Thanks to all the people who have replied to this thread. Nice to know I can still stir things up! Just a pity that the subject was hijacked into a discussion on printers although there were one or two other good suggestions.
Thus a 2nd attempt to get answers. Let me be more specific why I posed the question. Members of Quanta who read financial reports - maybe a contradiction in terms - will note something strange happened last year. Quanta has consistently made a loss since 1999, but last year it made a profit of £1,363. This was partly due to the reduced frequency of the magazine; partly due to increased advertising; and partly due to the efforts of Rich Mellor in selling Sinclair equipment on behalf of Quanta. It is also noticeable that the costs of workshops fell from £1,944 in 2002 to £1,156 in 2003. There is some evidence that these savings could become structural with a little bit of discipline. Present workshop locations are cheap to hire and, if the South East show organisers could get together to co-operate on show dates over a 2 year period rather than compete with one another, this saving could become structural. (Thanks to Roy for taking the first steps in this direction!) This means that Quanta would have a sum of about £1,000 each year to spend on QL development. How should they spend this money? In fact Quanta would have two possible ways of financially stimulating QL development. Major projects (SGC successor?) could be financed out of the capital. These would have to be backed with good business plans and legal safeguards to ensure that there was a return on the capital and that Quanta does not lose its favourable tax status. Minor projects (mainly software?) could be financed out of subscription income. No financial return would be expected from these and thus there would be fewer legal difficulties over tax etc. Remember your subscription is your money, not Quanta's. How would you like them to spend it on your behalf? Geoff Wicks.
