Qercus back from the dead shocker | Drobe.co.uk archives

Qercus back from the dead shocker

Published: 13th Oct 2006, 22:54:20 | Permalink | Printable

Miracle as monthly mag delivers issue, finally

Media watch- The RISC OS Cybervillage has splashed a "WORLD EXCLUSIVE" over its front page: an 'amazing' first photo exclusive of a new Qercus issue. The shock image that didn't spark a global media bidding war comes just a year after the monthly subscription magazine last published an issue. Drobe also got its grubby hands on a slice of the action too - a peek at the mag's editorial is shown exclusively here, on the right.

In a Friday 13th message to his subscribers, editor John Cartmell apologised for the breakdown in publishing, blaming production issues and ill health. He added: "Many thanks to those who have been patient and to those who have assisted us in helping get Qercus back into production."

Issue 277 of Qercus - which is presumably in the post now - includes tutorials on using computer aided design and vector graphics, programming using Lua and AppBasic, and guides to using TechWriter and Artworks. Plus, a couple of articles that sound like the ones John asked Drobe to write last October that we later published for free online when it looked as though John had given up on the magazine.

Following some hinting on Cybervillage that a super soar away scoop was brewing, a mole whispered to drobe.co.uk earlier this week: "The end result is quite pleasing, although not without faults. It's a bit of everything, 100 percent RISC OS based, though."

• Within hours of Qercus announcing its pheonix issue, rival mag RISC OS Now announced a joint-special offer with ISP Orpheus, allowing punters who sign up for an Internet account to get a free ROS Now subscription. Paul Vigay, who runs Orpheus, is backing ROS Now editor Louie Smith.

Links

Qercus website

Previous: Not enough room for two mags says Qercus ed
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Discussion

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Chris is quite correct. Issue 277 is in the post and, over coming weeks, we'll be announcing a number of initiatives to help those producing pd or low cost software together with special offers for all those subscribers who have been patient with us.

jc on 13/10/06 11:15PM
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That magazine looks terribly thin.

imj on 13/10/06 11:22PM
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Well this is good news. I hope that Qercus really is back on track and going to be regular in future as the last 2 or 3 issues did have some good articles in. At last it seems we have some seemingly positive news from this area, though a regular track record does now need to be built up to get things back fully on track. I look forward to seeing the contents of issue 277,8,9 etc. With 2 A4 RISCOS magazines, Achive and 2 CD based publications it really will be interesting times ahead.

bluenose on 13/10/06 11:38PM
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In reply to imj: At least wait for people to get their copies, it's very hard to tell from the photos how many pages it has.

VirtualAcorn on 14/10/06 5:31AM
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jc:

Any plans to do anything with the Archive of AP,AU,etc content?

markee174 on 14/10/06 10:33AM
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I hope there won't be another gap between issues again because it is really bad for the RISC OS market.

CheatWarrior on 14/10/06 1:03PM
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I look forward to recieving mine with anticiptation.

Revin Kevin on 14/10/06 9:09PM
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ChearWarrior:

Presumably its not terribly good for JC either as it his business/livelihood, so I presume his preference is to publish it regularly....

It will be great to have it back in regular production.

markee174 on 14/10/06 10:46PM
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markeet174: Yes. After ensuring that future issues of Qercus are prepared and out on time our next priority is to make best use of the past resources that may be of use or general interest. We could simply reproduce past issues (not favoured), reproduce past series (useful?), or bring past series up to date (most useful and most expensive). Some mix of these has been our long-term project from the very beginning. If anyone wants to suggest which series/issues we should look at first then we'll take it all into account - and of course the options go beyond AU and AP.

jc on 14/10/06 10:49PM
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jc:

How far beyond AU and AP?

