From: aa399@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Len Stys)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: A letter to Dave Baggett
Date: 31 Dec 1992 00:04:10 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: aa399@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Len Stys)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, dmb@case.ai.mit.edu (David Baggett) says:

>In article <1hq32sINNsuv@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> aa399@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Len Stys) writes:
>>Dave, why don't you just leave it alone?
>
>Because people still say things like:
>
>>I really own it because of people within the Atari Community.
>>They just can't be beat.
>
>Those people are leaving!  Your developers are jumping ship!  Your
>shareware authors are getting sick of Atari and going to other
>platforms.  Jeff Minter's done Llamatron for the PC -- that's a
>bad sign for the community right there, isn't it?

Many of them haven't left YET.  They are waiting for the "dooms day"
that you claim will be coming soon.

This might be the case.  In fact, I agree that it will happen unless
someone else takes over Atari or drastic changes are made.

But, I figure that Atari will be around for at least until 486'
computers become affordable.  And I'll wait until then.

>
>The number of Atari owners is dwindling at a steady rate.  If those of
>you who can still find it within your hearts to support Atari to the
>death don't find any way to make Atari get a grip, you will see your
>community shrink to almost nothing.

Dave, ATARI is in my blood.  And I want to be around for the day that
the company dies.

I'm sure that the others that you are trying to convince feel the same way,
so it is useless.

I'm in no hurry to jump boat unless I'm POSITIVE that there is no
fun or future.

>
>It's a lot less fun when no one's left to write ambitious new software.
>


There will be a few nice products for the Falcon030.  I'll wait and
see what Atari does with it before leaving.

>>I have a lot of good friends that own Atari computers and I find them
>>to be very spirited and enthusiastic.  I can't say the same for
>>those that seem to think completely with logic saying, 
>>
>>"If Atari's management is getting themselves together, sell your
>>computer and go with the flow--IBM compatibles."
>
>See?  You ask why I contuinue to argue about this stuff, and then
>write things that indicate you have an overly optimisitc view of
>the situation.  The fate of Atari machines is in Atari's hands,
>not yours.  If Atari allows themselves to self-destruct, there
>won't be any commercial devlopers left.  What percantage of the
>group is going to stick around once the Atari is REALLY an
>orphan machine?

Oh, sorry, I meant to say, "If Atari's management is not getting themselves
together, sell the computer and go with the flow--IBM compatibles."

I deal with IBM clones ALL of the time.  The computers aren't that
fantastic--even the 486's.

But that is where your BIG bucks come in and that is the only thing I see
exciting about the 486's for developers.

Besides, nobody will APPRECIATE developers in that big ocean of
the compatible world.

I at least know WHO you are, who Dave Small is, and the other developers.

>
>>If Atari had very GOOD management with a poor Atari Community, I'd sell,
>>of course it would be nice for both...
>
>You are typcasting.  Atari owners are as diverse a lot as PC owners.
>Do you think all PC owners are mindless droids?  All Amiga owners are
>childish brats?  These stereotypes whiz through this group
>frighteningly often.

No I'm not.  I'm sure there are SOME spirited and enthusiastic
IBM compatible owners.  I just don't know who they are.  They are lost
among all those that care more about THEIR productivity than OTHERS.

>
>>I still think that clones are pretty damn boring.
>
>With my 486 I can compile things really quickly, run a full Emacs
>implementation that is considerably faster than Tempus, archive and
>unarchive things blindingly quickly, and program it to put pretty
>pictures on the screen and make neat sounds.
>
>In short, I like it for the same reasons I like my ST, except that it's
>a lot faster and you can buy 5,000 times as much software for it.  Not
>only that, but there's some chance in hell I might actually be able to
>make a living writing software for it.

And your 486 cost about $1,500 more than the ST.  $1,500 more than
some of us can afford or are willing to pay for a computer.

>
>Clones are not boring at all to me.  There's exciting new free,
>shareware (Llamatron!), and commercial software coming out every day
>that will run on my "boring clone."  There are hundreds of neato cards
>I can put in it, like a studio quality sound board, an ethernet card, a
>graphics accelerator that supports TIGA (a standard -- imagine that),
>a RISC coprocessor board, etc. 
>
>Atari can't just sit there and watch the world fall apart while their
>devoted fans make excuses for them.  They need to start making
>competitive machines again, and they need to start selling those
>machines.
>
>Dave Baggett


You are right about Atari's management.  Something needs to change.

I've tried my best...  We'll see.

>

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