#filevision

As the logjam of Macintosh software promises began to crumble (several ads in this issue used the word “finally”), database programs seemed a popular topic. Filevision stood out for linking parts of images to pieces of data. This issue, casting around for people to interview, settled on Dan Kottke, one of Apple’s first employees (although in the recollections that developed over the years he now seems most notable for having been infamously stiffed by Steve Jobs on IPO stock options). The editorial, by Jock Root, second author of Softalk’s assembly language column (who hadn’t got quite as far into the subject from his fresh start as Roger Wagner, the first author), worried about the Macintosh being less of a “hacker’s computer,” ready to reveal the numbers seething at its lowest levels, than the Apple II; the window of opportunity for Apple users to identify a continuity between 6502 and 68000 may have closed fast for some. As for how this might have further affected this magazine and its parent, though, you’ll have to return for this month’s issue of Softalk...