I must have been on an ego trip when I asked people from around the Atari scene, just as I was compiling the last issue of ST NEWS in the summer of 1996, whether they could write an eulogy/obituary kind of thing. Last words. They replied in, well, droves. My ego hit the roof.
I'd completely forgotten about it, but the other day I was suffering from a wave of nostalgia and re-read some of the old stuff. Including the Last Words Article.
I have included the article below. Have your barfbags ready :-)

I've been reading ST NEWS for two years now. I must say that I really enjoy it, especially the music chapters. I'm a hard rock freak too you see. In fact I've bought some CDs after reading their reviews. It will be a black day for the Atari community the day that the last version is uploaded.
CU around.
Martin Byttebier

Well, I haven't read ST NEWS issues in three years (and those that I read were generally from <= 1990). The one issue that contained the assembly language course was nice and I really enjoyed Stefan's article on programming rasters (although I didn't do that myself). ST NEWS had some interesting book reviews too. I stopped reading ST NEWS because the latest issues that I tested didn't like either "MiNT" or "KaosTOS"...
Eero Tamminen

ST NEWS! Without a doubt the single most bright and encouraging thing I remember about the thriving days of the ST.
Back then I remember reading the amazing, and still legendary issue 25 (Volume 4 Issue 4). With the amazing tunes from the likes of Martin Galway & the great "Knucklebusters" (thanks Jochen!). I was devastated when my STe refused to load it when I upgraded :-)
Richard and Stephan made a mark on my life that I will never forget. I will remember the years back then when I strived to create the best demo in "STOS" I ever could (eventually released on the "Cunning Demos" under the name TK of the Dentrassi). I also enjoyed doing my articles in a few "Maggie" issues. Now look at me! I now play a major part in the support of the newest programs coming into the UK, and with my work at System Solutions I get to be at the top of the Atari branch until one day it finally falls off (which ATM doesn't seem to be in the too near future).
I *MUST* get a complete copy of all the disk mags for the Atari and put them on a CD. Anyone want to help me with this? I will supply a free CD to anyone who can supply me with the complete disk sets of ST NEWS and/or "Maggie".
All my regards, and thanks for all the good times.
Rob Perry
A.K.A. - Sales Supervisor for System Solutions A.K.A. - TK Dentrassi

How ST NEWS changed my life.
This might sound a bit far fetched, but ST NEWS played a great role in getting me where I am today. In 1989, my computer days seemed to go more and more towards playing games, watching demos and, well, after learning myself assembler, I did make a tiny demo. Nothing fancy, though, and I had a great respect for superior groups such as the Exceptions, creators of the well known "B.I.G. demo".
Socially, I must admit, I was a loser.
At this time, I started going to high school. Usually, this would mean that I would start concentrating more about school and meeting new friends, but several factors at this point would change the course I took. I had found "ST Klubben", the Norwegian clone of ST NEWS. This would, of course, then lead me to ST NEWS. The Atari scene in Norway started thriving in activity, and I was in the middle of it. The inspiring disk magazine format, as well as, actually, my German teacher, got me into "writing mode". I started writing short stories and poetry. I continued making demos and some times applications of different sorts. I and a handful of friends even made home videos as a response to the ST NEWS home videos. In short, ST NEWS inspired me into leading a very creative life.
I took this creativity with me through high school, where it kept me alive through times of heartbreaking crushes. And I took it with me through college, where I soon would become an important contribution and was given a lot of confidence. And even before I was finished at the college, I started working at the public library and city hall, where they also appreciated my contributions. This was a great contrast to the shy person I was in '89. In fact, the inspirational factor ST NEWS had given me had not only turned me into an active writer, computer engineer and co-editor and programmer of the Atari disk magazine "Scriba Communis Responsi", but it had turned a loser into a winner.
The only problem I seemed to have at that time was that I couldn't find a FULL job in Norway. It didn't really bother me until I met my Love of my Life, Bethani, from the USA. I started hunting for jobs around the world, especially in the US. It wasn't until now that I got to know exactly how much ST NEWS had done for me. The creativity beyond school activities that ST NEWS had driven me to do, was a major factor when considered for jobs in the US. I received 6 job offers within 4 days from the US through the Internet. Unfortunately, nobody wanted to do the paperwork to get me a green card. Eventually, I was contacted by O'Reilly and Associates, publisher of great UNIX and Internet books. The vice-president was going to Holland for an Internet conference, and wanted to see me for an interview. I actually stayed in Holland for a week, spending some time with Richard. ;^) Several interviews later, they finally offered me a job. Unfortunately, the deal was a year as system-administrator in Germany with no guarantees for them taking me to the US afterwards. I might stay in Germany, or decide to move back to Norway afterwards. With Bethani being an American citizens, that only made our situation worse, so I told them no.
Not too long after, Stefan, whom I had known from ST NEWS and now was a programmer at Gray Matter in Canada, was looking around for programmers from the old Atari scene because Gray Matter needed more programmers. I eagerly raised my hand, and shortly, I had an interview with Chris Gray, author of the well known game "Boulderdash" and owner of Gray Matter. Once again, it was all the Atari stuff I had done that was of interest, and within a couple of days, I had a job offer. I accepted it. Four months of paperwork later, I was flying to Toronto, Canada, where I'd start a new life and a family.
As I'm writing this, Bethani has moved in with me. We're quite happy together, and by the time this article is published, we'll be married. And even though ST NEWS hasn't been the only factor to make my life so enjoyable, it definitely has been a very important one.
Thank you, ST NEWS. Thank you, Richard. Thank you, Stefan.
Gard Eggesbø Abrahamsen

