OT : Page size change?

And you can play on line at

lice"

We loved those infocom games...played them for hours. Now he plays games =

with absolutely awesome graphics.

There is something about those old games - the style, the having to think of the dimensions yourself

Cheryl

There was a story the other way round, so to speak, and longer ago that

Oooo! I remember Adventure! It was great! We played it on the University mainframe in 1975. It took *ages* to work out what to do with that blessed stick, but my goodness it was addictive. You weren't allowed to play in business hours, so we used to take rugs and pillows and thermoses of hot coffee up to the computer centre and play all night. Sigh. Those were the days.

Those old Infocom games were great too. DS just *loves* them and would play them still if we had a going Mac.

D'you remember the Wizardry series? As you say, you had to draw your mazes on graph paper and that was half the fun. Woe betide you if you got something wrong, because you'd be lost in the maze for ages and your hit points would be going steadily downward, what with vorpal bunnies and gelatinous cubes. Oh! Heady days! They were such fun to play and so exciting to see as they became available.

It's been a long time since there's been anything quite so exciting. The Bard's Tale kept us (DS and me) occupied for quite a while and The Fool's Errand was new and exciting, but we never saw a sequel to it, sadly. DS solved that one in just ten days when he was only nine: better even than his old Mum!

The Sierra series of games was fun too. We preferred the King's Quest story, but will you ever forget Leisure Suit Larry? LOL! AFAIK, it's still going strong, but I just can't imagine Larry in anything other than his original blocky, pixelly graphics.

Aside from The Sims, I think Spore's been the only really innovative thing that's come out since Adam wore knickers. I tend to play puzzle or strategy games most these days, since the adventure genre seems pretty much mined out. It's been *so* much fun watching it all evolve, though! ;-D

My husband's site is totally devoted to Sierra soundtracks for which we have permission to not only post but enhance.

As well, we've been involved in the remakes of several of these games from EGA to VGA along with enhanced story lines and new music which we compose.

We also composed the music for a new commercial adventure game

Dianne

I had forgotten about the Sierra games. We played all the King's Quest=20 games, and marvelled at the improved graphics as each one came out!

I would give Leisure Suit Larry to Jim for Christmas,,,just for the=20 hell of it.

Now, he spends hours on World of Warcraft....with amazing technology.=20 The second eldest grandson is also a fan, wants to go to a University in =

Washington State, and study animation. He has three more years before=20 that happens!

Gill

Heck, Jim needs "Leather Goddess of Phobos" - an old, more than slightly racy Infocom game. Though by today's standards, it's a PG.

Now - I wonder if I'll take the time to replay Zork

Cheryl

Omigoodness, Dianne! DD was three when she began playing King's Quest and Rosella's song from KQ#7 is her theme song! We still sing it with DD's original translocution of the words:

'Gwow up young lady Thath what they all thay Ith time to thettle down Put childish fings on ways You will be fwilled alighted You're going to be a bwide Yeth I'm tho exthited I want to wun outside!'

Is that one of yours??? (Not the words, of course, but the music? It's a great song!) ;-D

Sounds like one of the Igors from the Uberwald in Terry Pratchett's DiscWorld novels

No, Trish. We didn't write the original soundtracks, but we're re-writing them as a team of us redo the EGA to VGA versions. Sierra has been sold to a lot of companies who have allowed this genre to languish, but because of our quality (the game programmers and hubby and I) the past and current owners allowed us to reissue the games. Rosella was VGA so isn't part of our projects.

You might enjoy replaying some of the updated King's Quest. You'll find them at

Ahhhh... for a minute there, I thought were going to be having one of those 'small world' moments! LOL! I'll certainly have a squizz at the King's Quest site and thanks for the pointer. ;-D

Donna,

I agree with Marilyn about finding a group or try help at the Microsoft site. You probably just need a setting changed.

I use Outlook that came with MS Office 2007 and haven't had any problems with it or any of the Office programs. I also use Vista and have no problems.

It would be nice if people could give Microsoft the credit they are due, they did revolutionize home computer use.

take care, Linda D. in B.C., Canada

Try microsoft.public.stationery - they talk about outlook and have MVPs there.

Correction!

That would be microsoft.public.outlookexpress.stationery

Actually, Tandy was first with GUI in a program called "DeskMate". And several programs during that time had WYSIWYG (Professional Publish? Gosh I'm having trouble remembering names). Berkley software (can't remember name of program) then had a much-touted GUI and Windows then broke onto the market . . . again making deals so that computers came loaded with it, thus pushing out the competition.

Windows 3.1 is when it really started to catch on. Before that, you had sales people (and Apple) telling everyone how hard DOS was. It wasn't.

My husband is the techy/guru for Windows and hardware. I am happy with Microsoft support when I've had to use them - especially during my last computer meltdown. My only gripe is that I would have like to have seen what might have happened had there been a more level playing field.

The advances made in such a short period of time is nothing short of awe inspiring. I'd be lost without our computers.

Dianne

I know that it is what is called an emulator, but I still use DOS for a couple of specific things I do. DOS was not difficult but I believe it did put many people off trying to get started.

Yes, because sales people and Apple were telling everyone how hard it was - because they had a vested interest in keeping the workings to themselves. Apple wanted the business. And PC people who sold computers wanted you to think the average guy couldn't possibly learn - would be overwhelmed. It was their secret little club. They knew something you didn't.

I'll never forget when I got into MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) and composing and using the computer for my students, I wanted a 486. I was laughed at by the sales force at IBM and Tandy. No little music teacher could possibly need the computing power of a 486, which could power a whole office!

Ah, those were the days.

Dianne