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Letter From The Editor - by Chris Wenham
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OS/2 e-Zine!

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Chris Wenham is the Editor-In-Chief of OS/2 e-Zine! -- a promotion from Senior Editor which means he now takes all the blame.

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Summary: A brief heads-up on what's been going on behind the scenes at the e-Zine!, plus results on the winner of our Screenshot Contest.

Screenshot Contest Winner

As a number of you have sent inquisitive e-mails about, we've been mum on who the winner of the Screenshot Contest was. While we certainly took our own time, the winner is too, it seems. Congratulations go to Steve Wagner, with his visually stunning "Lightning and Earth" theme. While we sent a notification by e-mail, Steve has yet to reply with his mailing address so we can send his prize (a $50 Indelible Blue gift certificate). We will defer to the runner up if Steve doesn't claim it by May 1st. The winning screenshot (.JPG, 180K) can be viewed online.

A Word On Editorial Directions

It has felt like slow going in recent months as I make some major changes in my personal life and see them cause disruption in the content and schedule of the e-Zine! Both myself and Senior Editor Chris Wright have recently moved to new homes and new day jobs, both of us managing to pick the same time as each other to do it and de-railing our publishing schedule as a result. Chris Wright has moved to a new home in North Carolina and should be settled in now, while I've moved to a new home in Long Island (a seller's market on steroids, oh what a nightmare) and a day-job that takes a lot of my time but gives me access to new perspectives that I think I can use to make the e-Zine! better.

It has also felt like slow going for all the changes I've wanted to make in the 'zine. It doesn't seem proper not to have a major paradigm shifting mega project cooking in the back room, ready to stun the world for fifty seconds. But the evolutionary and progressive changes I've completed and contemplated have been made up partly of my own desires and passions and partly to satisfy what I think has been the demand from our readers. E-mail and the grapevine both have told me in no uncertain terms that the quality of our articles has got to get better. Some have bemoaned the dwindling quantity of articles, but that's something that can't be helped. And I'll tell you why.

Manpower is what limits the number of articles we can publish on a regular basis. OS/2 e-Zine! is not and never has been a barometer of the OS/2 software market, our ups and downs have never been due to a lack of software or events to report on. I have made the mistake of thinking that our content volume mattered as part of OS/2's overall image and I've nearly burnt myself out trying to meet that mythical quota. We publish what gets written, and how much gets written depends on how many are writing. But over the past year we've lost several of our best writers, such as Ryan Dill, Colin Hildinger and Trevor Smith. They're all dearly missed.

With these things in mind I've made the decision to slow down the e-Zine! a bit and hit a more relaxed pace. We are not a news service, so we're not concerned with "scooping" anyone. We're not the vanguard of the OS/2 industry, so we're not here to impress anyone with article counts. The number of articles we publish is going to go down, but the quality is going to go up. We're going to publish articles as they are finished, but we're still going to keep compiling "issues" once a month into archives that can be downloaded and read offline.

We're not going to shift our focus on a yearly whim, but we will evolve to cover more "How To" style articles. I've noticed a positive reaction to many of these and, if there are no more objections, I'm going to step up their frequency. It's true that the software scene isn't as exciting as it once was, but I've discovered that half the yearn for new software comes from not knowing what the existing software can already do.

And finally, we're always looking for new writers too. If you've had an idea for an article or series, you may be the most qualified to write it. Don't worry about lack of writing or English skills, we'll help with that. But any complaints about the low article count of each issue will be considered an offer to join the writing team. Be warned, cranky e-mail about a lack of coverage for product X will get you an assignment and a deadline ;-)

Thank you, and may your screens never go blue.

* * *

Feedback is always desired, especially strong criticism. I am personally interested in what you want to see OS/2 e-Zine! become, what you want it to publish and what you think sucks. Come to our interactive forum and air your scathing reports out loud, or do it privately to me in e-mail. Selected feedback from our public forum will be posted below. Oh, and the forum software does't care if you use a made-up name ;-)

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April 1, 1999