From: carter@cae.wisc.edu (Carter Gregory)
Subject: Re: ADVOCACY: RE: PC Bigotry
Organization: U of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering
Date: 24 Jan 93 12:33:09 CST

In article <727877294.AA01212@contrast.wlink.nl> qsi@contrast.wlink.nl (Peter Kocourek) writes:
>John Hoffman wrote in a message on 19 Jan 93 to All
>
> JH> I must say that I am astonished at the number of posts that 
> JH> are in the comp.sys.atari.st newsgroup which are posted by 
> JH> PC users trying to convince users of Atari computers that they 
> JH> should get rid of there Ataris and buy PC clones. This actually 
>
>Most of these are still Atari owners (I do not have a PC) who are utterly
>disgusted at what Atari has done to their computer. The original ST was
>unsurpassed in price and performance, and held the promise of a very
>bright future. By now, a lot of us are totally disillusioned, and are
>pointing out that the Falcon is not a computer that fits the "Power
>without the price" motto.
>
> JH> What are some of the unique strengths of the ST? It is the 
> JH> only system that can provide reasonable emulation of both IBM 
> JH> systems and Macintosh systems. It has a very dynamic software 
>
>Which is totally irrelevant by now. When the Mac Plus cost as much a small
>car, Spectre was a really good buy. Now, you can get a second-hand SE with
>harddisk for the price of Spectre. And besides, Spectre has become
>obsolete itself; no color, no System 7, no TT support... And the story of
>PC prices is well documented in this newsgroup.
>
> JH> environment that isn't totally dominated by a small collection 
> JH> of Megapowerful software houses. It is possible for a developer 
> JH> to write software for the atari and become a star in the atari 
> JH> comunity.

Not only is there no money in designing Atari software for the commercial
sector, the software tools are not as good, in fact pitiful if you 
consider what the PC and Mac have.  Right now, I use Turbo C and thats
a very fine environment but its bare minimum now, 3 years ago it was great!

Thats a shame...


>
>So what? A star does not a full belly make. The reason there is virtually
>no new software for the ST, is that you can't make any money. At the end
>of the month, somebody's got to pay the bills. And being a star in the
>Atari community is no substiture for hard cash.
>
> JH> The markets on other computer systems are considerably 
> JH> more saturated. Seems to me that someone wanting to break into 
> JH> software development wouldn't have made a bad choice starting 
> JH> with a system like atari and then moving up to a PC after the 
> 
>Why waste time on programming the Atari? Move to where the money is right
>away.
>

My view is you go where the tools are, in that you find the best
environment to produce the best software, and Atari is a long cry from
that these days.

>
>YHS:QSI!
> 

But, of course, that hasn't stopped me from writing my senior thesis on
the machine...(ie My MEGA STE 4/40)...I still enjoy writing software on
the machine.  In this way it can retire and run my communications software
until it dies and I port it somewhere else!  I'll probably forever keep the
machine because it has done so much for me...almost like a friend...lots
of memories in this ole brand name...

-Greggy POO