sjl@amdahl.UUCP (Steve Langdon) (08/03/86)
About 9 months ago I posted an article explaining my views on the importance of a consistent user interface on a single user micro. I still feel that this is a critical issue, but now it is time to ask if high quality applications for the Atari ST and Amiga are available. Both machines have been around for a while and it is reasonable to expect good software. To attempt to organize the discussion I will suggest some categories, and provide a summary of what is available for the Mac. Word Processing MacWrite - simple WYSIWYG suitable for many uses MS Word - not quite WYSIWYG suitable for most documents A whole new generation of word processing software for the Mac is about to be released including MS Word 2.0, MacAuthor, MultiWrite, etc. My impression is that the word processing software available for the Atari ST and Amiga cannot do what MacWrite could on release. Spreadsheets Excel - the best Multiplan - pretty good Crunch - I do not know it The only spreadsheet I have heard of on the Atari ST is VIP Planner which did not (when reviewed) use a windowing interface. Communications MacTerminal - OK vt100 VersaTerm - Excellent vt100, 4014, and others Red Ryder - Well thought of, but I do not use it *many* others uw - multi-window Unix interface (from John Brunner of LLL) Seagate - Appletalk gateway to the internet world (Bill Croft SU) All sorts of communications software is available and more appears all the time. Database Helix - powerful icon-oriented relational DB OMNIS 3 - powerful DB OverView - fast DB with some spreadsheet-like features FileVision - DB with unique visual interface *many* others DBase III plus is on the way, and so many others that I lose track. Development Systems Mac C (Consulair) - good C system with many special variants (020 etc.) Aztec - as on many systems + symbolic debugger Megamax - does the job Lightspeed C - Unusually quick integrated environment(editor,make, etc.) *many* others including almost all languages I know and some I don't More stuff is on the way from Apple and others. Apple are working on reducing development effort using a sophisticated application skeleton (MacApp), Think will have QuickSilver Pascal, others will keep upgrading. Graphics MacPaint - the original FullPaint - what MacPaint would have been with 512K MacDraw - needs upgrade, but still the best tool I know for diagrams MacDraft - will be great if the bugs are fixed *many* others Multifunction Jazz - better than they get credit for MS Works - we will know when they release it DeskTop Publishing PageMaker - the most prominent ReadySetGo - cheaper MacPublisher - cheaper The Mac owns the low end of this market, are there any Atari or Amiga packages? It remains vital to me that I can transfer data (including graphics) between the applications I use. Another key feature is the relatively uniform support for printed output. By this I mean I can use either a dot matrix printer or a LaserWrite in either portrait or landscape mode from any application. I have included a copy of my old posting because it still appears relevent. I read too many items about applications that only run in certain environments on the Atari ST and Amiga for my taste. I also do not see any indications that application-independent text-and-graphics cut-and-paste exists except on the Mac. Please note that I do not want to start a round of "my machine is better than yours" flames. I want reasonable comments on the things which make these machines useful for day-to-day applications. I did not include PC-like systems because until MS Windows (or less likely GEM) becomes accepted they do not offer the same type of environment. >From postnews Thu Oct 3 14:53:48 1985 >Subject: User Interface Consistency >Newsgroups: net.micro,net.micro.amiga,net.micro.atari,net.micro.mac >Distribution: net >Followup-To: net.micro > >There has been a fair amount of discussion about the relative merits >of the Amiga, ST520, and the Mac. However, little of it has covered >what I consider to be a fundmental issue - user interface consistency. > >One of the most important aspects of the Macintosh is the predictable >nature of the user interface presented by applications. I own almost >all of the Microsoft products (Multiplan, Chart, Word, File, and as of >yesterday Excel), MacDraw, MacProject, MacTerminal, MacPascal, Mac C 4.0 >(Consulair's fine C compiler), and I have more Public Domain packages >than I know what to do with. With some relatively minor exceptions they >all follow the user interface guidelines that Apple established. This >means that I can transfer between applications without having to learn >a completely new set of commands or conventions. > >I do not plan to discuss the wisdom of the user interface that Apple >choose, but I do believe that this uniformity is vital. It allows me >to become productive with a new piece of software in a fraction of the >time that is needed on other systems. > >Now coming back to the Amiga and the ST520. What will the software for >these machines look like when it is available? I do not doubt that they >currently offer more hardware bang for the buck than the Macintosh. I >also do not fault them for having a less mature set of applications - >they are, after all, much newer. However, I am concerned that they may >never offer the kind of environment that the Macintosh now offers. > >I see no sign of Atari or Commodore making a vigorous commitment to a >uniform interface. When the Mac was released Apple provided MacWrite >and MacPaint. These programs, while not perfect, provided a very good >example of how the interface was meant to be done. To the best of my >knowledge no such examples exist for the ST520. As the Amiga is not >yet available I cannot determine what it will provide. Unfortunately, >I have heard comments attributed to the Amiga designers indicating that >they are not in favor of a standard user interface. > >On the basis of the reasoning above I continue to recommend that friends >buy the Macintosh rather than the ST520 or the Amiga. Comments from >other users of the net would be welcome. -- Stephen J. Langdon ...!{ihnp4,cbosgd,hplabs,sun}!amdahl!sjl [ The article above is not an official statement from any organization in the known universe. ]