Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!SFAUSTIN.BITNET!Z4648252 From: Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET (Z4648252) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: ST program prices as compared to other systems Message-ID: <890606.09372998.007881@SFA.CP6> Date: 6 Jun 89 15:37:31 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 33 Greg Csullog writes: "Larry Rymal feels that ST software is not as polished as packages on other machines. In some cases I have to agree. When he says that ST software costs more I begin to see red!" I regretted that statement the second I typed it, but I was trying to establish a point, but wasn't too good at it. Note that I was not saying all software as was quoted above. My point is the roughness of the software and I don't think that because of 'cheapness' (?) of the ST that we have to have rough soft- ware. Is DungeonMaster rough? Oids? Joust? That the ST *can* have polished software is my point. Look at the Dr. T's MIDI programs. Look at Tim Purves' BBS program series. The price issue is one I wish that I didn't raise. I did that because I wish that I didn't have to emulate to get what I want, especially from a writer's point of view. In my case, I want to see EXACTLY what I'm going to get on the printer. We don't have an affordable package yet that is capable of doing that. Note that I said that TimeWorks DeskTop Publisher comes close but it is not a word processor. FullWrite (MAC) can be had for $108.00 if one is an educator or full time post-secondary student. It is a fast word processor with desktop publishing tools. Calamus (sp?) costs much more, is limited on its fonts, is not intuitive (although with the pirates, I wouldn't want it to be too intuitive), and is not easy to use. I still feel that we can and deserve better software. Calamus is the only package that I was using with my price argument and really regret that I put that to be taken as all software. But I will argue that most of our commercial grade software has been buggy and we don't deserve such. Larry Rymal