ST NEWS is/was an 'institution'. It has always been a great source of news, reviews, interviews, adventure solutions, games cheats, viruses news, programming tutorials and gossip about the Atari scene. When we started up "STuffed" disk mag in 1989, ST NEWS had released its 'final' issue. We aimed to fill the gap left by their departure. We lasted for just nine issues. Were we really that bad! ST NEWS returned with the 'undead' issues and have now reached issue 41! ST NEWS has never been conventional, looking at such things as the latest CDs, films, videos and pop concerts as well as all the Atari related features, and of course there was the chronicle of Richard's numerous girlfriends, who seem to have outnumbered the issues of ST NEWS! (two real ones, actually, and two semi-ones and two or three crushes before summer of 1989, ED.)
I haven't always agreed with the opinions expressed in ST NEWS, but that's free speech for you! What I have done is enjoy reading each issue regardless. Richard and Stefan before him (and Richard before him!) made an enormous contribution to the ST scene over the years and it's hard to imagine life without ST NEWS. Hey, this is sounding like an epitaph. It the mag that's dead, not the guy himself! Seriously though, the fact that ST NEWS was pure PD and spread by everyone has meant that it was enjoyed by thousands of users worldwide.
OK, I've said my piece so I'll stop prattling on! All I want to say (no, I'm not finished yet!) is thanks a lot Richard. We'll all miss ST NEWS (unless it goes 'undead' again!). Ten years is a long time and the ST NEWS legacy is an impressive achievement.
All the best for the future.
Steve Delaney (Floppyshop)

I remember looking with something akin to wonder when I saw the first of many issues our local Atari ST users group received. If memory serves (and it has been, after all, nearly a decade ago!) there was a monochrome demo menu at the BOTTOM of the screen, and a number of graphics demos that were quite marvelous. At the time I only had a color monitor, but I bought my first monochrome monitor shortly thereafter simply to be able to run the program.
Of course, many things have happened since then. I was the disk librarian for our local user group (called MAST), and I can tell you that every single issue of ST NEWS we could get hold of was there. I remember sending IRC coupons across the Atlantic to get the older issues (and, later, the new ones too...).
MAST is gone now, disbanded back in 1993 due to small attendance (basically a handful of technical folk who also attended our monthly programmers' meeting). I got married back in 1989 (and there is even a mention of it in a past issue, since I was corresponding at the time).
My Atari ST was sold back in EARLY 1994. I've been using a "Windows"-based system ever since. Somehow, the demos and the disk magazines that I managed to find for the PC were never as good, nor as clever as the ST-based ones.
All things must pass, and I know that Richard and all of the other people who have been associated with the ST NEWS disk are moving (and have moved) on to other projects, other lives. I have missed the disk since my ST went away. The memories will stick around, though, and I'll see familiar names pop up under other endeavors.
Fiat Lux.
David Paschal-Zimbel (better known as David Meile)

