
 games president (at that time) Michael Katz to spend $54 to air freight
 two game cartridges to an important large client.  And how Atari employees
 say that Jack T. checks expense accounts to make sure tips don't exceed
 15%.

 The article's author tells how Jack bought Atari for $240 million in
 promissory notes and built up the sales to just under $500 million by '87
 and how the stock traded at 16 in the same year.  Then he shows that the
 sales were down to $258 million last year and the stock now trades in the
 1 5/8 range.  Not only was last year bad, he says that this year (so far)
 will be worse.  Atari had losses of $14 million on $44 million in sales
 for the first quarter and (according to company sources), the second
 quarter will be even worse.

 He also tells how 27 Atari exec's have either been fired or resigned in
 the past 30 months.  How since Atari lost the Nintendo suit, that Jack T.
 has taken day-to-day operations away from Sam and is in charge of the
 company himself.  He even took over Sam's 'fancy corner office' and moved
 Sam into a normal office, next to purchasing.

 Let's see, what else...according to the author, Atari's European sales
 have 'collapsed' (to use his word) to $209 million last year - this was in
 comparison to $342 million in '90.

 He does talk about the Falcon 030 and the Jaguar.  But according to him,
 industry sources say that Atari needs at least $40 million in promotions
 to give them a real chance to succeed and that's about all the cash that
 Atari has on hand.  Plus, Atari needs $24 million a year just to meet its
 normal operating overhead.

 He quotes one anonymous Atari official as saying, "The Tramiels are not
 stupid. But their formula for success worked only once.  They are not
 adaptable people."

 My personal opinion is the author isn't going to be investing any of his
 money in Atari stock anytime in the near future.

 Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.

 Speaking for himself
  ------------


 From GEnie's ST RT

 (Where's my support?)

 Category 18,  Topic 17
 Message 1         Mon Jul 27, 1992
 A.TIMMONS2 [Android]         at 03:44 EDT
  
     Let me tell you a little story. When I was a young lad I became
 fascinated with the first home computers (pong). I had heard Atari was the
 best in graphics so I saved my money & bought an Atari 2400 game system.
 However, I found that they no longer made games for it so I had to
 scrounge through the flea markets to get any games.

     This only made me appreciate my bargains that much more. A couple of
 years down the road I was able to afford a programmable & bought an Atari
 130XE. Well they had stopped producing software cartridges for them & I
 had to deal w/ Atari Corp. directly if I wanted to purchase anything. At
 this point I became quite frustrated & thought to myself, "Android, if you
 really want the best they have to offer, skip the ST series & buy a 1040
 STe!" WRONG!!! 
     Most Atari PRG.s are being written in TOS 1.4 due to the popularity of
 the ST computer & once again I've been left out in the cold w/ a good
 amount of my software crashing at one point or another due to TOS errors.
 & now I hear they're coming out w/ a Falcon series of computer? Perhaps I
 should be writing this to Atari corp. themselves.

     They may make inexpensive computers, but after spending over $4,000 on
 their hard & software I'VE HAD IT!! I need to hear someone tell me  that
 if I'm patient, there will be more stuff written for TOS 1.6. I need to
 know Atari hasn't left me in the dark again like they have the entire
 U.S. market. Because if they don't my next major purchase will definitely
 be an IBM PC & maybe the 1040 STe will make a nice ashtray. Anyone else
 out there w/ these problems? I'm getting so angry I could spit!

                                                       Android


 From the FNET

 (Silence the Critics)

 Conf : Atari Explorer Online
 Msg# : 124597  Lines: 20  Read:1
 Sent : Jul 20, 1992 at 9:39 AM
 To   : SHERVIN SHAHREBANI
 From : Bob Brodie at Z*Net Golden Gate - California (Node #706)
 Subj : Re: <24500> Open your eyes

 In reply to:

  > Oh another thing, Mark Kovarski is by NO STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION an
  > Atari basher.  He does not have "contempt" for Atari.  He, like me,
 wish
  > that Atari were in a much better position right now.  He simply doesn't
  > want to be mislead.  He wants the facts out on the table where he can
 se
  > them.  Isn't that what we all want?
  
 You could have fooled me, Shervin. I think he does have contempt for
 Atari. Frankly, I'm not even sure if he owns an Atari ST/STE/TT right now.
  
 I'm not asking for apologists in this conference. This is a place to
 discuss, and get help with Atari ST/STE/TT Computers. You are free to ask
 questions on almost any topic related to our product line. However, I get
 more complaints about the Kovarksi Brothers than anything else, and that
 includes our failure to advertise!!!  
  
 Approach is everything online. They come across as arrogant. Most of the
 users are reacting negatively to that, which is to be expected.

  """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""



                      STReport's "EDITORIAL CARTOON"
                      """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""



 > A "Quotable Quote"        "...Before agreement can occur..!"
   """""""""""""""""




                   "RECIPROCITY IS THE CATALYTIC ELEMENT
                           ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY
                  IN ALL COMPLIMENTARY HUMAN ACTIVITIES!"



