Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!simvax.labmed.umn.edu!davidli From: davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Atari Mortis Message-ID: <1991May17.121943.1@simvax.labmed.umn.edu> Date: 17 May 91 12:19:43 GMT References: <9105141732.AA19207@cwns10.INS.CWRU.Edu>, Sender: news@cs.umn.edu (News administrator) Organization: Flying Taoist Graphics Lines: 58 Nntp-Posting-Host: simvax.labmed.umn.edu In article , mg20+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Paul Greelish) writes: A lot of 'doom-and-gloom', 'woe-is-me' stuff, which I don't actually believe. Let me tell you a few stories ... 1. I visited the Atari dealer in the Twin Cities area two days ago. They had an Atari TT on display (which I -hope- they can hold onto long enough to show off at tonight's user-group meeting). They received their first TT's a month or two ago, and each time they get a couple of new machines, they're sold within days. Same thing with the Mega STe and the regular STe machines. And these sales are not generally to people who already own an ST. The selling points? Calamus, DynaCADD and a host of other software available. 2. I received a phone call this morning from a magazine writer in Texas who wanted to know how folks are using the Atari ST (can't remember the name of the magazine -- I get calls all of the time from computer survey groups, and just sort of glaze when they say who they are). I spoke for about 30 minutes, telling her for what manner of things people are using Atari computers. In brief: professional recording studios use them to control synths and tape recorders, professional musicians use them on road shows, amateur musicians use them for any number of things -- including playing music at -their- speed and speeding the tempo until the song sounds right; professional publication production, neighborhood newsletter production, brochure production ... and a host of other DTP functions; Computer-Aided Design, low-budget graphic demos (for high-budget graphic production), doodling; word-processing; telecommunications -- including staying at home while working at the office; playing games; programming (the benevolent term for hardware and software 'hacking', before the term 'hacking' got such a disreputable meaning); emulation of computers at work, so that the user can continue to work at home; the list goes on and on ... 3. People shouldn't purchase computers with the idea that they're ever going get ANYTHING near what they paid for it in the first place. A computer is not an investment like gold or art. As the technology advances, as older technology becomes cheaper, computers lose their value - EXCEPT the value they have in "Getting The Job Done". I owned an Apple ][+ at one time, sold it for about 1/3 what I paid for it (after 5 years), because the technology hadn't advanced far enough in those 5 years ... I owned an Atari 1040 ST (I have a Mega ST now ... thanks Kent), sold it for about 1/5 of what I paid for it (after 5 years), because the technology had advanced so far in those 5 years that the newer machines could be sold for 1/3 of the cost of my 1040 ST! The things I use my Mega ST for haven't changed much over the years. I still find that my computer is as useful today as it was a year ago, or two years ago, or three years ago ... no, I find it MORE useful today. All of this doesn't mean that people like Mike Greelish shouldn't abandon their Atari ST's and go buy Macintosh computers. If they feel so frustrated, they should certainly dump their current machine, hang the cost, and go buy what they think will not frustrate them. I just want to point out that things are NOT as disappointing for other Atari ST owners as Mike appears to believe. -- David Paschall-Zimbel davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu