ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) (02/01/91)
The January 21st issue of _MicroTimes_, a Northern California computer
magazine, included their 4th annual "100," a list of Industry leaders
"for a turbulent 1990," compiled by their editors. So, in the same
list as Jonathan Seybold and John Sculley is everyone's favorite
person, Uncle Sam Tramiel. His paragraph reads:
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Sam Tramiel
President
Atari Computer
Tramiel took a lot of heat from unhappy ST users in 1990 over his
apparent decision to emphasize Atari's historically strong European
market at the price of near-invisibility in the US. Leaving aside
the probability that Tramiel will have the last laugh in 1992 when
the company's an EC household word, by COMDEX Atari was showing and
shipping some new ST technology, maintaining its commitment to
technical excellence at low cost, and apparently making serious
attempts to mend its fences with its fanatical and long-suffering
user base.
-------
Seeing Sam Tramiel in the list was not as surprising as seeing Donald
Thomas's name in it. He gets the award for the longest title, and at
least one of the longest entries in the list.
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Donald Thomas
Computer Marketing Manager
Atari
Owner
Artisan Software
Author
The Revolution Handbook
Thomas is the quintessential hardcore Atari ST user. By day he works
at Atari helping customers with Portfolios, Atari's DOS-based
videocassette-sized computers. By night, he works in his ST-filled
house in Manteca, running his ST software company, Artisan. He also
spearheads something called The Revolution.
Lots of Atari users have long been frustrated at the company's
failure to aggressively promote the machine in the US -- a frequent
comment being that the company is doing so well in Europe that it
doesn't have to worry about the US market. For most American ST
users, moving to Dusseldorf for better hardware and software
availability is not one of the options.
As an ST aficionado and software developer, Thomas worried about
the prospect of the ST not only failing to achieve the installed base
it deserved, but utterly vanishing from the face of the continental
US. So he did something about it. He published, online (CompuServe
and GEnie) and in hard copy, /The Revolution Handbook/. Which, among
other things, exhorted ST users to be vocal about their product and
support needs. A frequently recommended activity is writing letters
to Atari President Sam Tramiel.
In a recent profile in /STart/ magazine, writer E.J. Koch
explains the delightful irony of the situation: "The company is
close-mouthed regarding Thomas's efforts. Sam Tramiel refused to
comment, but offered Thomas as his spokesperson regarding The
Revolution. Tramiel is in the strange position of having his
customers usurp his business plans. On one hand, any publicity the
Revolutionaries generate supposedly benefits his sales, but on the
other hand, he's being pressured to spend advertising money where the
customers, not the company owners, think best. And to top it all
off, he is Thomas's boss."
--
Ed Krimen ...............................................
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