Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!amdahl!pyramid!prls!philabs!sbcs!bnl!drs
From: drs@bnl.ARPA (David R. Stampf)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: sink or swim
Message-ID: <401@bnl.ARPA>
Date: 26 Mar 88 20:54:31 GMT
References: <88032219051620D.AFQC@Mars.UCC.UMass.EDU>
Reply-To: drs@bnl.UUCP (David R. Stampf)
Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, N.Y.
Lines: 64

In article <88032219051620D.AFQC@Mars.UCC.UMass.EDU> Consult@UMass.BITNET writes:
>While I did not see the editorial in Compute, I agree with it's basic
>message.  Let's use the Macintosh as a comparsion to the ST.
>About 3 or 4 years ago apple introduced the mac.  Everyone said "Gee,
>it sure is neat, but it can't possiblely do anything."
>True, the machine had it's share of problems.  Starting before last
>summer, however, that reaaaly started to change.  I'm not saying the mac
>wasn't flying before that time, but rather, that the sales really started
>to jump.  I was selling macs at that time.  The Key: advertising!
						      ^^^^^^^^^^^

Nonsense.  A year and a half ago I bought a 1040 based on its price, the
basic look and feel of the machine (screen size, color etc.) and a whole
load of promises of the great things to follow.  Well, it was a lot of fun
for a while.  Some nifty free programs, good languages and games.  But there
were problems too - nothing was forthcomming from atari nor developers
to bring it into the mainstream - no really top notch business programs,
publishing programs and the like.  You don't have to be an expert on quality
publishing to look at the output of -say- personal publisher to see that nobody
would use it for anything important - the output of that program was worse
than an ordinary typewriter.  The only area where the ST seemed to be doing
well was in the music area - and while that's pretty nice, you can't build a
computer market on that narrow a base.

So why this state of affairs?

	* No documentation
	* Nothing to document - I can't see the same level of thought behind
	  Gem, Tos and (dare I mention) GDOS.
	* No followup on promises - the delay in the Mega, Printer, Blitter,
	  IBM attachment (remember that one?), the PC clone.
	* Lack of any ability to fix bugs.
	* A dead O/S - sorry to say, but it ain't going anywhere.

Having recently purchased a Mac, I am totally amazed by how much thought
has been placed in the operating system and the general design of the system.
Sure it suffers from a poor screen, but drawing, scrooling and the ability
to use fonts clearly are better than anything that Atari has come up with - or
is likely to in the future.  

>The mac took about 4 years to get off the ground.  The ST is in it's 3rd
>(?) year.  If they are planning on surviving (actually I know they will
>survive because of european ST sales) then they better get working....
>
>The clock is running...
>
>Damian Roskill
>___________________________________________________________________
>All opinions expressed here are my own...so naaaah!
>-------------------------------------------------------------------

The ST is not showing any signs of taking off - in fact, it seems to be 
kind of stuck where it is.  In fact, it anyone is looking for anything other
than a game machine, the Mac Plus is a definite competitor pricewise.  Quality
wise, there is no contest.  

The ST is a pretty good machine - but not a great one.  The mega is about the
same - just in a different case.  Still no add in boards, no O/S improvements
no future.  Really quite a disappointment.

	< dave.

(PS - Nothing against salesmen, but it is quite typical to blame the problems
on advertising rather than more essential things.)