It seems as if we just finished issue 10 and now we’re already running late with issue 11. One of the longtime friends of T-S Horizons has been Jules Gesang of the CATS (D.C. area) user group and Gesang Associates. We recently learned that Jules is in the hospital recovering from a heart attack that occurred shortly after New Years. The good news is that he is recovering rapidly. Cards can be sent to Box 452, Randallstown, MD 21133. You’re in our prayers, Jules.
Spectral Rumors
The Sinclair QL and the new Spectrum Plus were featured recently at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January. This fact and the rumor that Sinclair has received FCC approval for these machines have fueled speculation that the Spectrum Plus (an improved 48K Spectrum-see TS News) will be released soon in the U.S. Sinclair has denied any plans to do so.
We must keep in mind that the Sinclair people have a lot of factors to consider before making such a move. The first factor is the U.S. market. Is the market locked up by the currently available home computers? Will the expected flood of Japanese MSX computers (fall 1985) send the U.S. market into chaos? TI, Mattel, Coleco, and Timex are out of contention and Atari is still floating in red ink.
Secondly the Sinclair machines themselves are a consideration. Will selling the QL hurt the chances of the Spectrum? Or vice versa? Can either machine sell without disk drives? How low can they come down in price to compete with Commodore, Atari, and Tandy? Some people say the QL and the Spectrum Plus both need to be improved to be popular here.
Finally there is the still painful association with Timex. Sinclair is still living down the Timex bail-out, which of course was not Sinclair’s fault. They still receive a lot of calls and letters from disgruntled TS1000, 1500, and 2068 owners.
But if they do decide to take the risk there would be enormous benefits for us American users. Few of us realize just how popular the Spectrum is in England. An incredible number of British peripheral and software makers are eagerly awaiting the great leap across the Atlantic. With the availability of Spectrum emulators, 2068 owners would be set. Also TS1000 owners would benefit by the increased Sinclair presense.
Other Matters of Interest
- Dave Higgenbottom is still trying to secure financing and Timex is being patient. We hope to know the outcome one way or the other soon.
- Last we heard on BASIC was that the publication would be cancelled and all paid subscriptions would be fulfilled by another company. We haven’t verified this yet. If so we extend our sympathy to the former subscribers and reserve our comments for a future issue.
- As may be mentioned elsewhere in this issue, several people have confused the Scott Duncan of Ramex with our own Scott Duncan, circulation manager, etc. of T-S Horizons. They are not the same person and are not related to each other.
- We hope you find this issue’s Index to Volume I of T-S Horizons to be useful. We tried to make it as complete as possible.
You Can Depend On Us
I suspect that if we stopped publishing T-S Horizons some of our readers would be devastated – as much as by the demise of Syne and Timex. Our readers have put a lot of faith in us, and we have no intention of betraying that faith. If you have a 12-issue subscription to TSH and it started with issue 11 you can count on receiving issue 22 as well.
Does that sound like a pitch for subscription renewals? It’s not meant to be. It’s just our way of saying count on us. You have supported us and we plan to earn that support in every issue.
Yours Sincerely, Rick Duncan