Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!srcsip!nic.MR.NET!thor.acc.stolaf.edu!pritchaj
From: pritchaj@thor.acc.stolaf.edu (John Pritchard)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: STs and Colleges: A Proposal
Keywords: st, universities, colleges, minix,unix
Message-ID: <10652@thor.acc.stolaf.edu>
Date: 18 Jan 90 13:44:50 GMT
References: <481784b3.14a1f@force.UUCP>
Reply-To: pritchaj@thor.stolaf.edu ()
Organization: Carleton College, Northfield, MN
Lines: 25

As a college (like most) that spends time every year trying to guess what
platform to place out on campus, I can tell you that the proposal could not
fly here.  I like my ST.  The price//performance ratio is great and I can 
amaze people here at Carleton with some of the things it can do, at the price
it can do it for.

Right now, the Atari is a hackers company and the ST is a hacker's machine.
One of the major criteria here is company support and reputation.  Atari's
troubles in both areas would be enough to throw out any proposal.  Another
area that the ST would have trouble in is networking.  Most colleges consider
a machines ability to fit into future networking (ethernet, primarily).  Yes,
the Atari can be 'made' to do a lot of things, but I would not think there
would be very many computer center staffs willing to support that type of
environment.  If Atari were to concentrate on the Educational Market and
prove that it would support the colleges, then OK.  But right now, IBM,
Apple, and HP are the major players in the market, with Commodore beginning
to show more interest (and support).  Atari is making business decisions
that may be good for the company, but it just happens that they are un-
fortunate for educational institutions.

Like Richard, I am always looking.  The longer it takes for Atari to move on
from the ST in the US, the more USers they will lose to others.

John Pritchard
jpritcha@carleton.edu (internet)