The former. Worked from home and used phone or email. It was great and paid OK (I think $500 per column, plus all the commercial software I wanted). I also wrote reviews, so if I wanted to learn databases I would write a database roundup. Didn’t go to school for programming, so this was getting paid to learn. And of course being a published writer looked great when applying for a job.

The full-timers did have a real office, BTW. At one point the owners of Penthouse bought COMPUTE! and Omni, so my churchgoing editor found himself putting a porn mag online…