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From: chuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: 1986 predictions
Message-ID: <3104@sun.uucp>
Date: Thu, 2-Jan-86 00:26:33 EST
Article-I.D.: sun.3104
Posted: Thu Jan  2 00:26:33 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 3-Jan-86 04:35:34 EST
References: <341@ihnet.UUCP> <3400074@uokvax.UUCP>
Organization: Sun Micro -- NFS Consulting Group
Lines: 37

>> Here are my 1986 predictions for the ...ST....
>> Atari will also be in the OEM business (low cost UNIX based CAD-CAM
>> systems), probably in partnership with a large company.

> Surely you jest...no current version of Unix could run on an ST (or Amiga)
> because it lacks memory-mapping hardware.  In 1Q84 (or early 2Q), according
> to info from the CompuServe OS-9 SIG, I'll be able to do what I've wanted to
> do for some time, namely buy a 520ST or Amiga, flush the DOS that comes with
> it down the toilet, and run OS-9 instead.

There was an article in the San Jose Mercury News this weekend on the ST.
Based on what it said (and it quoted named, real people from Atari, not
anonymous sources) the current ST will be repackaged with a modulator so it
can run on a television and marketed through a unnamed and unnegotiated mass
market retailer for about $400-$500. A new ST with a Meg will be marketed
through computer stores with a monochrome monitor (I think the price was about
a grand, but I forget exactly).

This assumes they can find a mass marketer (probably ToysRUs or Kmart) willing
to take them on after the debacles with the Adam, the Comodore machine, and
the Sinclair/Timex. It also assumes the current dealer network doesn't commit
mutiny because of the shift to mass market.

I doubt that you can get decent resolution off a TV. I also find their shift
towards a monochrome monitor amusing, since it seems to prove that the Mac
claim that you can't get a decent color display with good enough
price/performance and resolution has a basis in fact (not that I ever doubted
it, color monitors give me headaches...)

Personally, I think they're blowing it marketing-wise, since they are just
asking to get burnt by their dealers...

-- 
:From catacombs of Castle Tarot:        Chuq Von Rospach 
sun!chuq@decwrl.DEC.COM                 {hplabs,ihnp4,nsc,pyramid}!sun!chuq

It's not looking, it's heat seeking.