You've been reading about it, talking about it, maybe even trying it. Gear Technology has jumped aboard it feet first and begun a voyage on the World Wide Web. Beginning with this issue, an electronic version of the magazine will be online. For those of us who still find the fax machine amazing technology, this is a great leap.

Earlier this year, a relative of mine, Sidney Mandell, tragically passed away. I had the good fortune to serve with Sidney on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Machinery Dealers National Association (MDNA). Though he started before me, his MDNA career and mine overlapped for about 2 years. As I think back on the many things I learned form him, one of his favorite phrases keeps come to mind: "We walk in the footsteps of those who have gone before us."

Every now and then a magazine has to take its own pulse or lose sight of its key mission - providing its readers with information they want. We did it this last year through surveys, interviews with subscribers and focus groups. Our basic question was, how are we doing?

Indianapolis is a nice city. No. It's a great city for a convention. The facilities and the city are modern, clean and bright. The Convention Center is easy to get to by either car or plane, and its central location in the heart of town and the enclosed skyway system between it and major hotels put visitors close to amenities like restaurants, shopping and entertainment. The people are friendly and go out of their way to make visitors feel welcome.

Sometimes in the pressure to meet deadlines and handle the Crisis of the Day, we lose sight of the forest for the trees. As a partial cure for this syndrome, I recently reviewed the six interviews with gear industry leaders that have appeared in our pages during the last year, trying to get a grasp of a larger picture. It struck me with renewed force how six men, each with a lifetime of experience in this business, see the gear industry forest the same way.

Knowing the right thing to do isn't hard. Most often, it's very obvious. Actually doing it is something else again. For example, we all know that we probably eat too much refined sugar and fat, but when the double chocolate cheesecake come by, it's easy to convince ourselves that one piece won't hurt.

Beginning with this issue, one of the last bits of the "old" Gear Technology is gone. From now on we'll be running the new picture of me you see on this page. It was time, my art and editorial staff explained to me, to move ahead with the rest of the updated art and editorial in the magazine. (I emphatically deny that the real motivation for the new picture was putting a stop to the ever-increasing number of jabs from certain friends about my "Dorian Gray" look.)

"Values" is one of he buzzwords we hear everywhere today. Family values. Traditional values. Alternative values. Along with a balanced budget, less government and more fiber in our diets, "values" - and their practical counterparts, "ethics" - are being promoted as one of the simple, obvious solutions to what ails us as a country and as individuals.

The passage last year of both NAFTA and GATT has gone a long way toward leveling the playing field for American manufacturers and other hoping to compete in the global economy. Add to this news the fact that the domestic economy keeps growing, and it seems as though good times are ahead for the gear industry.

Welcome to the new Gear Technology. With this issue we begin bringing you a new look - a new cover, new graphics, a new, broader and more inclusive editorial focus. Our goal is to be an even better resource for the entire gear industry.