Random Bits

  Utterly out of the blue, Marinchip has completed the most spectacular sales month in its history. In June we sold more than our total sales for 1978 and 1979 combined. If sales were to continue at the present pace, Marinchip would be shipping at an annualised rate of $850,000 (neglecting for the moment the little detail that John Walker would disintegrate in the process). This is being mentioned because if you've been waiting for John Walker to do something for you, you'll probably have to wait a bit longer. As a result, we've tried to further decentralise the communications in AI--a lot of information was passed through John Walker simply because that was easy. But it won't work at the moment. We expect the June results to be a one-time blip since most of the sales were unexpected one-shot sales rather than dealer or OEM business. However, July looks like a barnburner as well.

  John Walker has been playing around with a new product idea called Auto Book. A M9900/QBASIC test program has been developed to explore ideas. If the product looks worthwhile, we can consider it as an innovative way to distribute manuals for our products, to offer an impressive help facility, and as a product in its own right. I'm including the working paper on the product with this mailing for your review and comments. Richard Handyside and Jodi Lehman have copies of the program and are currently evaluating it and making suggestions.

  On the 7th and 8th of August there will be an Autodesk/Marinchip dealers meeting in London. Rudolf Künzli, Richard Handyside, and Peter Goldmann will be there. If you have items that would make sense to bring up at the meeting, please try to get them to the people involved before the meeting.