Xref: utzoo comp.lang.pascal:669 comp.sys.atari.st:8091 comp.sys.amiga:15547
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!think!ames!necntc!linus!alliant!rosenkra
From: rosenkra@Alliant.COM (Bill Rosenkranz)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal,comp.sys.atari.st,comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: WARNING ! Atari ST owners look away now....
Message-ID: <1346@alliant.Alliant.COM>
Date: 6 Mar 88 20:29:11 GMT
References: <12045@brl-adm.ARPA> <463@csvax.liv.ac.uk>
Reply-To: rosenkra@alliant.UUCP (Bill Rosenkranz)
Organization: Alliant Computer Systems, Littleton, MA
Lines: 89

In article <463@csvax.liv.ac.uk> sqrkl@csvax.liv.ac.uk writes:
>In article <12045@brl-adm.ARPA>, JEMCCABE%MTUS5.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU writes:
>
>> Oh come on now...   This group is NOT for computer bashing.
	[]
>
>OK, you asked for it ...
>
>1) The Atari ST's OS has been ported from an IBM PC and has several features
>   removed (no fonts for example) and has had several (hundred ?) bugs
>   introduced (40-folder bug, can't rename a folder, can't rename a disk...).
>
>2) The ST has the same sound chip as a Sinclair Spectrum Plus 2 - a prime
>   example of Atari ST cost-cutting.
>
>3) 99% of all available software is either a very poor imitation of Macintosh
	[]
>
>4) Virtually all the compilers I've seen (and I've seen plenty of them !) for
>   the ST have been quite disgraceful. 
	[]
>
>5) The official ST hard disk is appalling.
	[]
>
>6) As mentioned in comp.sys.atari.st, Atari have been caught red-handed
>   shipping STs with faulty disk drives that don't sense the write-protect
>   notch on a disk correctly...typical of such a cost-cutting company
>   (price without the power - or safe disk drives !)
>
>> Calling the ST a "hunk of dross" is uncalled for.  The Amiga
>> has nicer features than the ST, .......  []
>
>I never said that the Amiga/VAX/Mac etc. were the BEST computers in the world
>just that they're BETTER than the ST !! ......  []
>
>Richard K. Lloyd,

all these points are valid and true....

having been a developer on the ST for almost 2 years, and having battled
to understand this sucker, and having invested both huge amounts of time
and $$$ (3 1040s, 2 HD, 5-6 monitors.....) i have to agree that the ST is
not the "ideal" development machine. the only thing that keeps me going
is the fact that there ad 500k+ machines out there. otherwise i would surely
switch my efforts to a more "favorable" host/manufacturer.

i hate reading flames Re: how bad ST is vs how good Amiga is (and visa
versa). that's not REALLY the issue. what is important is to whip atari
into shape ("i'm mad as hell and am NOT going to take it anymore...").
atari SEEMS to be going after mac II/sun/etc... market but is woefully
ill equipped to do so. their org chart is so lean that if Cindy C. is
out, the entire dev support structure STOPS TO FUNCTION! i have had
tremendous problems with SH204 drives (atari sent me 2 in the past 2 weeks,
both bad, and i spent $150 in fed exp charges to get them, and now they
are COMPLETELY OUT OF STOCK!!! i was left to contact a local rep to see
if he could get one from a local store...that's not MY idea of support,
especially for developers).

as a businessman, i have to make a decision: keep on my current masochistic
path or switch to a friendlier environment. it's hard to throw away 
time and $$$ investments (especially time...) but i'm really starting
to look at that as a serious option. 

atari (or at least most of the people i deal with) means well. but their
current posture really is one of a mass market distributor. they will
never sell anything to fortune 1000 firms in the $5-10k range w/o support
and they desperately need to have support, starting with developers (you
know, the ones who make the software that sells the machines).

boycotts are not a solution, either. i, for one, am writing to L. Tramiel
with my feelings, as an interested participant in atari success/failure.
i suggest we all do this, not as a plea or threat, but rather as a 
source of information and market sentiment. afterall, the people on this
net are more likely to recommend/purchase a $5-10k workstation than the
average consumer/hobbyist. if atari sells >20 copies of the ABAQ or whatever
to nonprofessionals, i will indeed be suprised.

if you want to further the cause, don't waste time flaming amiga. it is
a fine system for what it is, just as STs are fine for what they do.
Remember: atari came out with the ST as a low-cost yet powerful machine.
you generally get what you pay for. the issue is really how serious
are the Tramiels and major stockholders and can they be influenced to 
react to a few hundred (thousand?) letters from netland. The Tramiels
are wealthy; they can always go out and start/buy another company and will
always have a market eager to buy their wares. it is our problem to make
sure we get what we want. that's how a "free" market works.

-bill