All I want for Christmas ...

Well kids, it's almost that time of year again. You know, mind-blowing traffic, congested malls, overdrawn checking accounts, and the constant reminder from the friendly folks at the Post Office to "mail early". Which brings me to our topic of conversation for this issue.

There is a presence that walks this Earth. A twisted, heartless entity that laughs at every one of us. It is devious. It is merciless. And it will rob you of your sanity if you let your guard down for even a moment. That's right folks, I'm talking about BULK MAIL.

Invented by some unknown soul who must have had a certifiable condition requiring massive amounts of medication, bulk mail combines all the fun of hard labor with the interesting brain-teasing quality of opening that gift marked "some assembly required", and finding the directions written in ancient Aztec. Next to passing a kidney stone, I can't think of any better way to spend a weekend with the wife and kids than sorting, and bundling, and sacking.

For those of you out there who have received your copies of ACP/TPF Today late, we're sorry, but bulk mail can be slow.

Even though the person at the next desk has their copy, it may be a week or more until you receive yours.

Errors and omissions ???
If anyone out there happened to take the time to read Computerworld's Product Spotlight on Late Model Mainframes (September 17, 1990), I'm sure they have the same question for IBM that I have. Why wasn't TPF listed as an operating system on any IBM mainframe, when it was listed as an operating system for every Amdahl machine?

As long as I'm talking about omissions, I do want to try to anticipate those questions some people may have about this month's Education/Training information on page 6.

Our direction and intent regarding TPF education and training is very simple. We will provide our readers with information and schedules as they are made available to us from either IBM or Amdahl. If you're wondering what happened to the IBM class listings and information for 1991, you're in good company. When we contacted IBM for their '91 curriculum, we were told that it was still in the works, and wouldn't be available until sometime in December.

... and to all a good night!
Well, another year seems to have slipped by us again. I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone out there a happy holiday season, and hope the coming new year brings us all good health and prosperity. We'll see you in '91.

Alan Sadowsky