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From: conklin@msudoc.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: Re: Is Atari killing the 8 bit?
Message-ID: <1404@msudoc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 30-Apr-87 18:14:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: msudoc.1404
Posted: Thu Apr 30 18:14:04 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 2-May-87 14:02:10 EDT
References: <8704241712.AA00959@mitre-bedford.ARPA>
Reply-To: conklin@msudoc.UUCP (Terry Conklin)
Distribution: world
Organization: Michigan State Univ., Engineering, E. Lansing
Lines: 33
Keywords: What if? What next? What now?
Summary: Price hikes and lower ST prices spell doom to 8bits

I have a question, maybe someone from Atari can answer it, or maybe not.
Is Atari purposely killing the 8-bits?

This question is, for the most part, brought on by the recent "high"
prices put on the XE machines. Coupled with the already low ST prices
it's obvious that the decision to go with either an XE or an ST is being
made for the buyer. Other things that seem telltale are A.) The "game"
title was slapped on the new XE machine, B.) The 3.5" drive and 80
column card do not exist. (Sorry gang, but unless I can _buy_ it, it
doesn't exist. That's only fair. I dont buy things with promised money,
and I can't purchase promised products.) C.) When ICD wanted more
Parallel bus information to build the MIO box, they had to sign
non-disclosure agreements. A _FAR_ cry from the open-architecture of
Atari past which even distributed the source code to the OS, D.) Atari's
recent telling the guy who did the ST's 8-bit emulator that he couldn't
touch the OS code.
 
None of these events are the actions of a company with an interest in
the 8-bit's future. That's fine, since they aren't making as much on the
8bit as they are on an ST, but I'd like to know if this is the
committed direction. I, and something like 2 or 3 million other people
have hundreds (or thousands!) of dollars tied up in 8-bit hardware, and
would like to think that if Atari is no longer interested in marketing
the machine, they would at least release it to the public domain to
allow third party small time vendors support the existing owners of the
machine or build compatible upgrades. Like the Commodore-128 or the
Coco-3, a new machine that would only really interest existing owners,
but would give them a 'full power' machine that they can keep their
existing software and periperhals going on.

Terry Conklin
ihnp4!msudoc!conklin		The Club    (517) 372-3131  now w/2400
conklin@mich-state.edu		The Club II (313) 334-8877