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No Fragments Archive 10: Diskmags
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KELSTAR
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JAMES.TXT
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2008-03-13
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4KB
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121 lines
GOODBYE T`JAMES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As James L.Mathews departs the ST PD scene,Bob Kell says a fond
farewell.
Way back in October `94 I bought an ST for my son and myself,intending
to expand both of our computer knowledges.During that Christmas
holiday I bought my first copy of ST Format and noticed all of these
adverts for something called Public Domain software.I literally did
not have a clue what this stuff was but,as the adverts only asked for
a blank disk and an SAE,I bunged off three or four requests for
catalogues.
Power PD was the first to return my letter and I was taken aback by
the selection of stuff that they had available and also by the cost of
the disks.James Mathews himself had also taken the time to put a very
welcoming letter in with my disk and promised every help for me
whenever I got stuck.As loads of people out there will know James was
always as good as his word,and over the next year or so he helped me
out with many,many problems,queries and always provided a really quick
and effective service.Anyone who has used Power for any time at all
will already know what I mean.
Over the period when James was building up his library and also his
excellent diskmag,it was obvious that the lad had a bit of a talent
for creating a business from what the most of us consider a hobby,and
we really shouldn`t have been surprised when he launched,and took more
and more time with,Top Byte software.
There have been quite a few criticisms of James in the last few months
or so from quite a few people involved with Power Library and
Diskmag,regarding slow return of orders and a state of uncertainty
with when,or if,issue 28 would appear.I have to hold my hands up and
say that I too was getting a bit fed up waiting for my own last order
to arrive and had read that the mag was finished etc.With a bit of a
reminder from Gary Simmons at Asciilum,I did eventually receive my
disks and also a very long letter from James apologising for any
delays,explaining what he was now moving into and thanking me for my
custom and even wishing me well with this project of a new
diskmag.Right away I felt a bit embarrased that I`d been getting
annoyed with the delay of one order,when over the last year everything
else arrived almost within a week of ordering.
The point of this article? Well,I suppose it`s to ease my own
conscience a bit and also to point out to others that what James has
done over the last few years for the ST is considerable.He has carried
on each of his projects to success and has then begun another and
built that one up into success also.The next logical move for him was
to move into the commercial side of the ST and of course this is
exactly what he has done,and as usual is apparently making a success
of that too.In fact what he has done is probably what 90% of us would
do too if we had the motivation or the chance.After all,one of the
main complaints from ST users is the lack of software houses writing
new games etc for the Atari,Top Byte is now providing this in some
quantity.
To conclude I`d like to thank James Mathews for all that he has done
both for me personally and for everyone else who has dealt with him in
the past on the PD scene,and to wish him all the best in his new
field.
Bob Kell