So ST NEWS has its final issue? This is a sad day, I remember "ST Enthusiasts Newsletter" dying and thinking to myself, "Damm I wish I had contributed." ST NEWS is the longest standing diskmag I can think of, there is no other similar, "Maggie", "DBA" and all the other "big boys" and indeed all other diskmags have their own unique viewpoints, but I cannot see ST NEWS ever being replaced, but for those of us who have enjoyed the diskzine and are hanging on to our Ataris, we will allways remember the Name, ST NEWS.
Tony Greenwood (founder of "STOSSER" diskzine)

Erm, yes, I have to admit that the idea to write some sort of swan-song article for ST NEWS came some time ago. An true to my nature, I promptly started to write it about 4 days before the deadline. Typical.
What is my connection with ST NEWS? What spiritual bonding did I acquire first reading and then writing for one of the most infamous diskette-magazines in the world? Why did I begin drinking Plantiac? And most importantly, who am I? These questions, and more, will probably be addressed in this piece of prose. Or maybe they won't. We'll see.
Last things first: Who am I. Old-timers should remember me. TNS of QX and AE. The Nutty Snake of The Quartermass Xperiment and Aenigmatica. Or, more recently, AC. Alex Crouzen. (you decide which is the funniest)
What did I do to deserve the honour of writing this obituary. For with the passing of ST NEWS, surely an era hath come to an end. Yay verily! Erm..sorry. As I said, what did I do? Well, that's a long story...
Which, if you pester me long enough, I will tell you all about. But for now, let's suffice with saying that it began a long time ago, and lasted about 7 years. Some people from that time I still know and still count among my friends. Others I (sadly) lost contact with but hope to see once more in the future.
Some of the most memorable moments came from having large amounts of people (who coincidentally all knew each other) gather in the most exotic places (A beautiful place by the sea, a small castle, my home, etc...) and put themselves under the influence of lots of drink, food and monitor radiation.
I could start listing all the people I met, spoke and saw get drunk here, but that would cost me both my sanity and my job. (but since I will lose my job in 16 days anyway...)
No, what's more important is what my impression was of this period in time. I met the editor(s) of ST NEWS through my buddies of Galtan 6 and somehow I made an impression on them (my memory abandons me at this point. It must have been somewhere at a messe in Duesseldorf, or maybe it was in Marseille...)
They asked me to write some stuff and one of my first pieces was the introductory novella for "Populous 2" (I think....*sigh* why don't we have a network version of ST NEWS here at my job...)
I do still know that I used to read ALL texts that were published in ST NEWS. Stay up late and get a headache. I didn't mind. Finding all the hidden texts and reading whole scrollines was my forte.
I also immensely enjoyed reading all the travelogues about the pilgrimages to England, Norway etc. I must admit I have tried to imitate those articles, but without such fantastic journeys to make I couldn't hope to do the same.
My 'big' break was "Brainwalk". This piece of fiction was inspired by the books of William Gibson. It related the story of a cyber-jockey who was trapped in an artificial universe. Neat stuff.
And then there was the real-time article of the STNICCC (I believe it was pronounced 'Saint Nicccc') in which such amazing discoveries were made like: 'a 1-litre bottle of coke fits into a normal jeans-trouser pocket...' and 'Writing a 3.5K demo is NOT easy...except for mine'
Yes, those were the days. Duesseldorf, Marseille, Oss, Voorburg. I must admit I sometimes miss those carefree days. I mean, right now, I'm sitting behind a (yech!) Pentium, typing this article in "Word", while I should be programming some complicated C application. Valuable man-hours are lost wallowing in ancient memories. But then again, anything is better than having to dissect my 'spaghetti-code' and find where the problem lies.
I am known to be a incorrigable joker, but I will put all my jokes aside when I say this:
ST NEWS was - and will be! - a phenomenon. All good things come to an end, and I am proud to have been a part of it. I salute all of those who have written, drawn or composed for it.
Alex Crouzen, a.k.a. The Nutty Snake of QX

