Floppyshop 2/Floppyshop - 2.zip/Floppyshop - 2.iso/diskmags/3565-4.665/dmg-4626/packed.14/stdead/stdead

Text File | 1987-04-21 | 12KB | 244 lines

                         The Atari ST Is Dead!
                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Aaargh! Gasp! Shock Horror! Stands Back And Mops The Brow!

It's okay I'm not literally saying 'Atari ST is dead!' -but- it is
true. Also I'm not being 'unpatriotic' to my beloved little machine.
Read this carefully as I think it's important and you may end up
reviving a flagging ST.

The computer press have been crying 'Oh poor Atari, it's time has
come', so I thought a personal 'seen it all before' opinion was needed.
If not to balance the argument, at least to inflame the lazier coders,
writers and painters among you.

Whenever I read an article on the death of the ST I always shiver. I
also ask myself 'why do I shiver?' After all I don't get sent into
shakes of apoplectic fury every time I read about Digital Compact
Casstte or Recordable CDs. The main difference is loyalty, we, the
public, give loyalty to a machine and it's company. We buy the
software, we buy the add ons and we even argue viciously with anyone
who says 'Atari's crap'. (Heh. If only John Major could get this type
of supprort. Or deserved it!) Because we give all this loyalty, we
expect the same sort of loyalty back. We don't expect a signed photo of
Mr.Tramiel, that would really kill sales, but we do expect some
consideration. We don't really know what, but we expect it anyway.

This expectation of consideration is a little missplaced to say the
least. Don't get me wrong I also sit on my bum and 'whinge' about the
way Atari handles things. "They should push the Atari more!" is a
regular comment. If you buy a washing machine that, when you bought it,
was "the best damn machine ever designed to wash dirty clothes". Then
the next week the same company brings out a new machine, that's even
better than the old one "'cos that one was just crap", you don't get up
and arms and storm the Groover washing machine company and hold the
director at gun point. No you just mutter "Hype" and maybe a few blue
words if you paid a lot of money.

If however, washing powder manufacturers started advertising that their
washing powder is "really fantastic and can do tons of neat cleaning
jobs..but don't use it in a Groover 'cos they're crap" you would be
rightly upset..that's your support down the drain..

"Yes I see that..Thanks for telling me", you say.

There has always been a fight between the Amiga and the ST - and
everyone has an opinion so I won't go into this. The battle rages on
and one will be the winner. The last round went to Commodore because of
Ataris complacency, and it seems that again they are being a tad too
confident in their own position. The introduction of the Falcon and the
Jaguar are rightly called 'state of the art' for their technology and
price, but Atari seem more concerned with the push of the console
market than with computers, where residual profits tend to be low.

The only similar consumer hardware that generated this type of 'love'
was the old Betamax Vs VHS. Betamax owners would bore you to tears
telling you about the virtues and qualities of the Beta system,
demonstrating it's prowess at recording high quality programs that
retain the 'just recorded' look. Meanwhile VHS owners handed you a beer
and showed you the latest box office hit movie. No contest. VHS won the
day, to much gnashing of teeth from Betamax owners.

I've Seen It All Before (He said smugly)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My first Atari computer was an 800XL and cassette deck. This was a
ground breaking machine, and it still has features that no other home
computer has. It was the first computer to boast 256 colours on the
screen at the same time. It was a magnificent machine - and nearly
still is. Time tramps on of course and other machines come on to the
market. The main rival at the time was the Commodore 64. This little
grey beastie took the market by storm, why I will never understand. It
was only an enhanced Vic 20 - but kept the Basic! (bad move Commodore!)
Programs for the 64 were ten-a-penny with a wide and young market.
Young in this case is a good thing for the software houses and bad for
the longevity of a machine, kids are victims of 'fashion' and change
thier mind as often as thier socks. (about once a month.)

Anyway sales of Atari started dropping. The market was always unstable
for Atari, their machine seemed only to attract the 'mature' type of
user. And as we all know mature users may have the money, but they are
reluctant to part with it on some crappy game and tend not to fall for
the whims of fashion for fashions sake.

Atari in a last ditch attempt to bring in the punters slashed the
prices of their machines and produced a number of different models. The
65xe, 130xe and a few other variations. One of the higher spec machines
was the ST. It had excellent sound, super graphics and a £1000 price
tag. About 6 months later Atari gave over production to the ST and
stopped production of the 8 bit XE models.

The rest is, as they say, history.

Have you seen any similarities? The ST/F/FM were the stable background
for Atari, sales start to fall so they introduce the STE, (the machine
that should have been the original.) Sales still spiral down, software
houses start to lose interest and the public begin to wonder what
'Atari' is. In a desperate bid to squeeze the final drops of money,
Atari slash the prices of the ST models and introduce a new 'better'
model.

Hmmm. De Ja Vu?

As yet Atari have not stopped production. But they will.. Trust me..
they will. And once again the streets will be flooded with disgruntled
Atari owners all complaining because the can't find any programs or
support for the machine.

Depressing isn't it?

"OOh this is depressing", you reply, "Is there a point to this Auld. Or
are you just airing your views and trying to depress us?", you enquire.

Yes but give me time..

