Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!midway!gargoyle!chinet!saj From: saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Just gripin'... Summary: This is a Mega E. This is chopped liver. They're different. Keywords: cheerleader apologist ostrich Message-ID: <1990Dec01.071140.10836@chinet.chi.il.us> Date: 1 Dec 90 07:11:40 GMT References: <568@organpipe.UUCP> <36363@cup.portal.com> Organization: Chinet - Chicago Public Access UNIX Lines: 41 In article <36363@cup.portal.com> Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes: >Golly........! > >Where are all the Atari Cheerleaders....???? > >Where are all the diehard Atari Apologists....???? > >Where are all the Atari Ostriches who still believe that if we "wait until >COMDEX" everthing will be just fine...???? > etc. You rang? Maybe it's because the Mega E is so nearly the machine I thought Atari should have introduced as a cash cow about 10 months ago, to me it looks good. An ST (well, an STE, but who's paying attention to that) running at 16 MHz all the way through on a 68000. Low risk engineering with performance that matches (or slightly beats) the 16-20 MHz 386SX clones that are now 'utility' PCs. It'll be nice if someone puts something useful on VME boards at a hobbyist price, but I can live without it. The new GDOS could be a big improvement if it sees the light of day; seems I've read the same thing about imaging models for PCs and MACs in the last year (True Type, anyone?). The Atari Advantage program, which looked like a neat way to make bitter enemies (start people out on low-end non-upgradable machines while your main product line is a lot better than that) seems to have died. Meanwhile, Atari still has a better manufacturer repair program than IBM or Apple (what, you want me to compare them with Dell?), and they're trying to help developers where they can. Seems to me that a year ago there were no STs to be had in the US, and there was a great deal of doubt that TOS could handle large amounts of hard disk. Stacy was a nasty joke. The TT wasn't even a well-defined rumor. The STE wasn't even a rumor. So how's Atari doing compared to that? What is catastrophic is the situation of Atari dealers. There's no prospect that the people who went out of business getting tortured a little more every week are ever going to be made whole. But that isn't the whole story of Atari STs. The stuff above is part of the story too. Steve J.