david@bdt.UUCP (David Beckemeyer) (11/11/88)
German sales are still strong in comparisons to US sales, but that's
not saying that much.
Has anyone else noticed that the few US software distributors that were
actually carrying Atari ST software are dropping the ST products? They
are selling off what they have on the shelves but they're not ordering
any more.
Another side note: I've now noticed that Antic Software is publishing
AMIGA SOFTWARE. What does "Antic - The Atari Resource" have to say for
themselves now, I wonder?
--
David Beckemeyer (david@bdt.UUCP) | "Lester Moore - Four slugs from a .44
Beckemeyer Development Tools | no Les, no more."
478 Santa Clara Ave. Oakland, CA 94610 | - Headstone at Boot Hill
UUCP: {uunet,ucbvax}!unisoft!bdt!david | Tombstone, AZuace0@uhnix2.uh.edu (Michael B. Vederman) (11/11/88)
In article <426@bdt.UUCP> david@bdt.UUCP (David Beckemeyer) writes: > >Another side note: I've now noticed that Antic Software is publishing >AMIGA SOFTWARE. What does "Antic - The Atari Resource" have to say for >themselves now, I wonder? >-- >David Beckemeyer (david@bdt.UUCP) | "Lester Moore - Four slugs from a .44 >Beckemeyer Development Tools | no Les, no more." >478 Santa Clara Ave. Oakland, CA 94610 | - Headstone at Boot Hill >UUCP: {uunet,ucbvax}!unisoft!bdt!david | Tombstone, AZ Being an ANTIC developer, I can comment on this rather instigating comment. I cannot, however, speak officially for ANTIC, but rather let you know what I have learned from the people I deal with. Bottom line: Atari sales aren't that great in the US. No news there! The move is one to keep Antic software alive. The software part of Antic is *now* (it wasn't before) a separate company than Antic Publishing, which produces Antic and STart magazines. The new company's co-owners have decided to increase their profits, and have, in fact, not only entered the AMIGA market, but the IBM market as well. Unless we wanted to see *NO* software at all from Antic Software, Inc. (ie. the Cyber line, FLASH, SHADOW, Cad 3D, etc.) this move was needed. I can't say it all, but Atari owners can expect more changes from Antic Software. That *DOES NOT* mean changes for the worse!!!!! As a matter of fact, 'Cyber Punks' are rampant and Antic's Cyber line is going to continue to grow, despite Tom Hudson's move to IBM (to supposedly produce Cyber-type STuff on the IBM). Almost everyday, ANTIC gets calls from people wishing to develop new Cyber related products. Also, another company related to Antic Software (I can't recall the name) is importing foriegn products and marketing them through Antic's distribution network. I personally don't see anything wrong with preserving the ST software line by making a *smart* business decision. ** FLAME ON ** If David Beckemeyer would stop wearing his heart on his sleeve, maybe he wouldn't get so offended by other people's marketing strategies. Just because he had faith in ATARI Corp. and they let him down, *DOES NOT* give him the right to bash all companies associated with the ATARI computers!!! Everyone is in the same boat. You just jumped ship early, and seem to still be floating waiting for a rescue party. I am sorry that RTX didn't take off like you wanted. I personally wish I was making much more money from our ATARI products, but that is why I have a real job, as a real computer programmer for a POS company. (And I program the IBM PC all day, as well as OS/9 on a VME 020 machine!) The fact is, I have an Atari ST, I'm not rich, but I do enjoy the system. The computer is great, despite Atari's lack of developer's support (which seems to be getting much better), so I program on it. Compared to the IBM rag, the ST is a fun machine to program, that allows me much better performance and ease of programming. Not to mention it doesn't have *brain dead* assembly!!! So, please get over it David. Bash Atari, not the companies trying to make money the best way they can! ** FLAME OFF ** These opinions *DO NOT* reflect Antic Software or Double Click Software. They are my own!!! Flame me. See y'all at COMDEX! - mike vederman -- for (;;) : Use ATARINET, send an interactive do_it(c_programmers); : message such as: : Tell UH-INFO at UHUPVM1 ATARINET HELP University Atari Computer Enthusiasts : University of Houston UACE
BobR@cup.portal.com (Bob BobR Retelle) (11/12/88)