So, this is the last issue of ST NEWS. "Sad but True" as Metallica used to say. I remember the old times when ES, -me-, 6719, Mad Max (Hippie Nippel) and myself visited Richard Karsmakers, Stefan Posthuma and Frank Lemmen in (erm, was it Eindhoven) (it was, ED.) in the Netherlands. That was cool. It was the weekend when we had the best Lasagne and we discovered the spurious interrupt on the ST. Man, these good ol' times will never come back again. Or the, as we Germans say, megageile, STNICCC (ST NEWS International Christmas Coding Convention). The whole Atari Scene at one party. Michael Bittner did the best work in his coding-career: writing a shoot-em-up in 3.5kb. Same did Mad Max when he developed a synth for this game that needed only some 100 bytes (complete with code and data). All this couldn't have been possible without ST NEWS, the best mag Atari has ever seen.
Electronically yours,
Michael (Daryl/TEX)

Let's face it: we've never been hip. Being part of a community of computer geeks isn't considered to be cool in any way by the rest of the world. But what the heck. This was OUR scene. We were (and are still somehow) weirdos, we socialized with weirdos and made friends with some of them. But! We were (and are still, hopefully) creative, we were idealistic and we were dedicated. These are attributes that can't be said of quite a lot of "cool" activities. ST NEWS was to us what underground comics such as R. Crumb's or Gilbert Shelton's were to the counterculture of the late 60s/early 70s. Of course neither we nor ST NEWS have had this kind of cultural impact, but we had fun doing those stupid demos and we had fun reading about them and a lot of other hilarious stuff. So seeing ST NEWS going down gives me the same sad feeling as any kind of freaky comic, magazine or pulp series which was part of my youth does. On the other hand, this strikes me as the announcement of "Simply Red's very, very, very last Tour". Knowing Richard's passion for necromancy, I wouldn't wonder if some "Beyond the Grave", "Final Revenge" or whatever issues would appear. Hopefully, this is just another trick to get some article submissions out of people. It worked, Richard. Go on.
Erik Simon, a.k.a. ES of TEX

