From: s_grunwa@irau29.ira.uka.de (Knut Grunwald)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Atari marketing & the Falcon
Date: 31 Jul 1992 11:30:33 GMT
Organization: University of Karlsruhe, FRG
Distribution: uka
NNTP-Posting-Host: irau29.ira.uka.de

The software problem is the atari problem, but it is a bit selfmade.
Atari has dropped the US market by selling the ST with color-display
only before it was time to do so.

In germany the ST is used by lots of students and companies and
the reputation is that of a workhouse. Like you use a typewriter
you use a ST. Plug in and work. SO most of the people using a ST
at work are not really interested in computers and don't talk
about them. They don't know about RAM, ROM, Hardisk or Resolutions.
It's just a tool, which works or not. If you ask them they are not
against Atari, but they are also not pro Atari. This lack of
corporate image makes it very hard for Atari to be considered. 
Companies using Atari do not plan to drop them, since they do their
work in preparation of papers, finance and pay roll applications.

With the FALCON, Atari will start to increase their games image,
since the machines outfit looks like a Games machine and the
supported resolutions tells exactly the same story. The machine
will be very fine for programming and grafics too, but i don't
expect Atari to supprot this area. This is esspecially bad, if
i think of the company i'm working at. They use PC's as color
grafic terminals and this machines (386/25 and faster) tend to be
overloaded by printing more than 1000 Characters per second onto
the grafics screen. The FALCON would be the machine to replace
this terminals, if the keyboard wouldn't be build in and there
would be a way for higher resolution grafics (They use 1024x768/72Hz
non interlaced grafics now, so the price is not the problem).

Apple has solved their problems by producing the main software
under their own label (or supporting firms). I don't know, why 
the Tramiel family is not willing to do so, but they will not
cure Atari, if they go on as they did. They only way to get out
of the trouble is to make packages for companies as they do in
some way here in Germany.
There are DTP packages with computer, printer, program, service
center and courses. This is not very cheap, but cheap compared
to the PC and MAC alternatives. 
This way in other areas would bring them back into the market,
since most people don't want a computer, they want a solution and
the rest is hobbiests and gamers. The PC world has the image of
having the solutions, so they don't need to help the costumer.
-- by the way: I saw more than one unused PC by friends, just because
   it was bought thinking it could do some things, which it couldn't.

Sorry for wasting the bandwidth, but here is my conclusion:
I don't think ATARI will make it up, since they want to sell Hardware
only. This business is gone to taiwan and even they don't earn
real money with ist. Since I like the 68xxx architecture for
programming, i will stay with Atari until I can afford a UNIX machine
AND a paper work machine. (OR a affordable UNIX machine with a
WYSIWYG-Textprogramm. UNIX is not a must, but tools and multitasking,
since i like to never leave the editor, while i compile and test things.
(I have at least 3 terminals running most of the time)).

-- Knut Grunwald
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st