Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!ucbvax!unisoft!gethen!bdt!david From: david@bdt.UUCP (David Beckemeyer) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Praising the ST Message-ID: <371@bdt.UUCP> Date: 19 Aug 88 22:21:00 GMT References: <8808170403.AA26274@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Reply-To: david@bdt.UUCP (David Beckemeyer) Organization: Beckemeyer Development Tools, Oakland, CA Lines: 76 In article <8808170403.AA26274@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> 01659@AECLCR.BITNET writes: The poster describes many of the good points of the ST with which I agree. But he also presents the following fundamental problem with the ST. Even in his posting he presents mutually opposing viewpoints. First he says: >1. Many of my best loved programs are public domain. and >5. ST software prices are the most reasonable of any system on the >market today... ...No self respecting ST owner would pay >the kinds of prices that PC and MAC codes are asking >(price/performance being a consideration). Later he says: >My only regrets about the ST are: > >- software still lags behind the PC and MAC in terms of >sophistication > >- too much piracy abounds in the ST world, this makes truly >wonderful programmers like Small, Moore and Hudson turn away from >the ST because they cannot earn a living > >- Atari is the ultimate VAPOURWARE firm. No wonder it was such an >uphill battle to get STs at work (there are about 80 STs in our >community of 4000, 2/3 at work and 1/3 in home use). From my brief >exposure to Info-Digest16, I know Atari reads these listings >faithfully so PLEASE work hard to change your image as the VW >kings. Do you not see the cause and effect between the "advantages" described earlier and these "disadvantages"? They're the same thing. While there is excellent PD software available for the ST, it simply is not true that this will mean there always will be. And if you want more polished professional software, you have to attract high-quality development bucks. Good software engineers have no dificulty making an extremely good living. But they can't always do it in the ST market. And eventually even the funnest machine in the world to play with isn't fun anymore when you're not eating. Piracy is not the only reason that developers are forced to leave the Atari ST market. I would wager that a large percentage of full-time "professional" ST developers (meaning they make a living at ST programming exclusively) are untrained, inexperienced hackers. Many probably have little or no professional programming experience with anything but 8-bit systems and PCs. Most probably don't have CS or Math degrees - they might have a philosophy or psychology degree. The guys writing the PD programs in their spare time probably have more experience and training than the average "professional" Atari ST developer. This is becuase the experienced programmers are being paid to do something else. Would somebody hire me at a competitive salary to do ST programming? Probably not. Why? Becuase there isn't any place to apply for a job. NOBODY'S HIRING ATARI ST PROGRAMMERS, pal. Would somebody pay me a price I feel is resonable as a software engineer for UNIX/SUN/VAX/Apollo/Mac etc? Yes they would. So that's what I do (sort of). The idea of inexpensive software is good. But it doesn't work unless there is sufficiant volume. On the ST, due to in part to piracy but other things too, the volume isn't there. The bad thing about inexpensive software and low volume is that no large development efforts will be undertaken becuase no business can justify spending the bucks. I'm not saying these things will be the death of the ST. I'm just saying that these things contribute to the stagnation and, until Atari does something about it, they will keep the ST out the main-stream. -- David Beckemeyer (david@bdt.uucp) | "Don't call me Stupid!" Beckemeyer Development Tools | "No. That would be an insult 478 Santa Clara Ave, Oakland, CA 94610 | to all the stupid people!" UUCP: {unisoft,sun}!hoptoad!bdt!david | - A fish called Wanda