My serious involvement in the Atari scene began in 1989, a year after I had bought my first ST, when I started an Atari mail order company in Denmark, called CFN-DATA. I wasn't out to make money. I wanted to supply the Danish ST users with products that were hard to get elsewhere, at reasonable prices, and I wanted to keep it at hobby level.
Looking back, I see that I managed to satisfy these ideas. I did supply lots of weird software and hardware that was difficult to get hold of, I managed to maintain reasonable prices, I was wise enough to keep it at hobby level and I certainly never made any money!
What I didn't expect back in 1989, was that CFN-DATA would exist for 6 years and that I would become as involved in the whole Atari "community" as I did.
I started out selling games, but was eventually able to supply all sorts of software and light hardware. I went through the Atari "depression" in 1991-92, ran a PD library and subscription service for a year, regained my faith in Atari, as we all did, when the Falcon was released, and lost a lot of money on promoting and importing it, because no one wanted to buy it! I went through Atari magazines closing, advertisements being delayed, hungry other Danish Atari dealers slagging me off to mutual customers of ours, because business was hard and they wanted them for themselves.
I saw the Lynx lose to the Game Boy, and the ST Pad rise from the dead in the shape of the Apple Newton.
When the Jaguar was released, I was just about to give up, but decided to give it one last try. I specialised in Falcon and STE games and everything that had to do with the Jag. The Falcon games were delayed, delayed, delayed. The Jaguar games were delayed and in short supply and not good enough. Still, Jaguar games was the single most profitable product type I've ever sold. Sales helped regain some of the money I had lost on all the other Atari stock, and so did the last "everything must go" sale, when I closed CFN-DATA in 1995. It took a few drinks before I could write the letter to the tax and custom authorities and tell them that CFN-DATA was no more.
Apart from selling Atari products, I have released a shareware program, "Modest - The Module Organizer", which was well received by ACN in Holland and got a nice 80% review in ST Format, as well as being included (the demo version) on their "Subscriber's Wonderdisk 68" in March '95. To date, I have received 1 (that's ONE) registration. Still, I'm just about to release my next Atari shareware title, "WizPack", an AI package.
In 1994, I bought 225 Atari shares, hoping the Jaguar would do really well. Seems I lost even more money!
I was going to do a Danish version of TOS 5.0, the TOS that was never released. Atari Holland had given me the go-ahead and I was waiting for a development kit. It never arrived. When I enquired in writing, a short note told me that it just wasn't going to happen. That was when the ever helpful Atari started to give the impression that "we couldn't care less about you if you're not developing for the Jaguar".
So why did I go through all this. And why did we all go through all this, owning a machine that was so "difficult", rather than just going for a PC or a Mac? Because we knew we were right. We knew we had a machine that could do what we wanted it to do, in the nicest and most user friendly way. We knew we were supporting a company that just kept on coming up with technological wonders, even if they didn't know how to sell them!
There has always been a very friendly atmosphere in the Atari community, and generally, it was a pleasure for me to deal with the Danish Atari enthusiasts during those 6 turbulent years. I didn't mind spending hours and hours tracking down some Mega ST TV modulator or some ancient game that was only ever released for the French market! It was a pleasure to share knowledge and help out.
Considering this, it's no surprise to find that one of the longest living disk magazines ever, was created for the Atari format. I am of course talking of ST NEWS, a disk mag I've been a loyal reader of for several years. But not just a reader. For two years, I have had the honour of being the Danish distributer and occasional writer.
I think that ST NEWS more than anything reflects the before mentioned friendlyness and enthusiasm of the Atari community, but also the diversity of it, with all sorts of non-computer articles, from travelling to fiction to music. And just think of all the people who have contributed to this magazine over the years. It shows commitment and interest, and an eager to share experiences and ideas with other people.
It is of course with great sadness that I write these last words for the final issue of ST NEWS, but it's time to move on, and I am confident that most people will appreciate that the magazine stops now, when it's still considered respectable reading.
ST NEWS will stand as an institution in the history of the Atari scene, and as one of the only Atari stories with a happy ending.
From me, it's goodbye, take care, thanks for the interest, hope to see/hear/read you again, and let's just hear it once more for the man at the anchor - Richaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard Karsmakers!
Casper Falkenberg Nielsen

As the final chapter of ST NEWS' 10 year long life draws to a close, I cannot help thinking about what has happened during this period within the micro-computer field.
Remember the situation in 1986: The market was filled with as many computers as standards. Choosing a computer was like betting money - either the computer was successful (in that case everything was OK), or it wasn't, and you ended up with a computer without any support, just like a car without petrol. This may seem dangerous, but in fact it was very exciting, as new technologies and innovations kept coming up to catch people's interest. Nowadays you only have two standards (one of them - the Mac - being in deep trouble) and the only innovations concern gains in processor-speed or software-updates. Some people call this a mature market, I call it a boring market.
But let's get back to Richard and ST NEWS. During these 10 years, Richard has worked hard to provide, on a more or less regular basis, a high-quality product for free. We have read interviews of illustrious people that paper mags have simply skipped, and the articles have had varied and (most of the time) interesting topics. Richard has also come up with firsts, such as real-time articles (remember TEX's trip to Holland?).
So thanks a lot to Richard (and his various partners over the years, among which Stefan Posthuma is probably the most important) for having provided Atari ST owners with great reading and fun. And thanks for an unforgettable STNICCC! And good luck to all you Atari-fans out there...
Klaus Berg, a.k.a. Vantage of ST Connexion

To my mind, ST NEWS has chronicled the history of Atari computers more faithfully than any other magazine - more than that, it has reflected a culture. I'll never forget the excitement of reading how TEX or The Carebears had jumped another seemingly impossible programming hurdle or the feeling of satisfaction when I found a hidden article.
Purely as a writer, I respect Richard's (and Stefan's) ability to make anything from show visits to raster interrupt programming interesting and the editorial standards have been outstanding. Yep, the Atari scene will lose something special when the last issue of ST NEWS is published, but the back issues will continue to be read for many years, I am sure.
Nial Grimes, freelance writer
("ST Review", "ST Format", "Atari World")

