_{Cover of the May 1988 issue of PC World}

PC World was probably the most popular computer magazine from the late 80s until it ceased publication. It shrunk considerable in later years but it the late 1980s it still had large issues with this one coming in at nearly 340 pages. The May 1988 issue includes:

Review

PostScript Printers' Progress - Reviews of five postscript capable printers including the Apple LaserWriter Plus, AST TurboLaser/PS, IBM Personal Pageprinter, NEC Silentwriter LC890, QMS-PS 810, and Qume Scripten.

Imaging Becomes Electric - A look at some of the latest image scanners including the Datacopy Model 730, Dest PC Scan 2020, HP ScanJet, Microtek MSF-300C, and AVR MegaScan. A couple of these were only black and white while others offered 16 to 256 gray scale shades. Color scanning wasn't really a thing yet.

Byline - For Better Business Documents - Simple desktop publishing software for business documents that can interface directly with dBase.

The Hardware Shelf - Reviews of the Vectra ES/12 (an AT compatible PC from HP), the Hot Shot/286 (an 80286-based accelerator board for XT computers), the NEC MultiSync II monitor, 2Page Display (high res monitor and graphics board designed for desktop publishing), and RuggedWriter 480 (a dot-matrix printer from HP).

The Software Shelf - Reviews of The Office Publisher 1.0 (desktop publishing software), VP-Planner Plus 2.0 (a clone of Lotus 1-2-3), Boyan D3 (a communications package), Zoomracks II (hypertext like database with an index card metaphor), and Q-DOS II 2.0 (a hard disk manager).

_{Table of Contents from the May 1988 issue of PC World}

Departments

Top of the News - Tandy opens up Deskmate GUI to developers; Tandy to ship a PS/2 clone; SideKick Plus debuts; more CD-ROM hardware available; and more.

David Bunnell - A look at PC World changes inspired by readers.

Richard Landry - Spreadsheets as a user interface.

Stewart Alsop - IBM changes how it does business by being more open about future plans.

On IBM - A look at early versions of OS/2.

Industry Outlook - Ventura Publisher becomes leading desktop publishing software on PC; scanner market expected to double; Lotus prepares for 1-2-3 release 3; Compaq passes the $1 billion sales mark; OS/2 to take advantage of turbo boards; IBM PC sales rebound overseas; Gold Hill AI supplier commited to LISP; and more.

Product Outlook - A look at upcoming products including new computers from Zenith (SupersPort, SupersPort 286, and TurbosPort 386), the NEC MultiSync MonoGraph extra-large screen display, Ten Time disk controller from Konan, new VGA adapters, and more.

Breifly Noted - A brief look at new products including the Hyundai Super-286, NEC MultiSync GS monitor, BocaRAM/30 RAM upgrade for the PS/2 Model 25 and 30, and more.

Preview - An early look at Lotus 1-2-3 release 3 and Word Perfect 5.0.

Consumer Watch - Making sure that your computer is insured.

The Upgrade Path - Upgrading an IBM PS/2 Model 50 with a Rodime DoublePlay 45MB hard disk (only $1495).

The Help Screen - A guide to deciphering PC sales terms.

Star-Dot-Star - A batch file for performing actions based on date, tips for programming WordStar data entry screens, and more.

_{Table of Contents from the May 1988 issue of PC World (continued)}

Features

Is Desktop Publishing Worth the Effort? - While not necessarily as easy as vendors make it out to be, it's still far superior to the old way of doing things.

Buyers' Guide: Venture Publisher and PageMaker Tools - A guide to the best and most popular add-ons for Ventura Publisher and PageMaker. These include things like style sheets, templates, clip art, graphics tools, utilities, and more.

OS/2 In Transition - Early OS/2 applications look a lot like DOS applications. However, things are about to change.

How To

15 Ventura Publisher Speed Tips - Both free and costly tips for speeding up Ventura Publisher. Includes suggestions such as using a disk caching utility, using keyboard shortcuts, and much more.