What sort of state is the material in? Is it a muddle of Quark and Impression files or a more coherrent archive?

markee174 on 14/10/06 11:03PM
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markeet174: Much that was merged into AU + AP. But you have the wrong idea about material ;-( Whilst we have much of AP in electronic form that only applied to the last 2 or 3 issues of AU - and that in a Mac format that we haven't even examined. The rest would need to be rescued from the paper copies. We have all of AU + much of The Micro User, Acorn Computing, &c from 1988 in paper form.

jc on 14/10/06 11:42PM
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jc:

So its a pile of back issues and the ownership of the copyright....

markee174 on 15/10/06 9:29AM
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I'd welcome this if I though JC had done it for the benefit of the Qercus subscribers and intended to resume regular publication. However I suspect a few sheets have been knocked together out of spite to try to stop everyone defecting to the new RISC OS Now. JC - prove me wrong by getting 278 out this time next month, and I'll gladly withdraw and apologise for these remarks - as long as the magazines keep coming.

druck on 15/10/06 11:40AM
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druck: We intend to publish at approx 6 weekly intervals (the 'approx' is so that we have some flexibility around shows and major holiday periods). If your apologies extend to all that you've said and are given when we produce 278 according to our timetable - then I'll have a copy of your words for you to eat. 80gsm suit you?

jc on 15/10/06 3:53PM
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In reply to jc:

I wouldn't start flaming at druck. You've both drawn your battle lines already, lets just say we'll all be happy to see regular issues. No time now to make bold statements, your content for the next issue should be ready now, shouldn't it? :-p

sascott on 15/10/06 6:53PM
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sascott: No real flame intended. Just a fun way of correcting druck - and you'll guess there hasn't been much fun here for a while ...

I don't want druck claiming we've failed in a promise we didn't make come November 16th. We're aiming at publication intervals averaging 6 weeks and hitting the targets for 278 to do that.

jc on 15/10/06 10:42PM
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Received mine this morning!

krisa on 17/10/06 10:19AM
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krisa: Is it real? Not an elaborate lightshow projected with the aid of hallucinogenic gasses by a John Cartmell in a van playing the soundtrack to 'Sorcerer' around the corner?

"Ladies and Gentlemen, an historic announcement is to be given this day - our lives, as they have been, are over. From this time forward, Qercus will be an actual, repetitive phenomenon to be studied by scholars and enthusiasts alike with the single intention of clarifying the existence of teh R.I.S.C. O.S. - a form of operating system unheard of in the IT universe. There are unconfirmed reports Steve Jobs and Bill Gates' alter-ego, Linus Torvalds, have committed to its study."

hEgelia on 17/10/06 11:07AM
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Meeeeeee Tooooooooo!

Can I start complaining that it's thinner than Archive ;-)

Well done John, you can show you face at the show without risk of physical abuse ;-)

niftybit on 17/10/06 6:04PM
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Got mine today too!

sa110 on 17/10/06 7:37PM
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I got mine yesterday. If anyones interested it's the same number of pages as issue 276.

fwibbler on 17/10/06 9:52PM
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ya mean, it has 52 pages again ? with the covers included then. Well, that is marvellous news, now we have 2 forthcoming magazines to watch. :-)

I am still waiting for it, maybe today i receive it ?

datawave on 20/10/06 3:40AM
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druck: I said we would have 278 out as promised. I have the first in my hand and the rest will go out to subscribers at just about the same time as last month - though we only promised an average of 6 weekly. I would very much like to see a withdrawal of all that criticism of yours - together perhaps with your purchase of a subscription so that I can get a copy to you as proof.

BTW When you get your copy you can search throught to see where (and why) you are mentioned. ;-)

Issue 279 at the turn of the year together with another promise - with a favourable breeze.

Issue 280 will be a 'special' - and we have started work on that issue. Issue 284 will be even more special.

jc on 13/11/06 5:17PM
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niftybit: I've only just noticed your comment about Archive! Cheeky so-and-so. ;-)

On my estimation Qercus is about 1.625 times bigger than Archive. And is a lot more colourful!

BTW The spelling mistake in my reply to druck was deliberate - he needed a spare 't'. ;-)

jc on 13/11/06 5:28PM
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