An article by Brian Walker on his experiences with the 8-bit Atari, and his worries for the future.¢-----------------------------------¢¢It is my tenth anniversary. The tenth anniversary of me owning an Atari computer.¢¢For a ridiculously high price I bought an Atari 800 with 16K and then had to go back to the shop to buy the optional cassette deck when I discovered most programs were on cassette.¢¢I paid so much because I knew I was buying the best, and anyway I was going to 'learn about computers', a requirement for the future. I also wanted to progress, so I upgraded to 32K and then 48K, then bought an 800XL, then a disk drive and then two disk drives.¢¢But by this time the 8-bit Atari market was rapidly contracting and I realized that the future of computing lay somewhere else. So I packed away my 800XL and bought an Atari ST. Luckily I bought a cheap ex-demo model from an electrical store and didn't spend too much money on it before I put it to one side and unpacked my 8-bit.¢¢In common with many people I discovered that much of the software was very expensive, the graphics were pretty and the gameplay was non-existant. Maybe things have changed.¢¢Anyway I could now get an 130XE for a ridiculously LOW price and a cheap printer, which I did. At the same time a lot of software became available which was previously unobtainable in the U.K., or was too expensive.¢¢So, have I learnt a lot about computing? Well, er, no. I soon succumbed to playing games and every time I reached over to pick up my copy of 'Atari Basic:A Self-Teaching Guide' by Albrecht, Finkel and Brown, Star Raiders seemed to be in the way and I've spent the last ten years playing games.¢¢Why don't I progress and buy a Nintendo home arcade machine or whatever? Well, I'm using a word processor to write this and I'm enjoying the experience. I'm now ready to learn about computers and computing, slowly, at my own pace and I want to learn on my Atari 130XE.¢¢I can't learn on a Nintendo, the 16-bit ST and Amiga are too complicated and I don't have access to a PC at work. Anyway, even if I had the money to buy one for home use there seems to be so many varieties I wouldn't know which one to choose.¢¢Hopefully, my Atari is good for a few more years yet but what after that? There will come a time when there are no more spare parts or replacements and I will have to buy something else. What will it be? Will there be anything else besides low cost games machines and high cost business machines? Whatever it is I bet it isn't an Atari. That will be quite a wrench.¢¢If you have an idea of what might be on offer in a few years time please drop Dean a line. Maybe he could include it in the News-Disk. I would be very interested to read your predictions and I bet a lot of other people would as well.¢
