Re: What's It All About, Ian?

[irsman@iastate.edu (Ian Schmidt)]

In article <CCoKs9.IvL@well.sf.ca.us> joko@well.sf.ca.us (Joe Kohn) writes:
>
>To: Ian Schmidt
>Re: Shareware Solutions II
>
>The net awaits your opinion of Shareware Solutions II, now that you've had a
>chance to read it. Yours, too, Frank.

Good timing, since I got it this morning and gave it a good read.  

I'll rate first on some categories and then go into more detail.

- Print/Duplication Quality: Excellent.  10/10.  

- Information Quality (ie, is it generally correct): 10/10.

- Grammar/Spelling: Extra dash in the middle of "GS<>IRC" is something I care
  about that approx. 4 others would too.  Beyond that excellent.  9.999/10.

- Deals (in this issue, the Seven Hills ones): Very nice, although not totally
  earth-shattering.  9.1/10.

- Surprise Factor (information I don't have already from net and other
  sources): 0/10.  (Yes, I already knew every single fact in there, as I had
  initially feared).

- Fun value: Very Good. Enjoyable to read, funny graphic on back too.  9.2/10.

- Necessaryness (is it something I need): 0.5/10.  (it's fun to read and all,
  but it's nothing I need.  However, since none of you are me, read on for
  additional information :)

Additional Comments
-------------------

Like I said above in the brief review, it's not something I see myself
needing, and on my college budget it's something I'll have to do without.
This isn't a problem for me personally, since I have access to a lot of A2
information that the rest of you (even readers of this group) may not have
access to.  (remember who released Wonder Bulla and other lost FTA stuff? :)

I do encourage all of you, especially those without full net feeds
(AOL/GEnie/ProLine/etc) to give SSII a try.  You'll find a lot of useful
information which is clearly written, especially if you aren't too
familiar with the A2.  With the money-back guarantee, you simply can't lose.

However, if you are very knowledgable about the II or GS you may feel you're
being talked down to, or directed to do things which you may consider silly
(such as the rIcons article in this issue).  This is definitely dynamite stuff
for newer or less experienced users, but I've written several resource
utilities I use privately, and as a developer I'm alarmed by the notion of
people overriding the icons I put in my applications.

On the plus side, Joe seemed to be pretty careful to avoid including things of
dubious value (Dr. Tom press releases, yeeech!).  And the 3-column layout
was great, as was the choice of fonts (very easy on the eyes).

I'm gonna stop here, lest I keep rambling on and lose track of keeping things
balanced.  To summarize, here's a chart...


N S   Your experience level 
e S
e 2   Yes!       Yes!         Maybe!          Maybe!
d ?
    Beginner  Intermediate  Advanced User  Advanced Developer

-- 
Ian Schmidt        |"And so it crept out of the atomic mists --the incredible
Two Meg Software   | Silverware Creature.  Its only goal: to destroy
irsman@iastate.edu | mankind as we know it -- spooning and forking its way to
IRSMan@aol.com     | world domination" - J.M. DeMatteis, X-Factor #94.