Re: II Alive

[spector@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article mportune@telerama.lm.com (Matt Portune) writes...
>
>> Sadly, II Alive subscriptions have been continuing to fall off and 
>> our Apple II business now represents less than 15% of our total sales 
>> volume.  It's still profitable for us to sell Apple II products at the 
>> moment, but with the way things are going we will be very surprised if 
>> the Apple II market is still profitable for us this time next year.
> 
>BINGO!  I knew it.  The signs were there, and have gotten worse.  Anyone 
>actually not see this coming?  Damnit damnit DAMNIT.  Another major death 
>in the family.  :(

	To be honest, I fail to see it as a major loss. I've examined a few
issues of II-Alive and it appears a mediocre publication that borders on 
the same levels of InCider/A+. Misinformation, typos, low quality reviews
and articles, lots of childish fluff (ie, crossword puzzles, pages of clip
art) and the number of pages decreased with each issue. Often it appeared
nothing more than a glorified catalog for Quality Computers! When I pick 
up a magazine, I expect to read something interesting and learn something 
new. Reading II-Alive I found myself distracted every other line because 
I'd be correcting spelling errors and getting annoyed by information I knew
to be incorrect! I had an urge to re-write those reviews and articles myself.

	No, I'd be upset if it were GS+ Magazine or Shareware Solutions II 
that were folding next year. I've read samples of both these magazines and
while they may lack the newsstand "gloss-look" of II-Alive, they're packed
with _interesting_ and informative articles and reviews. 

>      /--- Matt Portune --------------------- pGSi 16/64 (loaded) -------\
>      |  mportune@telerama.lm.com           Modular Euphoria MIDIStudio  | 
>      |  ae094@dayton.wright.edu            Blue Monday BBS              |
>      \------------- "The Computer is a drug, not a tool" ---------------/

Mitchell Spector
m_spect@vega.concordia.ca / spector@vax2.concordia.ca