OS/2 eZine

16 February 2001
 
Robert Basler is the president of Aurora Systems, Inc.


If you have a comment about the content of this article, please feel free to vent in the OS/2 eZine discussion forums.

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Over 2 Million Served

One of my first tasks as the new editor-in-chief of the eZine was to find out how many people actually read the eZine each month. I downloaded the server logs, ran Analog on them, and promply dropped my jaw in shock to discover that the servers at the OS/2 eZine have served over two million files in the past 6 months. We averaged nearly 117,000 pages served a month! It turns out that people, a lot of people in fact, are interested in what we're doing here.

From looking at the logs, there are some definite major areas of interest for our readers. Our most read feature in the last six months is the one from our November issue on Odin by Jon Bijnens. Next after that and coming up fast was last month's feature on eComStation versus the MCP. Speaking as the author of the second piece, that's exciting news.

With some new statistical information on our readers interests in hand, you can expect to see more coverage of these and other areas of interest in the coming months.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

You're going to see a few changes here at the eZine over the next few months. The first change you'll notice is one new banner ad this month. I believe strongly that there are a lot of really great products available for OS/2 that could be more successful, if their authors just had the time, money and a viable venue to promote them properly.

Towards that end, the OS/2 eZine is now accepting banner ads for software products in exchange for fully-licensed copies of the product being advertised. Those products will then be passed on to our authors as a reward for their hard work. This is a win-win-win-win proposition. The developers get advertising that they don't have to put out much, if any, cash for. Our readers find out about new products. The eZine gets to increase the base of products we have available for review. And our authors will be rewarded for their hard work with products they can use.

We only have a few spots each month, so they will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. We'll also be accepting hardware and freeware advertisements on slightly different terms. If you're interested in advertising, click here for the full details

New Staff

I'd like to welcome Pete Grubbs onboard as Senior Editor. Pete has been a long-time contributor to the eZine, has a lot of good ideas, and makes a valuable addition to the editorial staff here. He's going to be focussing on putting together a bunch of great reviews for you to read, so if you have a product in search of review, he's the one to talk to. Pete also contributed our new mission statement, you can read that below.

Backissues

Some of you may have noticed that the backissues links didn't all work, I think I have them all fixed now. If you notice any that still don't work, please let me know.

Hey, We Need Authors!

I've spent much of this past month getting in contact with people in the OS/2 community, and it looks like we have a pretty good crop of authors coming together. If you are inclined to put pen to paper, I'd be interested in hearing from you at editor@aurora-systems.com. If you're wondering what's involved in writing for the OS/2 eZine, please visit the Press Room.

This Issue

We have an unusual feature this month on Tax Preparation software. Not one of the products reviewed is an OS/2 application. However since OS/2 is "The Integrating Platform" and our readers are above all practical, we thought we'd present a set of solutions for those of you needing help doing your taxes.

If you've ever seen your hard work vanish along with the lights, then you better check out our feature on uninterruptible power supplies and the software to run them. They aren't so expensive anymore.

Simon Gronlund is back with part 14 of his Java tutorial, talking about streams and hash tables. If you are looking for a RAD solution to development of OS/2 applications, you'll want to read through our feature on DrDialog. Jon Bijnens offers up a great article on ftpd and Peter Moylan's FTP Server as well as some advanced tricks you can use for all your FTP needs.

We've also lined up a couple of nice reviews including Polarbar Mailer which is the next evolution of Post Road mailer.

Looking for News?

With Warpcast now seeming a thing of the past, if you need a daily news source, you might want to check out the OS/2 Voice News List. Click here for details.

See You Next Month

I hope you enjoy the issue, and if you do, or even if you don't, drop us a line and express your opinion in the forums.

Before I sign off here, I'd like to thank Chris Wright for all his help adjusting to my new job this past month. He's done a great job here since the second issue of the eZine way back in 1995, he deserves a break.



Our New Mission Statement

OS/2 e-Zine is committed to serving the OS/2 community by providing accurate, useful, and timely information every month. We will deliver user-oriented hardware and software reviews, thoughtful editorial comment, and 'how-to' articles which will include useful tips for both the novice and the experienced OS/2 user.



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