Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!ncar!gatech!ukma!psuvm.bitnet!cunyvm!byuvax!leigh
From: leigh@byuvax.bitnet
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: WHAT ATARI NEEDS TO DO...
Message-ID: <170leigh@byuvax.bitnet>
Date: 6 Apr 88 16:58:47 GMT
Lines: 48


>In article <166leigh@byuvax.bitnet> leigh@byuvax.bitnet writes:
>>If Atari would like to be somewhat successful with their non-8-bit machines,
>>they need to get rid of their game-machine image.  To do that, they need
>>to form a new subsidiary that doesn't conspicuously bear the Atari name
>>and use it to market the STs, ABAQ, and UNIX-boxes and leave the Atari name
>>for the 8-bit machines and Game Systems.
>>
>>Chad

>I hope this was meant as a joke.  The problems that Atari is having with

nope.  no joke.  Of course you are right, the problem isn't just their
name, but I would be willing to wager that even if they did *repent* :-)
and become the most 'honest' supporting forthright computer company that
ever existed I doubt that they would become successful quickly.  Too many
people get a bad taste in their mouths when the name Atari comes up (either
because of their track record or because they are 'just' a game company...).


>regards to establishing themselves as a "credible" computer company goes
>deeper than just their name.  For Commodore, this strategy may have worked;
>they made the Amiga name MUCH more prominent than the company's, BUT they
>were successful with this because they changed their attitude towards their
>customer (ie. they became more attuned to the customers' and developers' needs)
>whereas Atari still treats customers & developers as they have for their
>8-bit products: crummy.

>I know I know, this is becoming yet another Atari-bash.  But what else can I
>(or we, in general) do?  Oh we keep hearing promises from the Atari management
>and the Atari guys that post to this net BUT after waiting for nearly TWO YEARS
>for some of these promises to come true, I'm becoming too disillusioned to
>believe in anything that Atari decides to announce.  I'll believe Atari again
>when they start fulfilling some of their promises and when they "grow up" as
>a company.
>
>
>As usual, these are my personal opinions.  But it seems that numerous other
>people share this view.
>
>
>Tom Wolf
>ARPA (I think): tw@cscosl.ncsu.edu
>          or  wolf@csclea.ncsu.edu
>


Chad