European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 18, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Shipping fora scow Stefl by Jack Warner Cox news service a none who makes a lol of noise about his infatuation with personal computers is going lobe asked regularly by friends acquaintances and perfect strangers whal computer  it s a legitimate question. There is no Field More be fiddling than that of personal computers and have developed a dictum a sort of Chip based Peter principle which Seldom fails you newer know what you need until you have already bought the wrong thing now i am in receipt of a letter from a Florida lady who says her granddaughter is entering Law school in the tall and wants a computer. She asks my advice on a machine that would tul Fitl her needs and not be Loo  the Chiel problem Here is 1ha11 Haven t a very Good idea what the needs of a Law student Are. Nor can i guess what might be too expensive without More definite guidelines so 1 will set Down my current deep thoughts on the Subjec Lof buying a first computer. They could change tomorrow of course. I will not be held responsible for any disasters that might As Howard Cosell used to say so i elegantly eventuate. To begin with you May choose from five general systems is Dos which is ism and its Many clones Apple macintosh. Apple ii Commodore Amiga and the atari St machines among those. I can in Good conscience Only recommend the is Dos machines and the macintosh As general purpose machines. Apple ii is Worth considering if you have Small children because in selecting the right1 pc is has become ubiquitous in Public schools and a vast amount of educational software can be had for it. Now let s consider applications. Are you extremely interested in computer graphics is desk lop publishing a significant reason you re buying the machine if so score major Points Lor macintosh. Ii is severe lengths ahead of the Competition in this area. If a major reason for buying a computer is information storage and retrieval the heavy duty relational databases available for macintosh while no More powerful than those for ism Are considerably easier to set up. If word processing is the chief reason Tor buying a computer a far greater selection of word processors end much More powerful ones Are available forms Dos. It spreadsheets Are your big thing the Small screen of the macintosh would probably be a major drawback. If you expect your computer to entertain you one of the More pleasing phenomenon of the past year or so has been the rapid Rise of the ism and compatibles to the Point where they Ere challenging Apple ii As the leading game machines. Then there is the critical area of Lile sharing. If you expect to share tiles with others at work or at school you want machines of the same ilk. The Only generally practical Way la share Hies Between ism macintosh and Apple ii programs is via a Modem and swapping floppy disks is a whole lot easier than that. In the Case of the lady in Florida for instance she should determine what system is in general use in the Law school her granddaughter will attend it would make Good sense to be compatible with that. If you Teel for whatever reason that you simply must have a computer but Don t really care about them that s a plus Tor macintosh which is a much More intuitive system with a Good Deal Shorter learning curve than is Dos. As far Price ism clones and especially clones of the discontinued it series Are the Best bargains in the history of personal computing right now. Ii you Ere buying a machine primarily for word processing the obsolescence of the it technology is no significant drawback. Do not buy any kind of ism or compatible without a hard drive 20 megabytes is a minimum and 40 is of ten Only about $100 More. 1 would also insist on at least 640k of random Access memory ram. Ii should be simple enough to put together a system such As this Lor under $1.500 possibly even with a Printer. Vou Don t have to have color but i la bet if you Spring for it you won t regret it. Don t waste your Money on a cd a color graphics adapter system. Ega enhanced graphics adapter won t Cost a whole lot More and is infinitely Superior. You cannot run most games and graphics programs without a Cha Oreg a card. Macintosh is going to Cost you More much More generally. Good buys May be Lound in the Mac plus what Wilh apparently unfounded rumours of its discontinuation otherwise you re looking at a minimum of around $2,200 to $2,500, while a hard drive is not quite the absolute necessity with the Mac now thai it is in us Dos it is swiftly getting that Way. A second Diak drive is certainly Essen Al in you Don t get a hard drive. The is is the top of he Apple ii line the 1c the Bol Tom. Go for the is i you can its color and sound Are quite remarkable. You should be Able to put together a viable is system for under $2,000, a h Fima Augusta Cuttle Dibenedetto showing her winning new York lottery ticket in May 1364, self help group for millionaires by Michael Winerip new York times excuse me said Ann Watkins s3 million lottery Winner 1983i have to go pick up the$13 million  Joe Moore actually $13.7million, 1935 had just arrived at the train station and was wailing Tor a ride to the millionaire Circle club Watkins figured she would save him the Cost of taking a cab. The club meets one a month at the modest Long Island n.y., Home of a former manicurist Augusta Gussie Dibenedetto $5.7 million 1984. It s a self help group for new York s millionaire winners of lotto the state lottery. We have to help one another said barbra Scott $2.8 million an Avon sales representative we re Alt in the same boat More or  people win they re not prepared Dibenedetto said. They May gel taken. Now they have a club to come  these May be the Unsun Ottiest millionaires in America. Dibenedetto put out her usual spread of egg salad tuna pastry and bagels. You Don t see any caviar around Here she said. You know what i mean we re not the kind her husband Lou said who go around saying i m a millionaire i m a millionaire " Page 14 the stars and stripes Eileen Tomasulo $5 million 1985 is still a Democrat. Who understands a millionaire s problems better than another millionaire it s very relaxing to be with people in the same exact situation Bomasuto a former accounts payable coordinator said i m always conscious of talking to Normal people and saying something that might sound  Here you can talk about Post lottery depression syndrome and people sympathize. Before Tho meeting Dibenedetto introduced members to the club s new accountant Gregory Arvils As a matter of act Greg Dibenedetto said you re going to meet a s13 million Man  Argila smiled. He looked like a very Happy accountant. Friendships have been made at the club. Nancy Cerla $3.5 million is godmother Tor the new grandchild of Curtis Sharp or. $5 million. And where else can a millionaire discuss a relative who is driving him crazy Michael Nasle �2.5 million set up trusts for 14 nieces and nephews and still some family members griped they expected cars he said. The meeting started late you Ever try to get 20 millionaires some place on time Sharp and Lou Senberg arrived in their Lima two hours late they All Sal on holding chairs in the living room. To order to  said it Benedelto the president pounding the Gavel. Tho meeting of the millionaire Circle will now come to  mules of the last meeting were read. One member had complained that the dues Rales $459 a year was implemented without 30 Days notice per article 9 of the bylaws. Otherwise everything was Beautiful. They discussed the club s first membership dinner dance which they Hope Wilt attract hundreds of new lotto millionaires. The social chairman Michael Auguste s3 million explained it would be a sit Down affair with cocktail hour and viennese hour. He said the 20 current members would pay Only $50. But the Public would pay $70."when you say open to the Public Naste said you mean no Auguste interrupted you  he Satur