Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma!grahamt
From: grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Graham Thomas)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: TT vs 386 box and flames
Message-ID: <1449@syma.sussex.ac.uk>
Date: 23 Oct 89 15:01:35 GMT
References: <3962.2541c37a@uwovax.uwo.ca>
Organization: SPRU, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, UK
Lines: 47

From article <3962.2541c37a@uwovax.uwo.ca>, by 4224_5132@uwovax.uwo.ca (Andrew
Semple):
> I have no idea why you think the TT is 'vapourware'.  Didn't you see the
> article in Z*net on how everyone who saw it in England loved it.  I mean
> there was one right in front of them!
> 

Sad, to say, seeing a machine at a show doesn't mean it's going to be
purchasable in the near future!  The Atari CD-ROM drive was not only
shown in 1987, it made the front cover of the UK's leading personal
computer magazine (Personal Computer World, December 1987 - I kept
the review to chuckle over every few months).  The CD-ROM drive, to
my knowledge, is still not being sold in the UK - certainly I've not
seen any adverts for it in any ST magazine.  (I did hear that some
were on sale in Germany, but I can't confirm that.  Anyone?)

Now, my guess is that the TT WILL be marketed in the not too distant
future, but that doesn't necessarily follow from its being shown at a
computer exhibition.  (Just to emphasise the point, at the PC Show
this year, Atari were again showing Hyperchart, a presentation
graphics program that's a port of Davrelle graphics for the PC.  I
first saw this at a show in June 88.  The rep from the company that
wrote the program, Soft Image Systems, said the port was finished a
year ago, but Atari UK, who have the marketing rights, have been
procrastinating.)

Me, I'd settle for TOS 1.4 ROMs at the moment.  Atari UK is still not
shipping them to dealers and ordinary users.  At the PC Show at the
end of September I showed Atari UK's Bob Katz the postings by Ken
Badertscher about availability, and got the nice reply, "Ken works in
R&D, and the difference between R&D and reality is at least four
months."

Bob K did say the TT would start shipping here about the end of
November.  Maybe.  I'd love to see it happen, just as I'd love to see
the Stacy in the shops before Christmas.

I managed to crash (= freeze) the TT on show by going into low-res,
opening the 'about..' dialog box to see the 'rainbow' effect and
moving the mouse.  Hope that one gets fixed by release time!

Graham
-- 
Graham Thomas, SPRU, Mantell Building, U of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RF, UK
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