"There must be some mistake - are you not a greater computer than the Milliard Gargantubrain at Maximegalon which can count all the atoms in a star in a millisecond?"
Lunkwill in THHGTTG

How could I prepare for something like this? Well, relfex actions caused me to boot "Froggies over the Fence" and almost purposely press the reset button. Yes, I was to sit myself down and read the Richard Karsmakers World Record Scrolltext. After a couple of hours of reading (I didn't pause it once - is that a record too?), it reached the end. Just to prove I did read it, the text ends with ")!" (in that order), the 173013th and 173014th bytes of text, if I remember correctly.
But as you may have guessed, despite my reading of the entire history of ST NEWS (up to the date of that demo anyway), I am still at a loss to find something to say about the magazine. You've probably noticed this already as I've now completed three paragraphs of minimalistic content. I know, I'll tell you how I got into this Dutch disk magazine frenzy...
If I look through the number labels on my disks (yes, I number each disk - sad I know), I can work out which of my ST NEWS pile of disks arrived first. And indeed the lowest number is disk 396 - Volume 7 Issue 2 to quote the issue number (hey, and volume number!). That fact that it contains Richard Davey's (of Falcon Owners Group fame) handwriting, would suggest that he landed me up with my first ever issue of ST NEWS (and also my first "Maggie", etc - I owe a lot to this particular guy (including supplying me with my first ST)).
Now I have booted up Vol 7 Iss 2 (the one previously mentioned) on the computer to my left. I would have done it earlier, but it was downloading something (puh!). The tune "Judgement Day" by Big Alec starts to hum through my speakers and the scan rate jumps up to 60Hz - ooh, this is the ST NEWS flavour! As I skip through the dropdown menus (luckily my Blitter chip is engaged), I remember this issue well. I fact it's the one that started me in my quest for other issues.
And quest for issues I did, and I now have rather more than just 7.2. In total I probably only have about a measly two-thirds, but at least I've recently found time to read them all, instead of the majority of them sitting like ornaments in my disk box. The best time was when I wrote directly to Richard requesting issues 1.1 through 3.4 (incl. compendiums - the maximum that would fit on 4 floppies). It was really interesting to read these issues from '86 and '87 especially. It's only comparable to reading scroll texts in equally old demos.
Now as we enter the phase of praising Richard personally, I must apologise in advance for sounding too much like I'm leading a funeral service.
Seriously though, we must appreciate that Richard (and additionally Stefan) have dedicated an unimaginably huge part of their lives to bring us this most excellent of disk-based publications on a regular basis. They have done this over a period of 10 years now. And even when (now using knowledge gained from the mega-scrolltext) they thought issues could get no better, have eaten their own words as an even greater issue followed.
The immense and dynamic content of ST NEW has reached a climax in the more recent issues. This includes interviews with the kind of people that you would never dream of being interviewed in a non-commercial specialist magazine like this. Coupled with the excellent Adventure Solutions, these features gave ST NEWS the leading edge in the disk magazine field.
Richard will now have a well-earned change after many memorable years of ST NEWS and keeping us topped-up with our fixes of the digital drug (!).
Jonathan Nott (a.k.a. Vogue of Skynet)

A Sad day indeed, did you realise, Richard, that it is 7 years almost to the day since we first met? We were all so young and so naive. Parting is such sweet sorrow. I will miss you dearly. Thanks for all you have done over the years for the ST Scene, the few years at the end of the Eighties and the Start of the Nineties were a great laugh and ST NEWS provided the inspiration for the The Lost Boys and many of the other groups who emerged onto the ST Scene. You helped us meet many people with whom I am still very great friends. All the pages of and pages of stuff that you and Stefan wrote over the years provided amusement for many. The STNICCC was cool and will never be forgotten. All the best in you future endeavours and best wishes to everyone who still reads!
Tim Moss a.k.a. Manikin of the Lost Boys

