Subject: re: Giveaway software, pay for manuals (fwd)
From: Kimmo Veijalainen <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 13:20:54 EET

(stuff about coverdisks deleted)

>      Tom Plackowski <[email-masked]> adds
> >Yes. It seems rather a clever marketing ploy.
> >Its sort of like shareware - try the software, then pay for the manual
> >if you like it.
> 
> And that's how I got Amos. I bought AF with Amos and Compiler on the
> cover. I liked the language but could not get far without a manual
> so I bought Amos (I do not see any need for buying Compiler).
> Nowadays, I only buy magazines if they've got an interesting
> coverdisk.

Same here... expecially since most british Amiga-mags seem to be targeted to
10-year old Zool-players. Some (Amiga Format) are better but I still only
buy them when there's something special on the coverdisk.
(OctaMed and PowerPacker were nice :-)

But: most of the coverdisks are full of either PD stuff or crappy game demos
that no-one plays more than once. It is sad that most mags used to cost about
17 FIM before the Time of the Coverdisks, and nowadays I'm happy if I get the
mag for less than 45 FIM. So the magazines should only stick ONE disk with
the magazine, and only if they have something decent on it (like Trex Warrior
of Blaster or some Amos game ;-) . The "CU Amiga Collection"-coverdisks
especially were mostly old PD stuff + "tune/pic of the month" and that's why
I no longer buy that magazine.

My point?? Well.... there is none :-) except that I'm AGAINST putting things
like Amos on coverdisk. While some may buy the complete package after testing
the coverdisk version without manuals, most of my friends who bought the
Amos 1.36-AF tested the demo programs and were frustrated and got pretty
bad picture of Amos. And the magazines seem to divide the documentation for
a coverdisk over several issues to make people buy the next issue... After
2-5 issues full of useless tips one still cannot fully use the program in
question. What a ripoff.