                                        ... Minerva Northstar



  """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""




 > ABCO SPECIALS! STR InfoFile      * NEW 1992 Prices!  MORE Products! *
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                Model      Description    Autopark    Price
            ==================================================
                SGN4951      51Mb  3.5"      Y       419.00
                SQN1096      83mb  3.5"      Y       519.00
                SQN2055     120mb  3.5"      Y       574.95
                SQN1296     213mb  3.5"      Y       839.00
                SQN4055     340mb  3.5"      Y      1310.00
            ==================================================
            Standard "Shoebox" Cabinet style is also available

              MODERN TOWER CABINETS AVAILABLE Call for Info!
              PLEASE NOTE: The above is partial listing only!
                   Many other configurations available.
                               20mb - 3.5gb

                     NOTICE - NOTICE - NOTICE - NOTICE
                     """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
         SPECIAL PURCHASE! * 83mb - 1345mb * Hard Disk Mechanisms
                Call for SUPER PRICING!! Limited Time Only!!

            FULLY ASSEMBLED SCSI DRIVES w/o ICD LINK Available
               ADD $35.00 for 4 BAY SUPER CABINET w/250+w PS
              EXOTIC TOWER CABINETS AVAILABLE Call for Info!
              PLEASE NOTE: The above is partial listing only!

        FAST TECHNOLOGY ACCELERATOR UPGRADES AVAILABLE & INSTALLED

                                   *****
             >> ABCO proudly offers ATARI'S NEWEST PRODUCTS <<
              Call for ABCO's * HIGHLY COMPETITIVE PRICING! *
                  ATARI COMPUTERS * STILL THE BEST VALUE!
                                   *****
               Original Atari Mouse replacement: $35.00 NEW!

           If you don't see what you want listed here, call us.
            Odds are, we either have it or, can get it for you!
               * GUARANTEED * AT THE BEST POSSIBLE PRICE! *

                            ** 800-562-4037 **
                         "WE SERVICE WHAT WE SELL"

                      ****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******

     * SYQUEST 44MB (#555) >> ABCOFILE "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE *

          --->> LIMITED TIME SPECIAL! NOW ONLY __$ 539.00__ <<---

                   WE PAY SHIPPING & INSURANCE!  >UPS!<
                                (Cont. USA)
                  COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN!
                    Cart and Utility Software Included!

                        EXTRA CARTS:      $  69.50
                        DRIVE MECH ONLY:  $ 289.95

                      ****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******

   * TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
                     SPECIALLY PRICED ** $795.95.00 **
                       Includes: * TWO * cartridges!

    * SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
         - Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -

         ** 50mb SQG51S   $759.00     105mb SQG105S    $959.00 **
                  Or, YOUR choice of Hard Disk Mechanism!

                 LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
                      CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE

                 ** ANNOUNCING THE NEW! -> ABCO CD-ROM! **
                       :Special Introductory offer:
                            ABCO CD-ROM $489.95

           Listed above are a sampling of the systems available.
      Prices also reflect various cabinet/power supply configurations
    (over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited)
            * IBM - MSDOS - AMIGA - ATARI - APPLE - MACINTOSH *

      ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - AT/PC SPEED - GCR
           LARGER units are available - (Custom Configurations)

                    *>> NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! <<*

       - Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets -

                Atari SLM 804, SLM 804PCV Laser Toner Kits 
                            Memorex 2108, 5287
         Oasys Laserpro 5287, 5308, Express 830, Express Series II
                       Silver Express, Gold Express
                      ** $41.95 shipping Included **
                      Atari SLM 605 Laser Toner Kits
        AT&T 593, CAF Laser, DSI Laser, DTP Systems, Epson EPL-6000
         Facit P6060, Fontx Syslaser, Harris3M 2006, M-Tally MT905
       Microtek Turbo PS, OAS Laserpro Executive, Packard Bell 9500
                     TEC LB 1305, Toshiba PageLaser 6
                      ** $41.95 shipping included **
                          (TWO Toner Carts Incl.)

                        Panasonic Laser Toner Kits
           Panasonic KX -P 400 series, Panafax UF-750 Facsimile
                      ** $41.95 shipping included **

                    -- ALL TONER KITS  * IN STOCK * --

                       * Toner Starter Kits-$62.95 *
                    * Replacement (804) Drums-$186.95 *

               ABCO is  PROUD to announce the acquisition of
               the exclusive U.S.A. distribution  rights for
               ** Bitblit Software's ///Turbo Board BBS. **
               This  fine  Atari  ST BBS system software and
               user support is available through ABCO to all
               Turbo customers in the USA.  Call for current
               pricing.

               >> MANY other ATARI related products STOCKED <<
                      ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED

                       -* 12 month FULL Guarantee *-
                         (A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)

                   WE PAY SHIPPING & INSURANCE!  >UPS!<
                                (Cont. USA)
                 QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE!
                 _________________________________________

                     DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED!
                         please, call for details

                     VISA - MASTERCARD - NO SURCHARGE!
                   Personal and Company Checks accepted.

                        ORDER YOUR NEW UNIT TODAY!

           CALL: 1-800-562-4037   -=**=-    CALL: 1-904-783-3319
           Customer Orders ONLY               Customer Service  
                                9am - 8pm EDT
                                Tues thru Sat

                ABCO is EXPANDING!!  CALL FOR INFORMATION!

                   SEND FOR YOUR NEW ABCO CATALOG TODAY!

                  THE CATALOGS ARE DONE! &  BEING MAILED!





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