Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!news.cs.indiana.edu!samsung!uunet!mcsun!ukc!edcastle!hwcs!neil
From: neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: ATARI's current line
Message-ID: <5269@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk>
Date: 28 Jan 91 09:13:23 GMT
References: <120@usna.NAVY.MIL> <886@TALOS.UUCP>
Reply-To: neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth)
Organization: Computer Science, Heriot-Watt U., Scotland
Lines: 40

In article <886@TALOS.UUCP> jerry@TALOS.UUCP (Jerry Gitomer) writes:
> ...  In Europe the Atari is considered to be a serious computer, in the USA
>Atari tends to be equated with toy.

It's a toy here too. To the best of my knowledge Atari UK never advertise(d)
the ST as a serious business machine. At best a home business machine for
folk who couldn't afford a PC or didn't know any better. It's games, games
and more games for the ST on the UK. I heard that Mirrorsoft are apparently
going to stop producing serious software so they can conecntrate on the
'leisure matket'.

>As someone who runs OS-9 and MINIX on my ST in addition to
>GEM =I= realize that Atari computers are more than toys.

Me too. But how do you go about convincing the business community that when
most of them don't know what an ST is and their first question is 'Is it
PC and MS-DOS compatible'. It's even tougher when you consider that Atari
themselves aren't interested. It shouldn't be up to us to promote the Atari ST!

Perhaps I'm out a bit here, but didn't the ST come out about a year after the
Mac? Hailed as the Jackintosh at the time, if Atari had not gone for the home
market but had promoted it from the start as a serious machine, just think
what it would be like today. I reckon their market share would rival Apples
considerably.

Oh well, there is no use crying over spilt milk I guess.

>Jerry Gitomer at National Political Resources Inc, Alexandria, VA USA
>I am apolitical, have no resources, and speak only for myself.
>Ma Bell (703)683-9090      (UUCP:  ...{uupsi,vrdxhq}!pbs!npri6!jerry 


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! Neil Forsyth                      JANET:  neil@uk.ac.hw.cs                 !
! Dept. of Computer Science         ARPA:   neil@cs.hw.ac.uk                 !
! Heriot-Watt University            UUCP:   ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!neil          !
! Edinburgh, Scotland, UK           "That was never 5 minutes!"              !
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