David Beckemeyer asks: >Has anyone else noticed that the few US software distributors that were >actually carrying Atari ST software are dropping the ST products? The local "Electronics Botique" chain store has moved all remaining ST software to a small "island" display in the back of the store, and given the former ST wall space to expanding its Amiga and Macintosh shelves... The "Babbages" chain store in the same mall has cleared out all its Atari software, and given the space to Commodore titles... MicrOtyme in Ohio called the Michigan Atari Magazine to say it was pulling its ads for Atari products this week.. I called Computer Direct today (they used to print a catalog that was half Atari/half Apple.. they've dropped all Atari products), and the first thing the girl asked was "What computer do you have?".. when I said "Atari", I could hear the intake of breath to tell me they didn't carry Atari anymore.. I had to tell her all I wanted was disk storage cases... I recently wrote a 3-part series for ST-Log magazine, and my mother called nearly every computer store in the Metro Detroit area looking for a copy of the first installment.. some of the answers she got when she asked about "Atari" would be amusing, if they weren't so sad... No... I haven't noticed anything... >Another side note: I've now noticed that Antic Software is publishing >AMIGA SOFTWARE. What does "Antic - The Atari Resource" have to say for >themselves now, I wonder? I imagine "Antic - The Atari Resource" is hoping to stay in business... BobR
david@bdt.UUCP (David Beckemeyer) (11/15/88)
In article <694@uhnix2.uh.edu> uace0@uhnix2.UUCP writes: > >** FLAME ON ** > >If David Beckemeyer would stop wearing his heart on his sleeve, maybe he >wouldn't get so offended by other people's marketing strategies. Just >because he had faith in ATARI Corp. and they let him down, *DOES NOT* give >him the right to bash all companies associated with the ATARI computers!!! [ rest deleted ] > >- mike vederman > >-- >for (;;) : Use ATARINET, send an interactive > do_it(c_programmers); : message such as: > : Tell UH-INFO at UHUPVM1 ATARINET HELP >University Atari Computer Enthusiasts : University of Houston UACE Believe it or not I wasn't trying to bash Antic. I realize it probably looked like that, and so I'm going to make a brief posting to (maybe) clear it up. It was more like: "See even companies that originally were very dedicated to the Atari ST are being forced to move on and expand their horizons..." I sincerely have absolutely no problem with Antic Software's move away from 100% Atari software. I think it's a perfectly reasonable thing to do. But at the same time I think it makes a pretty strong statement about Atari's position in the marketplace. I'm sorry about the way the message appeared to bash Antic Software. I didn't mean it that way. -- David Beckemeyer (david@bdt.UUCP) | "Lester Moore - Four slugs from a .44 Beckemeyer Development Tools | no Les, no more." 478 Santa Clara Ave. Oakland, CA 94610 | - Headstone at Boot Hill UUCP: {uunet,ucbvax}!unisoft!bdt!david | Tombstone, AZ
daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) (11/16/88)
in article <429@bdt.UUCP>, david@bdt.UUCP (David Beckemeyer) says: > Keywords: Amiga, Atari, Germany > Xref: cbmvax comp.sys.atari.st:13231 comp.sys.amiga:27487 > It was more like: "See even companies that originally were very dedicated > to the Atari ST are being forced to move on and expand their horizons..." > But at the same time I think it makes a pretty strong statement about > Atari's position in the marketplace. Without commenting directly on this particular situation, I just though I'd point out that expanding into other markets isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sure, one reason to move from Computer A to Computer B is that Computer A's sales are slow, and you're not making your fortune don it alone. So Computer B's here, and a port of your application may require a small amount of work relative to what it took to get stuff running on Computer A, especially if they're both based on CPU X. You spend 1/4 the original work and double, or better, your market. Maybe now you can pay the bills. But different circumstances can lead a company to exactly the same decision. This company is selling a product for Computer A, and doing quite well. They'd even like to expand, maybe with some new products. Perhaps they spend lots of time and write another program for Computer A, and it takes off too. But pretty soon sales for Computer A start to drop off or at least settle down. So for the next product, they notice that Computer B sitting there has as many potential customers for their product as Computer A, and the work to port their program(s) to Computer B is less than the work to develop a brand new application for Computer A. Now they've doubled their market. I don't know any details on whether Antic's move into the Amiga market was a survival move or an expansion move. In either case, if they can sell a successful product for Amigas, the decision was the correct one for them to make. Regardless of how strongly they are dedicated to the Atari ST, it would be foolish for them to let brand loyalty drag down the potential of their company. Hardware companies like Commodore, Atari, Apple, IBM, whatever, are smart to consider each other "the competition". But if you're a software company, you competition isn't Commodore, Atari, Apple, or IBM; it's MicroSoft, WordPerfect, or Lotus, etc. > David Beckemeyer (david@bdt.UUCP) | "Lester Moore - Four slugs from a .44 -- Dave Haynie "The 32 Bit Guy" Commodore-Amiga "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: D-DAVE H BIX: hazy Amiga -- It's not just a job, it's an obsession