From: 01mbmccabe@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: a blurb
Date: 12 Jan 93 01:58:52 GMT
Organization: Ball State University, Muncie, In - Univ. Computing Svc's

>>> Big deal.  Get a hard drive anyway.  They're cheap.
>>
>>Say bud...if they're so cheap, why donl;t you mail me the money order for a new
>>one?  I don't happen to have the cash, nor, I would bet, do a lot of other
>>people.  I may guess this may be even more so in a smaller, foreign country. 
>>I'll keep my eye on the mail and continue to run my software from the RAMdisk
>>so I won't be holding my breath.
> 
> Beggars can't be choosers.  If you have no money, you really can't
> afford to decide between computers, now, can you?  That's my point.
> The only previous reason to buy a new Atari system was "Power without
> the Price."  (Snicker.)  These days, of course, as we all know from
> having paid careful attention to the mail order prices for clones
> posted here over the past two months, clones are the cheapest machines
> available.  Therefore, for people in your situation, the choice is
> clear.

The arguement was: for people with a more limiterd cash-flow than _you_ are
used to, a computer that can/was-designed-to run without a hard-drive is
_STILL_ the best option.  I'd like to see you try to get around on that clone
without your hard-drive.

>>> That's a GOOD one.  $50 is *real* tough to manage for an OS, yeah.
>>
>>Up the amount of the money order, please.
> 
> If you can't afford to buy any software at all, then you shouldn't have
> bought the computer in the first place.  Do you simply pirate all the
> software you want?  Buying a $1000 machine and then saying you don't
> have $50 for a software pacakge is like buying a Ferrari but then not
> being able to cough up money for wiper blades.

First of all, the OS doesn't give me problems as is, so the $50  stays in the
bank for me.  Second of all, I'll ask you not to be my finance advisor.  I'm a
quite-typical college student with no spare money.  I have not always been a
college student/I used to have the cash to buy software.  If I'd bought into
the clone-realm then, it's not likely I'd EVER have as much software as I do
now (speaking commercially.  I have no (and I don't need) knowlege of the
shareware dimension of the clone-realm).  This machine still has the
more-affordable software for me.

>>> Right, and consequently you have to pay $75 to upgrade the OS.  That
>>> is, every 3 years when they fix the pending 100 bugs in TOS.
>>
>>I'm still using  very old version of TOS (1.2 I think) and have no plans for
>>spending money to upgrade it.  BTW, I see you suddenly got a little tight with
>>the purse-strings....hmm.
> 
> It's not the money, it's the inconvenience, mainly.  If you still use
> TOS 1.2, watch out for bugs.  Since I use(d) my Atari for serious
> programming that taxed the machine, I was forced to upgrade to 1.4.
> I had to go to a dealer and buy the chipset (once they got them in).
> Isn't compeltely obvious that it wouldn't have been much easier and
> cheaper to provide OS updates on disk?
> 
> (BTW, just because I say you should be able to afford wiper blades
> for you Ferrari doesn't mean I advocate spending 10 times as much
> as is required for the wiper blades!)

It is the money, it isn't the money.  I can't argue on dualistic gounds as
those.  And really I don't have much inconvenience getting PD stuff, which has
consistenly been enough to keep me going (hopefelly will be until I can
actually afford to shop the commercial district again.)

>>What's the point to trying to get a PC put together the right way to do what
>>I want it to do, for less cost than my MEGA ST4?  Too bad more people didn't
>>find out about ST's when I did.  There'd probably be less people hell-bent on
>>a hard drive/the latest-greatest 'x86 PC/super-workhorse/more-than-they-
>>need/1000.  And I have no qualms with GEM.
> 
> Well, you're satisfied with mediocrity then.  Once you have a hard
> drive and a faster machine, you'll never believe you WASTED so much
> time waiting for things to happen.  Computers are STILL not fast enough
> so that everything I want to do is instantaneous; therefore, I will
> always be trying to get faster machines.  Time spent waiting for a
> compile, unarchive, etc. is time WASTED, especialy under GEM where you
> can only run one process at once.  At least under Unix or OS/2 you can
> edit a docuemnt or fix more bugs in your program while you're waiting.

It's not even a matter of mediocrity!  It's a matter of whether or not yopur
computer does what's expected of it!  Stop trying to spread the clone-disease
and start spreading some common sense!

>>Oh well, you and the Jones' have fun competing with each other.  I'm gonna see
>>if I can get something done here.
> 
> Again, I hope you're happy being less productive than you could be.
> I'm not.

I also ask that you not be my time manager.  I haven't hit any speedbumps on
this road yet, and I don't anticipate any in the near future.

>>P.S.  Why are the only people who actively promote the clones _I know_, the
>>ones who are able to hook up with _pirate copies_ of the hard-drive munching,
>>processing-time gobbling software they rave about?
> 
> You know the wrong people?

Or the people are raving for some of the wrong reasons...
("My computer has slightly newer technology, and an AWESOME pirate base!")

>>I reckon a large number of people would sing a different song if they
>>_had_ to play by the rules.  Not to mention they wouldn't be able to
>>afford to fill those bulging hard-drives their shiney new system
>>sports.
> 
> The main thing I spend time with nowadays on my PC is TADS 2, which is
> shareware and registered, thank you.  (And yes, I did buy my copy of
> Microsoft C, which was $139, and Ultima Underworld, which was $50.)

I'm glad someone's making money around here!  If I don't gradute soon, I'm
gonna have to buy the place!  This is crazy!

				-Matt

P.S. Is Ultima Underworld, the Ultima that's a lot like the old Dongeon Master
game?  My brother is into those Ultima games.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st