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From: braner@batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU (braner)
Newsgroups: net.micro.atari16
Subject: Re: No Available 1040's
Message-ID: <1159@batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU>
Date: Fri, 3-Oct-86 11:11:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: batcompu.1159
Posted: Fri Oct  3 11:11:44 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 4-Oct-86 13:58:14 EDT
References: <21269@rochester.ARPA>
Reply-To: braner@batcomputer.UUCP (braner)
Organization: Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Lines: 25

[]

Obviously, Atari cannot meet the demand for 1040's. (the machines, not
the forms :-)  And it IS trying to raise capital (e.g. the "going public").
But to hold on to peoples' money is not only immoral (illegal?) but also
against Atari's interest.  I assume they 1040's sold were sold at a profit.
I also assume the factories involved still exist.  So the only thing gained
by the (rumored) witholding of that production capacity is bad PR.

Osborne went belly-up because of the early announcment of the Osborne 2,
prompting consumers to wait and avoid buying the 1.  Atari has announced
the 2080 and 4160.  Are they trying to discontinue the 1040? Are they
trying to FORCE the consumers to wait for those?  I think that would be
a grave mistake:  There IS a market for the 1040, obviously!  1 megabyte
is enough for a LOT of uses, and the larger RAM chips are going to be
very expensive for some time to come.  512K is NOT enough for any sort
of development work, as the demand for upgrades proves.  And by 'development'
I mean 'programming', not necessarily commercial.  The "nobody programs
besides the professionals" myth has been shattered by the sale of
hundreds of thousands of copies of Turbo Pascal.


Please, Atari: let us have 1040's!

- Moshe Braner