Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!mcnc!xanth!nic.MR.NET!umn-cs!hall!rosenkra
From: rosenkra@hall.cray.com (Bill Rosenkranz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: bios function 0x7f
Message-ID: <12401@hall.cray.com>
Date: 29 Dec 88 04:35:36 GMT
References: <1263@atari.UUCP> <3774@druhi.ATT.COM> <1268@atari.UUCP>
Reply-To: rosenkra@hall.UUCP (Bill Rosenkranz)
Organization: Cray Research, Inc., Mendota Heights, MN
Lines: 38


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since i'm the horrible fiend who started this mess by asking a very simple
question (which dan politely answered), let me just ask allan this: ok,
fine. there are programs that rely on the way things work, both documented
and undocumented, probably more of the latter, eh? but why not just fix
what is there (like Pexec/xmain forcing lower case args, tiny command line
buffer of 255 char, etc) by offering a parallel development of "corrected"
utilities? is rom real estate THAT tight? heck, i'd even load the sucker
from disk every time i booted (if gem was fixed i would not have to
reboot every 2 hours anyway). in my own programs, i never rely on undocumented
features, though many are tempting. you should either sh*t or get off the
pot. make your beloved changes that break half the software (which sells
your machines) of live with it and adapt to the often  pioneering efforts
of us wcky developers. just don't throw a public tantrum, it makes both
you and atari corp look bad (neither of which, incidently, i want to see).

if corporate policies at atari are so bad, the machine does not deserve to
survive. if, on the other hand, atari is REALLY interested in being the
number 2 or 3 pc in the world, grow up and start acting like ibm rather
than some undisciplined wimpering child. kick some ass. just make sure it's
not some important developer's ass yer kicking :^). you may find yourself
out in the cold...

i just think this whole argument is a bunch of crap. since when has standards
stood in the way of any (perceived) top-notch computer hardware/software
company? besides, if atari fails, all this banter is just a lot of hot air
anyway. who really cares? just EVOLVE. if that means ruffling some feathers,
so be it...

now lets get on with it. (BTW your own developers newsletter published
several undocumented tidbits like houw to reset the desktop after a
wind_set (...,WF_NEWDESK,...)...shall i tell them how, allan?).

-bill
rosenkra@hall.cray.com

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