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In a message dated 04/02/2004 20:45:13 GMT Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
But would this be the case if Quanta submitted a few pages to QL Today I have not contributed much to this list of late, I admit. Those who
know me will know that I try my best to do things behind the scenes and keep the
QL community ticking over, so I thought that maybe a few thoughts from me on
Quanta may be of assistance.
I am glad to hear that the Quanta committee have taken steps towards a
stronger committee and a better editor - however, without more material, whoever
is appointed editor of the magazine faces an extremely hard task.
It seems to me, that despite Quanta's financial strength, they really need
to look at what the QL community needs out of them. This list is not
ideal, but maybe people should come forward to say what Quanta should provide
and then explain why they are or are not a member.
For me, Quanta should:
a) Provide financial assistance for regular QL shows throughout the UK and
the rest of the world, even if some shows are mainly for the traders. They
need to investigate ways of widening the appeal of shows, such as linking with
the ZX Spectrum or Z88 user groups.
The problem here is that they continue to benefit non-members just as well
- therefore there is no incentive to join Quanta, unless you want to help
finance the shows.
b) Provide financial support for future projects - hardware can be financed
as interest free loans (as in the case of the Q60??) Software is more
difficult. Although certain things could be made available to members only
- there is nothing stopping a Quanta member getting the software and then ending
their membership at next renewal.
However, either type of project would be a good reason to be a Quanta
member - you help subsidise the future development of the QL and SMSQ/e etc and
can then purchase the upgrades. Why should non-members benefit as well ??
Simply charge non-members £17 extra for the hardware/software and this gives
them 12 month membership of Quanta.
What projects would people want to see financed??
-- Replacement QuBIDE
-- Replacement for the Super Gold Card (I get asked by people lookng for
these on a regular basis)
-- Printer Drivers: BTW are we not approaching the problem of modern
printers in the wrong way?? Can anyone program a replacement for the PAR
device which would accept standard EPSON printer codes (for example) and convert
the information for printing by ProWeSs (ProForma) which should work with most
modern printers as it only sends graphics codes, the same as Windows.
c) The magazine !! Well, the past few months issues have really not
justified any type of membership of Quanta and it only repeats much of the
information contained in QL Today (normally much later). With the lack of
material to appear in Quanta, I really think that the best way would be for
Quanta to issue a 3/4 page update and provide cut-price subscriptions to QL
Today to its members (say 1/2 price). There would only then be one
magazine which is looking for articles and members would see a real benefit in
their membership. There are plenty of members who cannot afford to pay
£21pa for QL Today and £17pa for Quanta, especially when they do not get
anything extra out of receiving the two magazines.
From an advertisers point of view, this would also assist us all to keep
afloat, as advertising costs would be reduced plus we would have the potential
of reaching all QL users.
Well those are my thoughts at the moment.... Feel free to
comment. --
Rich Mellor RWAP Services 35 Chantry Croft, Kinsley, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, WF9 5JH TEL: 01977 610509 Visit our website at URL:http://www.rwapsoftware.co.uk Stuck with ordinary dial up internet connection ?? Read our review of internet accelerators and broadband at: URL:http://members.aol.com/RWAPSoftware/reviews.html |
