I answer all of my e-mail, even though that commitment often costs me an hour or more a day. The answers probably aren't always satisfactory — I refuse, for example, to comment on the relative merits of commercial products. And the answers sometimes go astray. My DOS-based mailer can get bollixed by a long or esoteric return address. If you've written me in the past few years and received no reply to a direct question, know that I almost certainly tried to send you an answer.

A more reliable way to get your questions answered is to send e-mail straight to R&D Publications. The folks who publish this magazine have better resources for tracking mail, and for finding someone who can answer it more or less wisely. For example, they know to pass Windows queries on to almost anybody else but me — I still enjoy relative ignorance of that particular morass.

One reliable source of answers lo these many years has been Ken Pugh. His Q?/A! column has fearlessly tackled a wide range of questions, usually with enlightening results. Often, Ken's explanations have stimulated even more detailed supplemental contributions from other readers. It is no surprise that Q?/A! consistently garners positive comments from our letter writers.

Thus, I report with some sadness that Ken Pugh is retiring from his post as resident CUJ expert on almost everything. For some of the reasons why, you can read his farewell address later in this issue. My job is to thank him, on behalf of all you readers, for the yeoman effort he has put in for so long. He will be missed.

That's not to say that we've run out of answers. CUJ continues to welcome questions, particularly those whose answers can help other readers as well. (Don't hesitate to ask because you think the question is too trivial — someone else is probably waiting for you to get the courage to ask it instead.) Keep those cards and letters rolling in, and we'll keep supplying folks who are willing to answer them patiently.

P.J. Plauger
pjp@plauger.com