Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!hplsla!andyc
From: andyc@hplsla.HP.COM (Andy Cassino)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: A little detective work...
Message-ID: <5440049@hplsla.HP.COM>
Date: 25 Aug 89 17:02:39 GMT
References: <890824.01342113.020170@SFA.CP6>
Organization: HP Lake Stevens, WA
Lines: 70

Dave Meile writes in response to "a little detective work":

| The whole problem with this line of reasoning is that the average computer
| user should not _have_ to troubleshoot his system for a period of several
| hours (which is what you did) in order for a utility to run successfully on
| the computer.  This is _especially_ true if the utility is not PD/Shareware
| in nature.
| ....
|
| Much of the PD/Shareware software I take a look at gets tossed out for that
| reason -- my time is more valuable as compared to the "possible" resource
| savings for a given utility.

To which I say - "Amen!"

I've had problems with the ordering of "AUTO" programs before and still
do from time to time. What a hassle. Just ordered Codehead Utilities to at
least speed the process with its auto sorting utililty. Just downloaded 
PINHEAD by Codehead to speed up the loading of all these TSR's. Got me 
to thinking:

                      >>>Does this make sense?<<<

Why does one have to run all these TSR's to fix operating system bugs, make
things run at the speed they should, patch program incompatibilities, and
get the overall usability where it should be?

Look at this list of TSR's I use:

SUPRBOOT - to manage the boot of the TSR's and ACC's
FOLDRXXX - OS bug patch
FATSPEED - OS bug patch
G+PLUS   - a legitimate TSR, but Atari GDOS should have been good enough
UIS      - psuedo-legitimate, wouldn't need it if Atari had done the job right
SHEL_FIX - patch to fix program parameter-passing incompatibilties
DCACHE   - legitimate, a true option
HEADSTRT - gotta have this to autoboot NEODESK, which TOS should do, to
           replace the bare-bones TOS desktop
MOUSESPD - don't have 16 feet of mousepad, why wasn't this part of the
           control panel?
CLIP     - supports some "standard" that only Interlink uses
PINHEAD  - speeds up loading this mess

(And I'm not even getting into the pile of accessories that I have, and the
Multidesk program that I bought to manage that mess, that won't run 50% of
the accessories I use).

When I look at the time spent determining that I need these programs, the
time and money spent getting them, the time spent configuring them, and the
BIG chunk of memory they consume, well, it kind of ticks me off. To be blunt,
it's a shameful situation.

My point is, this is all great sport for us techies, but it's no fun for 
your average home/business user trying to DO SOMETHING besides play junior 
hacker.



Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those solely
of the author, who has no pecuniary interest in the companies mentioned.

Copyright (c) 1989 by Andrew Cassino.  All rights reserved.

    %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
    % Andy Cassino                                                  %
    % uucp: hplabs!hplsla!andyc  domain: andyc%hplsla@hplabs.hp.com %
    % Hewlett-Packard              Lake Stevens Instrument Division %
    % 8600 Soper Hill Road                   Everett, WA 98205-1298 %
    % (206) 335-2211                                                %
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%