Welcome

Hi there, and welcome to About This Particular Macintosh. We have passed another marker worth noting, here at the magazine. About two months ago I sent a small, enthusiastic, glowing description of ATPM to Guy Kawasaki for inclusion in his popular MacWay mailing list. For those of you who aren't familiar with MacWay (better known as the EvangeList), this is a subscription e-mail service where Guy posts messages about how cool the Mac is, about how much it gets used, about new programs and neat gadgets in essence, it's a list for people who love the Mac and want to see it succeed. At last count, the EvangeList had more than 15,000 subscribers. (To subscribe to EvangeList, send email to evangelist@macway.com)

So a month went by. I faithfully scanned my copies of MacWay, looking for our notice. There was nothing. I saw other e-zines listed, but didn't see hide nor hair of this one. I began to fear that I had missed the posting, and considered going back to read through all the past issues.

I need not have worried.

The posting was sent to subscribers as part of the regular MacWay postings on April 23, almost a month after I had sent it in. By that afternoon, five hours later, I had received two hundred requests for copies or subscriptions. By the next day it was four hundred. In fact, I'm still entering those requests today, and the number is rapidly approaching six hundred.

I was swamped. Tiffany said I looked "tharn." (That's what deer do when they're caught in headlights, and what bunnies do when they're in danger.) I just couldn't comprehend what was going on.

Now I do. A month of entering subscription requests, by hand (I know, I know, isn't that what computers are for?) and I'm ready to make some changes.

"But ATPM changes all the time," you say. Well yes, it does, but these are a little deeper than the usual graphics and titles. Sure, I changed a few pixels here and there <grin> but the most important change is this: we have new eMail addresses. The editor can now be reached at ATPMEditor@aol.com, instead of at my address. <Big Sigh of Relief, not to be confused with the Big Sigh of Consternation.> Subscription requests (and cancellations) can be sent to iwantATPM@aol.com. And each of our editors has a new eMail address, too. Plus, with this issue we debut a new section called Guidelines. In Guidelines you'll find the answers to all your questions. And we hope the most burning of those questions is, "How do I write for ATPM?" Check out the Guidelines chapter.

We're also looking to fill a couple of positions here in the staff. If you have any interest, please write to the editor at ATPMEditor@aol.com. Neither position will be paid, but then, none of them are. <Big Sigh of Consternation>

If you really couldn't care less, and you just want to get on with the magazine, just use your mouse (or use the arrow keys, left and right, up and down) to move on.

This issue is kind of special to me, being as it has to do with Mother's Day (now long past, but sentiment is sentiment). My column in MacSense was about Mother's Day, and so I tried to stay away from it in this magazine, but then everyone else went and ruined it. This month's Segments piece is by Marc Bodine, and offers a loving look at a son advising his mother about her Mac. (Do we all do that?) Among our many reviews this month (thanks to Michael Tsai, our capable reviews editor) is one for a graphics tablet, which my mother and I have been dealing with of late. She's also looking for a scanner (see RPL's Scanner review). So I feel okay now that Mother's Day was covered by other people. This issue is chock full of other stuff, too, including our usual opinions by Adam Junkroski and Robert Paul Leitao, more reviews, including Mark Starlin's Keyword, StuffIt Deluxe, and a Frank Lloyd Wright CD-ROM, and our newly re-named help section, Macman to the Rescue! And don't forget the debut of our Guidelines for ATPM fans (and writers). Check it out before you quit the magazine. Please enjoy yourself and your Mac.

Thanks for reading ATPM,

RD Novo
Publisher, Editor, and a couple of other things.