[net.micro.atari] BYTE and ATARI ???!!!???

uh@unido.UUCP (09/09/85)

Subject: BYTE and ATARI ?!?

What about Byte magazine and Atari 520ST?? Why is the brand
new hacker machine never a subject of any Byte issue?? A
technical magazine like Byte should report about such
computers. They did it both with the Mac and the Amiga,
but why not with the new Atari. Are there any political
reasons?? I'm intersted in any information!

		      Uwe Hoch (...ihnp4!hpfcla!hpbbn!unido!uh)

freed@aum.UUCP (Erik Freed) (09/11/85)

> Subject: BYTE and ATARI ?!?
> 
> What about Byte magazine and Atari 520ST?? Why is the brand
> new hacker machine never a subject of any Byte issue?? A
> technical magazine like Byte should report about such
> computers. They did it both with the Mac and the Amiga,
> but why not with the new Atari. Are there any political
> reasons?? I'm intersted in any information!
> 
> 		      Uwe Hoch (...ihnp4!hpfcla!hpbbn!unido!uh)

I would also be very interested in why Byte has managed to ignore
such a provacative combination of price and utility. I suspect that
Jack Tramiel opted not to play up to them and they responded by
blacklisting it. It does not speak very well for Byte's interest in
their readers. I for one lost a lot of respect for Byte because of
this glaring omission.
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           Erik James Freed
			   Aurora Systems
			   San Francisco, CA
			   {dual,ptsfa}!aum!freed

neves@uwai.UUCP (09/12/85)

> 
> I would also be very interested in why Byte has managed to ignore
> such a provacative combination of price and utility. I suspect that
> Jack Tramiel opted not to play up to them and they responded by
> blacklisting it. It does not speak very well for Byte's interest in
> their readers. I for one lost a lot of respect for Byte because of
> this glaring omission.
> -- 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ease up on Byte magazine.  

You should note that Byte has several kinds of features on machines.
One kind is a preview, which is not really a review.  These are done
months before the machine makes it to market and depends on the
manufacturer letting Byte come in and playing with one of their
pre-production models.  The Mac was previewed by Byte (in October?) in
this way.  Besides the previews there are also the official reviews
which take place on released hardware.  Because these have to take
place after the machine has come out you will probably see it several
months later (because of publication lag, etc.)

I suspect that either Byte couldn't get to see a pre-production Atari,
or it was not clear that the pre-production model was close enough to
production quality.  When they previewed the Amiga Byte said that the
ROMs were still being worked on, but they seemed sufficiently close to
the final product to preview.  Expect a review 3-4 months after the
machine has come out (assuming also that Atari gives Byte a machine to
review.)
-- 
David Neves
Computer Sciences Department
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Usenet:  {allegra,heurikon,ihnp4,seismo,uwm-evax}!uwvax!neves
Arpanet: neves@uwvax

uh@unido.UUCP (09/14/85)

David Neves wrote in his response:

>... Expect a review 3-4 months after the
>machine has come out (assuming also that Atari gives Byte a machine to
>review.)

Yes, it's possible that BYTE will review the 520ST in 3 or 4 months,
but there is also a chance that the machine will never be reviewed.
This is my opinion because I have never seen any (!!!) note on the
new ATARI super-pc in the BYTE magazine (not even in chapters like
"New Products" or "Nanobytes"). I still think Byte is negoitiating
the 520ST and I'm still intersted in rumours and opinions about that.

     Uwe Hoch
     Computer Science Department, University of Dortmund
     4600 Dortmund 50, P.O. Box 500500, W.-Germany
     E-mail address UUCP: ...ihnp4!hpfcla!hpbbn!unido!uh

[Opinions expressed here are on my own ...]