There are differences between the 8 bits and the ST though;

The old Atari 8 Bits didn't have a strong PD circuit, mainly due to the
fact that cassettes are not as fast or reliable as disks. The only PD
library I ever heard of in this country was Page 6 and that only
catered for disk drives which were in the minority.

If you knew someone with an 8 bit Atari you were indeed lucky or
dreaming. The 8 bits were just too thin on the ground for a good
contact system. STs on the other hand have at the very least 100,000
units in this country and maybe even 3 time this number. So finding
someone with an ST is fairly easy.

Cost differentials are way different. The cost difference between
scrapping you're old Atari for a different machine (C64 for example)
was about £100-150. Now days were talking £400 upwards. And if there is
a reccession then this is a lot of money. Well actually it's a lot of
money anytime but you get the idea.

Another important point was that the old 8 bits were simply too
inflexible to be of any serious use. STs can at least hold their own,
they are 'tools' in the truest sense. Noboday nowdays gets excited
about them, but they can still do the job properly and usually
efficiently. After all you wouldn't scrap your old lawnmower for a
'better' one if the old one still cuts the grass the way you like it.

As a side note to the 'tool' aspect. There are still quite a number of
old Apple IIs knocking around. Why? because they were flexible..simple
as that. They could be modified in many ways to suit the owners needs.
And that with an 8 bit machine...

The Way Forward
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay let's face the facts; Sooner or later you * WILL * dump your ST.
Perhaps because it dies and you can't fix it, or just simple
'Technolust'. The main reason for most will be a mixture. The machine
chokes just once too often and you want to upgrade anyway, so you do.

My money is squarely lined up behind the Falcon, Overhyped, Overpriced
and not-Overhere. It has the features that I've been dreaming of, the
colours, the sounds erm.. and that. It will also retain the
compatibilty of the old STs - mainly. I'm not too bothered about games
not working - most were cheap and I seldom played them (I'll miss
rainbow islands though). It's only expensive software that I would
miss. After a near heart attack while buying Calamus and the shop
assistant having to prise my £224.45 out of my hand, I don't want the
experience again. (The price dropped to £160 about a week later, making
me very upset)

My main concern in all this, naturally enough, will be the fate of
Stosser and specifically STOS. There are conflicting rumours of STOS
working/not working on the Falcon (and Falcos the Falcon version of
STOS has been scrapped). Apparently there is a utility for the Falcon
which turns it into an ST emulating Falcon. This seems to work fine for
about 70% of software, but I've no information on the compatability of
STOS. And if everyone abandons the ST completely - STOS or no STOS -
then whos going to read Stosser.

Still depressed - I know I am..

But wait... up in the sky.. is it a bird?.... is it a plane?.. no it's
skylab returning..

The flood of Falcon and Jaguar and other high tech bits of jiggery
pokery will eventually drown the poor ST and it will be relegated to
sad buggers like me who hate changing. The tide (lots of water
references isn't there) can be held back - for a little while at any
rate.

As I mentioned earlier you wouldn't dump your lawnmower just because
there is a supposedly better machine available. Okay you might, but not
if the old lawnmower does everything you want it too. Your ST is a fine
machine, and I for one am still learning about it. Four years or so on
and I still don't know half of the machines guts or what it can do. Now
as I'm a mature adult (bodily not mentally) I'm not in the least bit
bothered about being fashionable or not on the cutting edge of
technology. I will however buy a Falcon (eventually).. of that I'm
sure.. but I've also learnt from experience that good things don't
return very often. I sold my old 8 bit Atari a year before I bought an
ST. I recieved a measly £100 for it, with games, disk drive and more
magazines than you could shake a stick at. There are games and programs
on that machine that I genuinely miss, so I'm buying it back!! For 30
quid this time. It's now a nostalgia machine, there's no software
avaiable for it, no add ons and probably no magazine. I want back those
games and the unfriendliness of it all..even if I am the last person
using one and there's no-one to talk to!

The way to keep Atari alive for as long as possible is too support the
ST. Not just buying games, but with articles, utilities and possibly
the most important thing is -

                          Get Some Contacts!

There is nothing sadder than being stuck with a machine that nobody
seems to care about but you. Just look at Betamax owners! If - and when
- the ST finally sinks below the water and nobody supports it, you will
at least know someone who's in the same boat. So get some contacts..

You are half way there you know. You're sitting reading this text and
somewhere on this disk are a load of names just dying to for you to get
in touch. Reeaaach ooouuuttt aaaand touch! By everyone having at least
a couple of contacts, the network will spread around the country and
further. Distributing software, ideas and information, and just simply
for fun.

Talking of 'fun':

Does your ego need a quick boost?
What about being famous?

Well if you can write anything, want to air your views (like this),
distribute your programs anything at all then get in touch with this
diskzine or at least with someone. I can say from experience that
getting a copy of a disk with your name plastered around the place is
one helluva buzz, I am now quite hooked on the whole thing. It's better
than stardom as nobody sends you hate mail..erm.probably..

Well I think I prattled on enough about this subject.

BUT REMEMBER: For the ST to survive it needs support.

                So Be A Jock Strap - Support it!!

A.B.'94