RE: News/400's new web site?

["Bale, Dan" <DBale@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wayne,

Thanks for clarifying some of the issues raised by others.

I think part of the confusion lies in the style of the announcement; it
seemed to me to be a little more hype than necessary.  It may be just me,
I'm a cynical "cut the hype, just give me the facts" kind of person.

From reading your original announcement, I was hard pressed to find anything
new and beneficial for someone like me, a subscriber for the past several
years.  I already had:
   * 14 issues of NEWS/400 magazine annually 
   * full access to every area of the as400network.com (WAS 
     News400.com) Web site 
   * the e-mail newsletters of your choice 
   * discounts on all NEWS/400 books, seminars and Technical 
     Training Center classes as well as products and/or services 
     from selected Network partners. 

Well, I wasn't sure about the last point; did we have discounts all along?

It wasn't until your reply to this thread on the MIDRANGE-L list that I
discovered the single most important _new_ benefit for me on the AS/400
Network.  Something that was not clear in the announcement.  I am referring
to the archive of past News400 issues, not just the code that was previously
available online, but all of the articles as well, that was previously only
available on CD-ROM.  I don't know how many News400 magazine subscribers
have also purchased the CD-ROM subscription (I personally don't know anybody
who has), but I suspect this will be the biggest boon for most of us.  I
will no longer have to cart my 50 pound box of News400's from client to
client.  I find that most AS/400 technical personnel have access to the web
but don't necessarily have a CD-ROM drive on their desktop, which was the
primary reason I had for not subscribing to the CD-ROM archive.

If I am correct about the low ratio of CD-ROM archive subscribers to
magazine subscribers, I think you may have missed the golden selling point
to convince your customers about AS/400 Network.

P.S.  Are you considering an online archive for the subscribers of your
"specialty" newsletters, i.e., The RPG Source.  Hmmm, after looking around
for an hour, I can't even find any references to "The RPG Source" anymore.
Is that still available?

Regards,
Dan Bale
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