Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!linac!midway!clout!chinet!saj
From: saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Atari Mortis
Summary: Totally un-asked-for suggestions to Atari
Keywords: history, cheerleading, admonitions
Message-ID: <1991May20.140200.11251@chinet.chi.il.us>
Date: 20 May 91 14:02:00 GMT
References: <4528@bnr-rsc.UUCP> <1991May19.035413.14005@chinet.chi.il.us> <1991May20.024743.12954@ecst.csuchico.edu>
Organization: Chinet - Chicago Public Access UNIX
Lines: 62

In article <1991May20.024743.12954@ecst.csuchico.edu> ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) writes:
>In article <1991May19.035413.14005@chinet.chi.il.us> saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) writes:
>
>People always say that there's not much software selection in the ST community.
>What kinds of stuff would people, not just you Stephen, be interested in?  It
>seems we have a ton of utility packages, but very few applications.

That's exactly the problem.  In the inexpensive utility field, people will
buy several similar products and use the one that suits them best.  For
applications, the prices tend to be higher, and people tend to get just one
of each kind.  This makes the competition more serious.  So we have the
potentially interesting spreadsheet and database markets dominated by one or
two maximally PC-compatible products.  Native ST products don't generate the
cash to support much 'market presence'.  The exceptions are in the fields
where the ST really shines: MIDI, CAD and DTP.  But in general, the ST market
doesn't presently support 'secondary' applications in big markets (that means
something like Ami or Professional Write in PC word processing), and doesn't
support any commercial products in minor markets.  

Consider me as part of the problem.  As I endlessly repeat, I have a Stacy-
specific application ready to go.  But it probably won't appeal to many
musicians.  There aren't enough Stacys out there to justify the effort of
publishing the thing.  

I guess the moral of this part is that the ST family needs *SUPER-KILLER*
applications to make the whole thing big enough to support the ordinary
applications.  It may happen.  It's more likely to happen as the machines
get better.
>
>>one it came with.  No room to add stuff.  Pizza boxes are great as network
>>leaves, but for the one-and-only, lots of room to grow is comforting.
>
>Here's where the 'speed without the speed price' comes in.  One of the ways
>that Atari keeps the prices of their computers low is by making them 
>unexpandible internally.  I don't understand why this is exactly, but
>adding slots for cards and stuff drastically adds the price to a product.
>I don't know why making a case a bit bigger with a few ports on the *inside*
>would raise the price of a product but it does.  (This theory doesn't apply
>in the MS-DOS world because there's so much competition, it lowers the 
>
>(Please let me know if you see holes in this theory. :^)
>
The hole in the theory is that 'PC boxes' have become commodity items.  You
can put anything you like inside of one.  How about 'office models' added
to the Atari line: the same electronics, but in a 'PC box', with an Atari
nameplate, for a mere $100 or so extra.  Define a bus for expansion cards
using the ISA-type connectors.  Don't get me wrong: Atari has some of the
nicest industrial design work around, but sometimes it's necessary to go with
a clunker to get functionality for the dollar (don't jump on me: sure, a good
design saves money when you're going from scratch: these are COMMODITY clunks)

>
>The STe is fine at 8Mhz.  The only thing holding it back is marketing from
>Atari.  A home machine doesn't need to be 16Mhz, although I know everyone
>would like to have a 16Mhz machine for the same price as their 8Mhz.

No.  Just no.  The potential killer application for the ST series is desktop
publishing (I think, anyway).  It gobbles cycles like Gargantua.  And the 
potential 'nose of the camel' to get Atari boxes into 'respectable' places is
transparent network connectivity, which also gobbles cycles.  I sure hope
those faster STe-s are already breadboarded somewhere.
                                     Steve       saj@chinet.chi.il.us