home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- August 1, 1984
-
-
-
-
- Arthur DeAuthor
- 8088 Heming Way
- New York, NY 10016
-
-
- Dear Arthur:
-
- Welcome to PC:Project Printers!
-
- We're doing it again -- a massive study of the PC
- products our readers need to know about. This is the
- biggest one of all -- there are over 300 printers that work
- with a PC, and we're going to review as many of them as
- possible. We've tried to get all of them, but all we can do
- is get most of them -- besides, One Park is an old building,
- and we're not sure if the floor would hold up.
-
- As it is, we'll have around 150, so that's half of the
- field. Who knows, maybe we'll do it again next year and
- fill in the blanks. Of course, by then there'll be 500
- printers to test!
-
- You're probably wondering why you've received over
- 7,500 words (not including appendices) of advice on how to
- test and evaluate each printer, and write a short (750 word)
- article about it. The reason is simple -- the project is
- large, and we need you, along with an army of colleagues, to
- write 150 articles! They need to have some common format,
- style and size or our readers will leave with a strong sense
- of confusion and chaos -- exactly the impression about
- printers that we're trying to relieve them of.
-
- And it's not just the size. PC compatible printers
- come in all shapes and sizes (everything from a shoe box to
- several cartons mounted on equipment pallets). They all
- need to be evaluated and written about on a consistent
- basis.
-
- For the same reasons we've asked you to come in to PC's
- offices to do the testing -- sorry, it just has to be done
- that way -- you can do the writing anywhere you want. When
- you leave you can take much of the literature and documenta-
- tion away with you for your writing, but it'll have to be
- returned when you're done.
-
-
- PC:Project Printers Page 2
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Take some time to read through the methodology and
- writing guide, and go over the appendices. The guide is
- meant to be your "user manual" for the project, and you'll
- want to bring it with you when you're here for testing.
- It's probably too short (despite its bulk), but several of
- us will be around to answer any questions you have while
- doing the testing.
-
- The appendices contain sample outputs of the test
- programs and should give you a better idea of what's to be
- accomplished during the testing. The programs have been
- modified somewhat since the appendices were produced (Craig
- Stark proved to be a fussy Beta tester), but the basics of
- what they do hasn't changed.
-
- You should have a lot of fun with PC:Project Printers.
- It's been fun (OK, I lie sometimes) just putting it together
- and doing the planning. You can be certain PC's readers
- will get a lot of beneficial information out of it.
-
- See you soon!
-
-
-
- Sincerely,
-
-
- John Dickinson
-
-
-
-
- JCD/cls
-