- Personal—low cost ($10. to $100.) with RAM or tape based files.
- Professional—Commercial products for lab or industrial use and software development. ($1000. to $2500.)
Today the serious personal computer user holds the key to wider availability of the language. These users—generally engineers, businessmen, programmers—combine professional competence and commitment with the freedom to try new methods which may require a lot of time and tinkering with no definite guarantee of payoff. Practically everyone involved with the Forth Interest Group has both a personal and a professional interest in computers.
The Forth Interest Group is non-profit and non-commercial. We aren't associated with any vendor, no one is making money from it, and we are all busy with other work. We are an information clearinghouse and want to encourage distribution of all three of the previously mentioned levels of Forth. We do not have a Forth system for distribution at this time, and we don't want to get into the software or mail-order business because this is best left to companies or individuals committed to that goal. Naturally our critical issue is how to keep going over the long haul with volunteer energy. We need cost-effective means of information exchange.
At present we are writing for professional media, putting out this simple newsletter, and holding occasional meetings in the Bay Area. Also, we are developing a major technical and implementation manual, to be published in a journal form as four installments, available by subscription. While we cannot answer all of the mail individually, we certainly read it all, to answer it in the newsletter. While we cannot fill orders for software or literature, we will try and point you to where it is available. We welcome your input of information or suggestions, how you could help, what you would like to see happen, and where we should go from here.
Dave Bengel - Dave Boulton - Kim Harris - John James
Tom Olsen - Bill Ragsdale - Dave Wyland
