Known Users


Known Users

SMUG - December update - News from the bureaucracy



Author: Steve Kayner
Date: December, 1992
Keywords:
Text: Efforts by the new adminstration to revitalize the User Group are already bearing fruit. Our membership has nearly doubled in the last month. Our new Editorial Staff has played a key role in this, and the last newsletter is a sample of what members can expect to see in the future. We have a number of products out for review by local Mac devotees, and these reviews will be published in the next couple of months. There will be more products available at the next meeting for those who would like to try their hand at product review and acquire new software for their efforts. Reviewers must sign a product review agreement, and complete the review within two months from the time of receipt. The User Group will furnish guidelines for help in writing the evaluations. The generousity of publishers and vendors contacted by the User Group continues to amaze me. There are a variety of special offers for SMUG members that I would like to mention. Peachpit Press, publishers of the Macintosh Bible and The Little Mac Book, have offered a 20% discount on individual purchases, and a 40% discount on group purchases of eleven or more titles. A catalog will be available for perusal at the next meeting. Varcon Systems has offered a 50% discount off the retail price of $49.95 for their exciting and challenging game, Diamonds Version 2.0. Coupons will be available at the next meeting. A review of Diamonds will appear in an upcoming issue of the SMUG newsletter. JAM Software has offered a 50% discount for their Smart Alarms products, and a 55% discount off the price of MacList. Coupons for these offers will be available at the next meeting, and product reviews will appear in our newsletter in the next few months. Bullseye Software is offering a special price of $35 for their ''Ferrari Grand Prix'' multi-user color race simulator software. This is a completely new rewrite of the ''Ferrari Grand Prix'' simulator of old. It allows eight cars at a time, has digitized sounds and new steering routines, and two Macs can be connected by cable for head to head racing. The User Group must get a minimum of five orders for this offer, and Bullseye pays the shipping. Visionary Software is offering copies of their First Things First Version 3.0 time management software to SMUG members for $39.95. These copies can be had by converting demos made from the User Group review copy into working copies by obtaining serial numbers from Visionary Software. First Things First will be reviewed in an upcoming issue of the SMUG newsletter. Version 3.0 is a major upgrade, and First Things First has received a four star rating fromMacWorld magazine, and a four mouse rating from MacUser magazine. ALSoft, Inc. is offering prices of $14.95 for MasterJuggler, $27.95 for DiskExpress II, and $39.95 for Power Utilities. These are 36-42% less than retail prices, but their offer expires on 12/31/92, so if you are interested, come to the next meeting where we can collect orders for these highly rated products (DiskExpress II rated five MacUser mice, MasterJuggler rated four mice from MacUser, and I have not seen reviews of the Power Utilities yet). We are growing this User Group for our members, and if you have ideas on what we can do to better serve your needs, talk to us, for all things are considered. If you are shopping for specific products, let us know what the product is, and who makes it, and we will try to get special offers for SMUG members. If you would like to do a review of a specific product, let me know, so I can see if this product is available. This is your User Group, it's up to you to express your interests and desires, so we, the SMUG officers, can make your membership worthwhile to you. Part of my ramblings were lost in the PageMakings of our last newsletter, and I would like to restate my request for Safeway cash register receipts for the Apples for Students program. Some of you may already be involved with this effort through your kids' schools, but if there are those of you who are normally throwing your Safeway receipts away, bring them to the User Group meeting, and I will collect them for a school of SMUG's choice. I am giving some thought to setting up an all-Macintosh Bulletin Board System (BBS) for members of SMUG, and am in the process of seeking software that will allow a Mac-like interface to the BBS. This would give our members access to the SMUG shareware library, and provide a local forum for the exchange of ideas and perhaps some level of help with Mac questions or problems. Interested members should express their support at our next meeting, or call me at home at 445-3454. I look forward to meeting some of our new members at the December meeting, and I encourage you to recommend us to your Mac-using friends and co-workers. If you know some Mac friendly students, remember that the student membership rate has been halved to $10.00 per year. It's an exciting time to be a Mac user, and I think it will be worthwhile to be a member of SMUG. Hasta luego, or some such.

Copyright © december, 1992 by Steve Kayner


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