12.4 APPENDIX D: SHARP-clubs and addresses

12.4.3 Club 3: The SHARP MZ-users group (De SHARP MZ-gebruikers groep)

The preceding two clubs were independent clubs, but the SHARP MZ-gg is part of the largest computer club our country knows, it is also the largest
SHARP club in the country.

Because the SHARP MZ-800 was dumped by KWANTUM, the SHARP MZ-gg had an enormous increase in the number of members a few years ago. People often could not find information and programs for the SHARP and tried it at the SHARP MZ-gg. Why did they not look at other clubs? This is primary because these clubs did not exist yet and secondary the address of the SHARP MZ-gg was in the manual.

The last two years a lot of members have left this club. With 6000 people, there are 6000 different ideas and the interests are dispersed as well. Because not all interests could be satisfied, a lot of people have given up their membership. Now the SHARP MZ-gg has a lot of local meetings which have a low attendance, because of the bare fact that there are too many meetings and also because of the low attendance there is not much to do. For these reasons a number of regions will be disposed of to get more visitors to the remaining meetings.

The price you have to pay to become a member of the HCC and to receive the MZ-ggs own magazine is not low either. You have to pay Fl 60,– for membership of the HCC (and on top of it Fl 10,– for membership of the MZ-gg) and another Fl 15,– to receive 6 issues of the SHARP-magazine ARGONOUT and a membership letter. Add all this and it will cost Fl 85,–, a whole investment. If you see what you get in return, the amount of money might be a bit high.

Here is what you will get in return.

• You will receive the monthly HCC-newsletter, a professional computer magazine that is certainly worth it. The problem however, is that nothing about the SHARP is mentioned and that is what it is all about in the end.

• Monthly regional meetings are organised, except for the vacation months. It is almost certain a regional meeting is in your neighbourhood.• The SHARP MZ-gg offers the possibility to buy QDs for a low price. Other SHARP articles can often be bought below the market price.

• There also is the possibility to buy club cassettes for Fl 25,– a piece. The quality of these cassettes might not be so great, but the variation in programs is huge. From the 20 programs that reside on one tape, there are usually one or more programs on it that are interesting for you.

• The SHARP MZ-gg also has the division in workshops. For specific problems you can always ask one of these workshops. Here one of the disadvantages of having such a big club comes to light. Everyone has specific questions for these workshops, that is the reason that sometimes a workshop is unable to solve a problem for you, but this is very rare. Only the SCCE does not have this division in workshops, but at the time of release of this book there also is a likewise indexing in this club.

Of course the SHARP MZ-gg has more to offer than this, but this was about the most important. It is the SHARP-club that has the most to offer and it has a professional magazine. It also has a couple of disadvantages, the high membership fee being one of them.

At this time we are not affiliated with the SHARP MZ-gg anymore, but this will change very soon. The SHARP MZ-gg needs every member, because the money for this club comes from merchandising SHARP related articles. From the membership fee of the HCC only Fl 5,– goes to the SHARP MZgg. So now you might understand why the cassettes are a bit more costly than normal.

To make people able to profit from all articles the SHARP MZ-gg has to offer without paying the HCC membership fee, there is currently the possibility to buy all club articles without being a member of the SHARP MZ-gg. There is also the possibility to get a subscription to the ARGONOUT magazine. We strongly recommend you to make use of this possibility, to help the SHARP MZ-gg make more money, so they can do even more for you than they can do now.

You might think we are playing a game to gain advantage by staying friends with both the SHARP MZ-gg as the SCCE and by promoting them both.
This is only partly true, but in the future we shall also give these clubs information and programs. Then you can profit from that and that is what it is all about. For more information about the SHARP MZ-gg you can go to one of the regional or national meetings or you can contact:

The chairman: Hans Niessen 033-945285
The cachier: Albert vd Pol 02993-61823

The secretary:
Jan Bancken
Lis 14
1273 CD Huizen
(in writing)

After having given more information about the other SHARP-clubs, we now give you a couple of addresses where you can go to with questions or remarks:

For everything in the book, on Neptunes Software, tables of all sorts or supplementary information you can go to the authors of this book who are also the founders of Neptunes Software.

First try:
Arjan Habing
Prakkestraat 19
7741 CK Coevorden
05240-14646
(Preferably in writing. You will receive an answer within one month. Of course you have to include a return envelope and a stamp.)

If Arjan is not reachable, you can try:
Mark de Rover
Geranuimstraat 11
3135 XE Vlaardingen
101-4352722
(Also preferably in writing. Do not forget the return envelope and a stamp!)

For anything that has to do with hardware you can contact:
C. Gans
Ketelmeer 10
1509 HJ Zaandam
075-172050
(Preferably telephonic questions. You can call between 20.00h and 22.00h, except for Sundays.)

For questions about the BASIC-interpreter and things like that you can contact:
H. Smits
Zweepslag 7
6852 ED Huissen
085-250006
(Also preferably telephonic questions.)

For questions about CPM you can go to:
Ton de Pan
Veezuelaweg 100
3193 BA Hoogvliet
010-4161033

You can not expect these people to be there for you at any time. It is an exceptional service of these people to give help to the buyers of this book aside from their normal activities. So you can expect the words: “I’m sorry, but I’m too busy right now.”

(Editor: All data (tel. and addresses) are not actual - they are from 1990.)

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