to the more compact hexadecimal format. It was noted particularly for software such as the multiplatform word processor SpeedScript, the spreadsheet SpeedCalc, and the game Laser Chess. Editors of the magazine included Robert Lock, Richard Mansfield, Charles Brannon, and Tom R. Halfhill. Noted columnists included Jim Butterfield, educator Fred D'Ignazio and science fiction author Orson Scott Card. With the May 1988 issue, the magazine was redesigned and the type-in program listings were dropped, as was coverage of the Atari 8-bit computers. In 1990, Compute! was out of publication for several months when it was sold to General Media, publishers at the time of Omni and Penthouse magazines, in May of that year. General Media changed the title of the magazine to COMPUTE, without the exclamation point, and the cover design was changed to resemble that of OMNI magazine. Ziff Davis bought Compute!s assets, including its subscriber list, in 1994. General Media had ceased its publication before the sale. Former employees Len Lindsay: Lindsay went on to found the COMAL User's Group, which promoted the COMAL programming language in North America. Robert Lock: After Compute! Publications, Lock started another company, Signal Research, which was among the first to publish magazines and books about computer games. Among the biggest magazine published by Signal Research was Game Players, a magazine devoted to Nintendo, PC, and Sega gaming. He also wrote the book The Traditional Potters of Seagrove, N.C. in 1994, and started Southern Arts Journal a quarterly magazine featuring essays, fiction and poetry about all things Southern, in 2005, but ceased publication after only four issues the next year. Richard Mansfield: Mansfield has written many books, mostly on Microsoft technologies, including Visual Basic .NET All in One Desk Reference for Dummies, Visual Basic .NET Power Tools, Office 2003 Application Development All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies, Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition For Dummies, and CSS Web Design For Dummies. He also writes occasional pieces for DevX.com. He created much controversy with an article he wrote there called OOP is Much Better in Theory Than in Practice. Tom R. Halfhill: Halfhill went on to become a senior editor at Byte. He is currently a technology analyst at The Linley Group and a senior editor of Microprocessor Report. David D. Thornburg: Thornburg has continued to work in the field of educational technology and is involved in projects both in the US and Brazil. Charles G. Brannon: