Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!XEROX.COM!"Martin_Cooper.osbunorth"
From: "Martin_Cooper.osbunorth"@XEROX.COM
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: What an Atarian is
Message-ID: <890405-104637-2664@Xerox>
Date: 5 Apr 89 17:30:48 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: Cooper.osbuNorth@Xerox.com.osbunorth
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 65


Unfortunately, you won't find the answer to this question here. What you
might discover is what the average Atari ST user WHO HAS INTERNET ACCESS is
like. It would be wrong to assume that the two averages are the same, or
even similar, simply because of the small proportion of ST owners who have
access to the net, and because of the reasons those people do have access.

The inference from the net would likely be that Atarians are, as you
suggest, hackers at heart - both software and hardware. It's interesting to
notice that almost all the discussion on this list revolves around
improving the hardware and/or software, tools for software development, and
utilities. All of this would seem to suggest that nobody out there actually
DOES anything with their ST. They only follow the endless upgrade to bigger
and better hardware and software - and for what?

This last is the question I would really like to find the answer to. Ok, so
all these folks on the net have their 1040ST's or whatever with bits and
pieces hanging out all over. They have memory upgrades, home-grown hard
disk drives, multiple monitors with weird interfaces, and all the C
compilers, debuggers, shells and desk accessories known to man or beast.
Now what do they actually USE all this for?

Another peculiarity which I haven't really figured out yet is why so many
people seem to have an ST so that it can be something else. Run out and buy
your ST. Then go off and get a copy of PC Ditto so that you can have a
regular PC (which you could have got cheaper to start with). And then rush
out to get a Magic Sac or Spectre so that you can have a Mac too. Do these
people realise that they're killing the Atari themselves?

All of this I see as part of the demise of Atari. From what I can
determine, people seem to use the machine for hacking or for games. Take a
look at the software available for the ST and see what proportion is left
when you subtract out the games, the software tools and the utilities. It's
pretty low. That's all that's available for the people who would use an ST
to do real work - the market that the PC and the Mac address. This is not
helped by the fact that there appears to be a significant number of
unscrupulous ST owners who would - and do - make illegal copies of
"expensive" software. Ask WordPerfect why they are considering dropping
support for the Atari ST - they'll tell you that so many copies were
pirated that it's just not worth their while. They even found it being
distributed on a BBS a while back.

So, all of you out there who are doubtless denying all of the above - let's
hear from you. What do you USE your ST for? Those of you who are authors of
USER oriented software - let's hear what you're doing, and tell us about
your market. Those of you who are USERS, let's hear what you're using, and
what for.

Oh, me? Well I bought my ST mainly for it's built-in MIDI capability and
because the MIDI software available for the ST beats everything else hands
down. I use WordPerfect a lot because I create a lot of documents and I
need the capabilities of a high end word processor - and because I can take
the disks with me when I travel with a laptop. I use database software for
a variety of purposes. And sure, I do a bit of hacking too (but NOT, NOT,
NOT in that godawful language, C).

	Martin.

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-- Martin Cooper               | These  opinions are all mine. They --
-- Xerox Corporation           | might be yours too, but  they sure --
-------------------------------| aren't  those of my  company. They --
-- Cooper.osbuNorth@Xerox.com  +----------------+ might not  know I --
-- {hplabs,lll-winken}!arisia!cooper.osbunorth  | have opinions.    --
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