From: rdd@cactus.org (Robert Dorsett)
Subject: Re: Falcon MC vs Hellcats & Falcon 3.0 (IBM)
Organization: Capital Area Central Texas UNIX Society, Austin, Tx
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 23:07:47 GMT

In article <1992Dec21.174624.8988@athena.mit.edu> sathomas@athena.mit.edu (Stephen A Thomas) writes:
>Robert, I beg to differ.
>
>The "mass" market is NOT just crammed full of LCs - it's all those people out
>there who don't give a damn about upgrading because it's too expensive and are
>still using Pluses, SEs, SE-30s, etc which have the cruddy 9" B&W monitor.

I write software, and I'm dealing with ever-more "average" people running on 
color systems--not upgrading, necessarily, but simply new users.  I just 
can't agree: color is here, it's here to stay, and personally, I find it
much more rewarding to write for color machines.  Perhaps you're too much 
"in tune" with your own personal situation.

Next thing, you'll be telling us not to write for hard disks. :-)



>the boss won't let us play games on the color computers at work, so who's going
>to buy color games besides me?  Is this typical, I don't know but it is what I
>have to go on.  I also read (as of November) that the most common MAC out there
>is the SE.

I've also read that in the past couple of months, Apple's made more machines
than in the last six years combined.  Even given hyperbole, Apple's mass-
merchandising effort would suggest the post-SE machines (Classic, II, LC)
are certainly breaking ground.


>Now younger college students are big pirates for sure, but it seems that the 
>older they get (and closer to getting a job) they seem to realize that 
>pirating is
>costing someone a job.  As a graduate student (and there are a number of us out
>here) I won't pirate and most of my friends with computers won't either.  I 
>think it is a big cop out to say you won't make a game because college 
>students will pirate it.  

I never said that--all I said was that students aren't big "buyers."  They
can't be, almost by default.  You appeared to characterize them as a sig-
nificant consumer base: they just aren't. 


>You also have to be joking if you say the major 
>market for games out there are 40 year old business executives who like head 
>to head flight simulators
>- get real - how many people like that that you know have time for a flight
>simulator or any game except golf? 

I never said that, either--that's your characterization, not mine--and I do
know some 40-year-old business executives who do just that, thank you very
much.  Anyone who buys a home personal computer is very likely going to have
some disposable time, and be more likely to play games with it.


> So who buys the games? - those "pirates"
>that's who.  

22-30 year olds, fresh graduates with disposable income, few long-term
commitments.


>money so we can spend it on some decent entertainment (ie computer games).  And
>don't forget, we college students will someday be that "mass-market" you speak
>of, so why piss us off?  

You seem to be the only one taking this personally.  I did not "pass judgement"
on these people: it's a fact of life, a regrettable one to be sure, but if
the game market were driven by college students, you can rest assured we'd
be using different marketing tactics (e.g., lower prices, direct-marketing,
cutting direct costs, etc).  


>As to Hellcats flying torpedos, maybe you should read fewer manuals and ask 
>more questions.  I asked a old family friend who was an ordinance officer (or
>something like that) in the Navy during WWII whether a Hellcat could lift a
>torpedo.  His answer was "not if you want it to get off the deck."  Being an
>aeronautical engineer this is easy to understand - often payloads are specified
>which the plane in actual service could never lift off the ground.  Also don't
>forget that a torpedo is a little more than 1000lb, try around 2000lb.

Thanks, but I'll rely on the manuals.




---
Robert Dorsett
rdd@cactus.org
...cs.utexas.edu!cactus.org!rdd