Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!agate!ucbvax!FSU.BITNET!PETCHER
From: PETCHER@FSU.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: What an Atarian is
Message-ID: <[gw.scri.fsu.edu].9940BB60.0092294E.PETCHER>
Date: 31 Mar 89 23:00:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 38


I have several reasons for buying the ST, not the least of which is that
when I first purchased one, I was living in Holland where several people
around me were also buying them.  Other reasons are as follows.

I originally was doing scientific programming on mainframes. In micros, I
prefer the Motorola 68000 over the Intel line OF CHIPS, and I also had promised
myself that I wouldn't purchase a computer until the 1 Mb RAM barrier was
broken. These two criteria were nicely satisfied in the 1040ST (or 520ST+ as
was sold by Atari Benelux).

Secondly, my applications are almost 100% monochrome oriented (programming and
writing) and for this, the ST comes out on top.  The screen is (or was, before
the VGA line) the most stable on the market in a personal computer. When I
finally saw an Amiga running Word Perfect (the local Amiga dealer trying to
talk me into selling my Atari, so he tried to "impress" me) I began really
counting my blessings.  That is not something I could look at all day.

Thirdly, I used a Macintosh once to write a journal article, and in so doing
developed a rather strong dislike for the beast, not disimilar to what has
been expressed elsewhere in this news group.  I won't repeat.

Finally, my wife is interested in desktop publishing, for which the ST is
coming along rather well.

So, by the process of elimination, I was left with the ST.  My wife and
I are thinking nowadays about doing some video work, and every so often
I think about the possibility of picking up a used Amiga for that, but I
think I'll give the ST a whirl first.  From what I hear from friends, even
in that department it runs a pretty close second.

                                        Don Petcher
                         Supercomputer Computations Research Institute
                                The Florida State University
                                 Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052
Petcher@vsdnp.scri.fsu.edu
   or
PETCHER@FSU.BITNET