From: mauritz_c@spcvxb.spc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Buying a Falcon (was: Falcon Graphics)
Date: 8 Sep 92 05:09:08 GMT
Organization: SPC Community Access System

In article <1992Sep08.005119.160610@rrz.uni-koeln.de>, aeg03@rrz.uni-koeln.de (Jan T. Kim) writes:
> In <1992Sep7.153742.21904@zooid.guild.org> Mark Kovarski <kovarski@zooid.guild.org> writes:
> 
>>kim@vax.mpiz-koeln.mpg.dbp.de writes:
 
>>How much is a 486/50 MHz (or 33MHz DX) with 120 Meg HD, OS/2 2.0, 8 MB RAM,
>>SVGA Monitor, Case, Keyboard etc.? I have some promotion flyers from
>>Austria but they are a bit out of date. I would really like to know the
>>prices they charge in germany or any other european country.
> 
> I think 486/33MHz systems can be had for less than  DM  4,000.--,
> including  a  monitor.  OS/2  or  any  other  OS  probably is not
> included. But  when  it  comes  to  OS/2,  I  agree  that  it  is
> comparable to MultiTOS, however, the software base of TOS is much
> more powerful at the moment than the software base of OS/2

You must be kidding.  OS/2 can run Windows/DOS and OS/2 software.
I would think that would give it the largest software base around.
I use OS/2 regularly and it is much more stable and polished than
anything Atari has pushed out.
 
>>In North America Atari Corporation is as good as dead. They don't have
>>anything to offer what corporate customers want and what the average user
>>want. Will I buy one, NO. Definetely not. Why? I will be in the same
>>position as with the STE, MSTE, TT etc. Does it offer anything that I would
>>want? NO.
> 
> Sorry, this makes me getting silly  and  remembering  a  limerick
> posted  by  Thomas  Darling  well  more than a year ago, where he
> wonders whether someone who kept complaining about the ST may  be
> unable to find the power switch. Anyway, when I turn on the power
> switch of my ST, it offers me a desktop which is  not  fancy  but
> allows me to run a lot of programs comfortably from my hard disk.
> It has been working for me for more than three years now, and the
> fact  that I don't find it entirely satisfactory anymore makes me
> go for a Falcon, not for another system.
> 
>>Will Atari Corporation ever smarten-up? No, they never did and
>>will never do. The company is run by a bunch of clowns, that's the only
>>expression I would use (I guess slang should not be used).
> 
> You can call the Atari managers whatever you want. What counts to
> me  is  the computer, not the people running the corporation that
> produce it. If it's good, why not buy from "clowns"?  If  someone
> outrageously  exploits  people  or  the environment, that makes a
> good reason not to buy from him at  all,  but  if  I  don't  like
> someone I can still buy from him.

This doesn't make sense.  If you think that a company is poorly
run, then it follows that its bungling will leak into all of its
activities.  The reason I never bought another Atari computer is
not because I didn't like them, but because I had no confidence
in the company producing it.  The Falcon could quite easily become
the Osborne of tomorrow.

> The only problem I have with the Tramiels is that it seems  their
> main goal is making money, not making good computers. But this is
> the nineties and just about every company seems to act like that.

I don't think this is true.  If they were interested in making
money, they would manage the company better which would probably
translate to a higher stock price.  Since the Tramiels are the
biggest holders of Atari stock, they are the biggest losers.
Atari Corp is probably a huge tax shelter for them. :-)

> 
>>I have just purchased a system which costs the same as 5-6 Falcon computers.
>>It offers all I would ever want and much more. I know it will be supported
>>and supported well. Software is available everywhere and I can go and buy
>>anything for it everywhere. 
> 
> Of course, if you can afford to spend about DM  15,000.--  for  a
> computer,  it  makes no sense even to think of a Falcon. However,
> for people who don't want to spend more than DM 3,000.-- a Falcon
> makes  much  more  sense than the other choices they have in many
> cases.
> 
Wow, I can't believe computers are still so expensive over there.
About 6 months ago, I bought a very attractively configured 486-33mhz
system with a lot of software for a total outlay of about US$2500. 
That is only about DM3800.

Cheers,

Chris

p.s.  OK, I promise I'll unsusbscribe any day now.  Hehe, I'd forgotten
      how amusing this group is. :)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st