ST NEWS was one of the first things that came to my attention when I entered the Atari scene 7 years ago. The very first thing was, of course, the 21 games that was included in my "Super Pack." But in those days, before everyone had access to the Internet, ST NEWS was my only chance to read about what happened on the ST scene in the rest of the world. Sure, there existed some magazines, like "ST User" and "ST World", but they didn't cover anything about the "underground" scene, where demos showed up, adventures were solved and funny text articles were written.
As I live in Norway, I know the whole story about the origin of "ST Klubben", a Norwegian disk magazine based on the ST NEWS idea. As you all know, the people behind these two magazines had a lot of contact with each other, which meant that "ST Klubben" and the people behind it (mainly Ronny, Karl Anders and the Ose brothers) where frequently referred to in ST NEWS. This made ST NEWS even more interesting.
As ST NEWS became bigger, in the sense that they got more readers, more contributors and more distributors, I think Richard and Stefan got more eager to work even harder. The real-time articles that evolved in that time, were in my opinion well written and extremely funny. The editorials, hidden articles and scroll texts, much of the time referring to alcohol, girls and heavy metal were often the best articles on the disk, despite the fact that they had little to do with our dear computer.
I am a Falcon owner now. I use this computer only for programming funny little things. The Falcon is a much better machine than the ST ever was, but I still can't help feeling bored and isolated on this thing. Few write good software for the Falcon. There are very few commercial games written specific for the Falcon. Worst of all, most of the excellent games from the ST do not even work on the Falcon. All this is because Bill Gates has made most of the brilliant minds from the various scenes convert to PC freaks.
In all this terrible time from WHEN the Falcon was released until today, where most of the ST owners I know have fled the scene, and even Atari has gone to sleep, we have still had the soul of the Atari ST with us, with the continuation of releases of undead ST NEWS issues. Now even this landmark is chopped down, and we are left with nothing.
This situation is very similar to what happened to the Dragon computer scene some years ago, before the 16-bit computers revolutionised the world. Dragon went bankrupt early, but the Dragon scene kept on for a long time. After a while, though, even this remarkable computer had to make way for technological improvement. When "Dragon User" finally quit, the patriotic Dragon scene could finally state that their game was over. This, I think, is what is happening to the ST/Falcon scene now that our beloved ST NEWS has ceased to exist.
Tor Egil Hovland

What does (or did) ST NEWS mean to me? Hmm... not sure what to say in these obituary type things, which I guess this is, kinda. Of course, I always enjoyed the mixture of reviews and articles as well as the other oddities such as human interest and stories. Always harassing some poor unsuspecting postie when the latest issue failed to make the doormat. I liked it so much so I decided I had to contribute in some small way. To which end ST NEWS proved to be a highly enjoyable, educational and rewarding means to express myself and hopefully entertain other similarly like- minded people as they have entertained me over the years.
Perhaps a more personal and true measure of what ST NEWS means to me can be expressed in terms of the amount I put in to it compared to what I got back in return. I gained a good friend and contact in Richard Karsmakers (who was there to help me through a bit a emotional rocky patch) who proved to be a positive inspiration. It can also be seen to be directly responsible for me getting to know other Atari scene dignitaries like the "Maggie" team (Chris and Richard), Reservoir Gods (Leon, Tash and Kev), the PHF (Phil), and a few others. It also looks damn good on a CV as well as being a pretty good conversational gambit - I'll never forget the look on Kev Davies' face when I told him I wrote for ST NEWS. Gob-smacked in the extreme! I will remember ST NEWS as one of those defining moments or turning points in my life that started me on the road to bigger and, hopefully, better things.
Thanks Richard, for producing such a great diskmag. I raise my (pint) glass in salute whilst simultaneously blowing trumpet-like into a big soggy hanky - the monsoon one reserved for particularly emotional moments.
Michael Noyce

All these people, thanks for your kind words. Remember, without you there would not have been any fun writing ST NEWS. Stefan and me always lived off the feedback we got, and it's what kept the magazine alive all these years.
I won't end this by saying, "Farewell".
Richard

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