Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!CS.WM.EDU!fjmora
From: fjmora@CS.WM.EDU (Fredric Mora)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: MMU GLUE chip clip 0 files message
Message-ID: <8902240732.AA09221@nh.wmcs.uucp>
Date: 24 Feb 89 07:32:10 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 60

In message dated  3 Feb 89 07:28:44 GMT,  C. Squibby Breyman, who
seemed to be pissed off by hardware problems, writes:
> I like my ST for small applications. I am not going to
> suggest that it even be considered for serious processing
> applications(computer music synthesis)
As I did not see the smile sign, I assume Mr. Breyman is doing some
bashing here. I'll not put here the figures of the North-American
MIDI market, but the ST holds about 35% of this market, more than
any competitor. Now, if you want some references, here are some
people who use our not-for-serious-user-computer just for that:

Fleetwood Mac (despite the name:-) ), Pointer Sisters, Tangerine
Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre (of Houston mega-show fame).
I personally saw an ST be used in the street by musicians performing
at a festival, and the 1040's were NOT tenderly handled (and that's
a mild understatement). In 3 months of daily rough handling, no
problem showdd. And the ST's were already a year old. So don't blame
the whole line for a small percentage of bad sockets.

About quality control, I witnessed a spontaneous combustion of an
IBM PC-AT (IBM, folks! Not a cheap clone!) motherboard which fried
under our horrified gaze. It was 2 or 3 year old. Moral: even brand
computers can have faulty chips or mechanical parts.

About components quality: a few years ago, I was working at a chip 
factory making 68000's under Motorola license. One day, a commercial
guy came to our technical support office, fuming: he had a discussion
with an Atari representative about a batch of 68000 CPUs
and he was furious because the price asked by Atari ($6 apiece or so)
was about the production price! He made us understand was he thought
about those toy makers who want to buy so cheap and therefore
sacrifice quality.
Then, a few days later, the same commercial guy had a meeting with
an executive from Apple. Serious company, high-end hardware, this would
be a grrreat contract....
The guy came back, almost crying. Apple wanted the 68000's at $5.50 apiece.
"Any similarity with real company would be a far-fetched coincidence."

Come on, Squibby, flame the ST for what it deserves flaming (mostly
week support from Atari), but recognize its good technical standing.

Regards,

     Frederic Mora                              GEnie:
     The College of William and Mary            F.MORA
     Dept. of Computer Science                  INTERNET:
     Williamsburg, VA. 23185                    fjmora@cs.wm.edu
     USA                                        

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