Winter is upon us once again, and our interests begin to turn from outdoor activities to warmer indoor hobbies, such as using computers. With Jack Tramiel dropping the prices of the Atari computer and disk drives, more people will be turning to the Atari; consequently, there will be a larger number of users for User Groups.
    This brings me to the point of User Groups. In this issue we have sent out a number of Questionnaires to get user insight on the Atari. We, at ROM, want to be `the magazine for Atari Computer Users' (User Groups). Starting with this issue, we are allocating a page to User Groups so they can make announcements of activities, or make themselves known for User Group Communication. This column will be called "The User Group Network," so, if you have any comments or suggestions regarding it, send them in car e of this column.
    We have an excellent new filing system, (Reviewed in this issue), called, "Synfile+," in which we will keep track of all our subscribers and standing orders.
    Each subscriber gets a magazine with a label, on the outside of his or her envelope. On the bottom of each label, starting with this issue, will be a number designating the issue with which the person's subscription runs out. For example, if, at the bottom of your label it reads `D13,' it means your subscription is a disk version subscription, and it runs out with the thirteenth issue. If there is no `D' before it, it means that you are not a disk subscriber. This arrangement will help subscribers avoid missing out on following issues.
    This issue contains an assembly language program called, `Air Attack,' a two-player, air-sea battle. This game, written by Bob Cockroft, should keep you entertained for hours to come. Also, in this issue, is an interview with Chuckles (Origin Systems), "Lines of Action" by Sol Guber, and a Tutorial on Atari's timing system. In this issue we have also started a new column called, `The ACTION! Corner.' This section will contain programs and tutorials that are written in ACTION!. We feel this language is the one a person should buy if he is fed up with the speed of BASIC, and doesn't want to be bothered learning assembly language. One last thing before closing: Starting with this issue, we are putting dates on our magazine. With these improvements and those yet to come, I hope we can make ROM your number one Atari magazine.

Peter Ellison
Editor/Publisher