October 1988 — Vol 10 No 10

Overview

Robert C. Platt President. Six cover hooks: Review of Coins Plus + Stamps + Stamps World, A Better Mouse(Trap): ADB Turbo Mouse, Best of the Apple Items from the TCS, Softviews: Microsoft Mail, On HyperCard: Scrolling Fields, The Software Mac People Prefer. Review of Coins Plus, Stamps, etc. (George Koelsch, 10) — collector software review. A Better Mouse (Trap): ADB Turbo Mouse (Ray Settle, 16). Autoprompter+ (Apple II): A Review (Bob Oringel, 17). Best of the Apple Items from the TCS (Lou Pastura, 18) — first appearance of Pastura on the Pi byline list (later Pi VP). On the Trail of the Apple /// (David Ottalini, 22) + Confessions of an Apple/// Sysop (Jim Suthard, 24) — Apple III holdout culture. GameSIG News + GameSIG Meeting Report (Steven Payne, 26 + Karen Rall, 29) + 5 game reviews (Tetris Mac, Sherlock-Riddle, Amanda's Stories…). Annapolis Apple Slice News (Katherine M. Cave, 28). Glossary of Computer Jargon: Devil's Dictionary (Joe Kelley, 30). Apple II Meetings (Ray Hakim, 34). Can Your Micro Pay Its Way: A Bibliography (Kim Cimmery, 35). ★ Columbia Apple Slice News (Tim Childers, 36) — debut of the Columbia, MD slice in Pi coverage (a sister chapter). ★ WAP Budget Summary: YE 5/31/89 (Ed Myerson, 38) — Pi's official budget snapshot for the upcoming fiscal year, ratified at the prior board meeting. Answers to Last Month's WAPAcrostic (Dana J. Schwartz, 38). FedSIG News (John Nelson, 39) — federal-worker SIG news, prefigures later Pi Federal SIG. MacNovice: MacSpeak contd (Ralph J. Begleiter, 40). AVSIG (Nancy Seferian, 41). Softviews (David Morganstein, 42) — features Microsoft Mail review. Macinations (Robb Wolov, 46). Macintosh Shortcuts I & II (Ian M. Thal, 47). Mac Bits & Bytes (Lynn R. Trusal, 48). ★ MacinAround (Eric Rall, 52) — Eric Rall's new column debuts, eight months before he becomes a major Pi figure (he serves as President starting Aug 1990). The Macintosh Bible: A Review (Chuck Sicard, 54) — Sharon Zardetto's classic Mac reference. Stepping Out WM (Chuck Sicard, 56). Pascal News (Robert C. Platt, 54). Amanda's Stories (Karen Rall, 58). ★ On HyperCard: Scrolling Fields (Kenneth Knight, 62) — Knight's series continues. The Software Mac People Prefer (Louis C. Pecora, 66) — community-survey of favorite Mac apps. Software Under Review (David Morganstein, 72). Best of the Mac TCS (Bill Baldridge, 74). Mac Disketeria News (David Weikert, 80). Excel SIG Report (Larry Feldman, 85). New Apple/// PD Disks (David Ottalini, 86). WAP Tutorials (Lynn R. Trusal, 86).

Highlights

Eric Rall debuts — Eric Rall

Rall's MacinAround column starts here. He becomes a Pi VP, then President from Aug 1990 (per 1990-08 — V12 N08). The Pi "farm system" of contributors → officers is visible across years.

WAP Budget for FY 1988-89 — Ed Myerson

Pi publishes its fiscal-year budget summary in the journal — a level of financial transparency uncommon for user groups of the era. Pi's fiscal year runs Jun-May.

Columbia Apple Slice debuts

Pi's Apple Slices (sub-chapters) include Annapolis (active since 1986 1986-10 — V08 N10) and now Columbia, MD. By the early 1990s additional Slices add Delmarva (Eastern Shore).

Software Mac People Prefer — Louis C. Pecora

Pecora surveys Pi members on favorite Mac apps — a precursor to formal Pi reader surveys that recur in the 1990s.

Lou Pastura's first appearance

Pastura takes over TCS-Apple summarizing this issue (previously Paul Schlosser). Pastura becomes a major Pi voice through the 1990s.

Entities

People: Robert C. Platt, Ray Settle, George Koelsch, Bob Oringel, Lou Pastura, David Ottalini, Jim Suthard, Steven Payne, Karen Rall, Katherine M. Cave, Joe Kelley, Ray Hakim, Kim Cimmery, Tim Childers, Ed Myerson, Dana J. Schwartz, John Nelson, Ralph J. Begleiter, Nancy Seferian, David Morganstein, Robb Wolov, Ian M. Thal, Lynn R. Trusal, Eric Rall, Chuck Sicard, Kenneth Knight, Louis C. Pecora, David Weikert, Bill Baldridge, Larry Feldman Topics: Apple Slices, Pi Budget Cycle, ADB Mouse Alternatives, Software Preferences Survey References: Turbo Mouse, Microsoft Mail, Coins Plus, The Macintosh Bible, Tetris (Mac), Autoprompter+

Connections to other issues

• Eric Rall arc begins here → VP → President Aug 1990 (see 1990-08 — V12 N08)
• Columbia Apple Slice continues alongside Annapolis Apple Slice (from 1986-10 — V08 N10)
• Lou Pastura takes over Best-of-TCS Apple from Paul Schlosser this issue
• HyperCard arc continues from 1988-09 — V10 N10 and into 1988-11 — V10 N11, 1988-12 — V10 N12