Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!crdgw1!uunet!mcsun!ukc!slxsys!ibmpcug!mantis!mathew From: mathew@mantis.co.uk (mathew) Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn Subject: Re: Acorn S&M (was Re: Acorn Compters Ltd. (to the rescue!)) Message-ID: Date: 18 Feb 91 11:54:42 GMT References: <1991Feb14.163652.1456@cns.umist.ac.uk> Organization: Mantis Consultants, Cambridge. UK. Lines: 37 marksv%t1d@uk.ac.man.cs writes: > I think Arc should have taken on the likes of the Am*ga, ST etc in the > leisure market *and won*. There are a number of reasons why it didn't. (1) I suspect that Acorn did not (and do not) have the manufacturing capability to make that many machines. Atari have huge factories in the far east churning out STs, and they _still_ sell out from time to time. (2) The ST and Amiga had a head start of about a year. (3) The Archimedes has no US following. Until companies like Electronic Arts start producing Archimedes games, the machine is not going to win against the ST or Amiga. (4) The Archimedes was, and still is, too bloody expensive. I was quite excited when the A3000 came out; I thought Acorn had finally done something right. I thought I'd be able to justify getting an Archimedes. Then I looked at the specifications, and it seemed that Acorn had produced much the same sort of crippled hardware disaster as the old BBC "A" computer. My opinion is that the Archimedes will not begin compete with the ST or Amiga until you can buy a fully-functional, upgradable Archimedes for 600. By "upgradable" I mean that the machine must have RS423, parallel port, SCSI connector (or equivalent) for hard disk, slots for SIMMs, and ideally MIDI ports as well. It must be capable of accepting any add-on which a more expensive Arc can accept. You can do what Apple do, and cut down on the number of expansion slots; but you must allow for expansion. mathew.