EDITOR'S NOTES

If all the rumors are correct, by the time you're reading this, IBM will have announced and introduced "PC Junior," the new personal and home computer also known as "Peanut." If you own a PC, a "Junior," or a Coleco Adam system, we're interested in articles. Address them to Submissions Editor, New Computers, COMPUTE!, P.O. Box 5406, Greensboro, NC 27403.

While this Christmas was destined to be "the Christmas of the computer," delays in shipments for Coleco and Atari, and the impact of expectations regarding the new IBM entry, have made it anything but a happy season for investors in the personal computer stocks. Texas Instruments, Commodore, Warner Communications (Atari), and Coleco have been seesawing back and forth with every delay, anticipated or actual. Warner stoutly denies any falling off in their intentions toward the personal computer marketplace; Coleco vows to ship hundreds of thousands of systems by Christmas; and Commodore head Jack Tremiel is quoted in the Wall Street Journal, in response to concerns about IBM's pending entry, as suggesting that there are far more people with $200 than $700 for a computer. We should doubtless look forward to an interesting spring.

From COMPUTE!'s perspective, we're seeing thousands of new computers sold every week, and plan to continue providing you the same level and quality of applications and support. We don't expect the major players to change anytime soon.

We noted with regret the filing of bankruptcy by the Osborne Computer Corporation, and with special regret some of the mudslinging that occurred after the fact. Among the available scenarios is the possibility that Mr. Jaunich, president of the company, arrived too late to stem the flood of problems that predated him. Our regrets to the laid-off employees, and best wishes for a sound recovery.

If you're in the marketplace for a unique Christmas present, Kathy Yakal presents a random sampling in the sidebar to her feature "The Christmas Of The Computer?" A chocolate diskette, perhaps?

Random Bits:

This is the largest issue ever of COMPUTE! and all of our previous records are being broken: largest number of pages, largest number of four-color advertising pages, largest number of advertising pages, and largest number of editorial pages.

Our compliments to Senior Editor Richard Mansfield. His book, Machine Language for Beginners, was recently ranked among the top five best-selling computer books in the country.

COMPUTE! is moving. Each year, in the five-year-long history of our company, we've moved into new quarters that we were convinced would last us several years. Our fifth move is coming up in late January, and this time we're really going to move into a location that will hold us for several years. We've not only left room for next year's new staff members, but have planned expansion space for future years' growth. None of the old-timers around here are quite sure what it will be like to stay in one spot for more than twelve months, but we're certainly looking forward to it. Next month we'll let you know the address of our new location. The post office box and telephone numbers will remain the same.

The staff of COMPUTE! Publications, Inc., wishes you all a happy holiday season and a safe and rewarding new year.

Editor In Chief