gl8f@astsun.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) (12/05/90)
Cast of characters: Jim Townsend is an Atari employee, who occasionally provides very useful information. He doesn't set Atari policy. Bob Retelle is someone who likes to insult people. He wants to change Atari so bad he'd rather drive away Atari employees providing us support for our computers than be quiet. After all, if you badger the low-level employees they're sure to march right into the President's office and demand change. In article <36556@cup.portal.com> Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes: >John Tewnsend writes: > >>Finally! Someone who sums up the entire situation. I remember when reading >>news was fun and most of all a learning experience. Seems like the quality >>of people and information here is slipping a great deal. > >I remember when Atari Corp. produced and marketed quality, cutting-edge >products, instead of jerking around users, dealers and developers. >It seems the quality of people and information at Atari Corp has slipped >a great deal. Townsend is a good person. If you keep it up, Bob, the quality of information on this newsgroup is going to decline even more.
ritchie@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (David Ritchie) (12/06/90)
Greg writes: > >Jim Townsend is an Atari employee, who occasionally provides very >useful information. He doesn't set Atari policy. > >Bob Retelle is someone who likes to insult people. He wants to change >Atari so bad he'd rather drive away Atari employees providing us >support for our computers than be quiet. After all, if you badger the >low-level employees they're sure to march right into the President's >office and demand change. > >Townsend is a good person. If you keep it up, Bob, the quality of >information on this newsgroup is going to decline even more. I must agree with Greg on this. Listen folks, if you have a gripe with the way Atari runs their business, then write Jack and Sam and vent your spleen -- the employees don't control the throttle of the Atari train. I would say that Atari has their problems, but it isn't anything that has already been beaten to death here n! times. Have you folks ever thought that there just may not be enough folks at Atari to do all the jobs that have to get done to keep the doors open and get out new products? That would explain a lot of the problems that have occured there over the years... -- Dave Ritchie ritchie@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com
Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com (12/06/90)
What I find most interesting is that when "Atari employees" or other Atari Cheerleaders cannot find anything to say to defend Atari's actions, they almost invariably resort to personal attacks... Instead of trying to come up with some rationale for the way Atari does things, or providing us with any hard facts, they call names... Read back over this thread and see who brought it down to a personal level.. BobR
brownp@lurch.rtp.dg.com (Peter Brown) (12/06/90)
In article <1990Dec5.080533.23844@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, gl8f@astsun.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) writes: |> Cast of characters: |> |> Jim Townsend is an Atari employee, who occasionally provides very |> useful information. He doesn't set Atari policy. |> |> Bob Retelle is someone who likes to insult people. He wants to change |> Atari so bad he'd rather drive away Atari employees providing us |> support for our computers than be quiet. After all, if you badger the |> low-level employees they're sure to march right into the President's |> office and demand change. |> |> In article <36556@cup.portal.com> Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes: |> >John Tewnsend writes: |> > |> >>Finally! Someone who sums up the entire situation. I remember when reading |> >>news was fun and most of all a learning experience. Seems like the quality |> >>of people and information here is slipping a great deal. |> > |> >I remember when Atari Corp. produced and marketed quality, cutting-edge |> >products, instead of jerking around users, dealers and developers. |> >It seems the quality of people and information at Atari Corp has slipped |> >a great deal. |> |> Townsend is a good person. If you keep it up, Bob, the quality of |> information on this newsgroup is going to decline even more. |> I gotta second that! Let's not bash the people who help us out.
cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) (12/06/90)
In article <36587@cup.portal.com> Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes: >What I find most interesting is that when "Atari employees" or other >Atari Cheerleaders cannot find anything to say to defend Atari's actions, >they almost invariably resort to personal attacks... > >Instead of trying to come up with some rationale for the way Atari does >things, or providing us with any hard facts, they call names... > >Read back over this thread and see who brought it down to a personal level.. I agree completely. At no time in the past have I insulted anyone, used foul language or showered anyone with personal abuse, yet I see these "Cheerleaders" resorting to those kind of arguments all the time. If you have anything of worth to say, say it. Personal attacks only make you look foolish. > >BobR Cheers, Chris ------------------------------+--------------------------- Chris Mauritz |D{r det finns en |l, finns cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu |det en plan! (c)All rights reserved. | Send flames to /dev/null | ------------------------------+---------------------------
saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) (12/07/90)
As long as certain specific inflammatory topics are avoided, I've found Bob
Retelle's postings to be useful contributions to the Atari groups. Maybe
he got a little shrill just this once, but what's that among friends.
All the Atari people, including John Townsend, are very helpful to this group.
I just wish they'd post a bit more. For that matter, there have been some
extremely welcome postings from Commodore and Apple employees.
Anyway, the more rounds of flaming that go on in public, the longer the
anger lasts. Can we make nice in public and take the hostility to email?
And very much to the point here: there should be no question of non-public
information in answering these questions (from Atari, please):
1) Have the TT and the Mega E received any FCC certifications (if so, what?)
2) Are any pending certifications on them awaiting FCC action as next step?
Steve J.kclenden@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Kevin Clendenien) (12/07/90)
In article <1990Dec6.152600.21698@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) writes: ->In article <36587@cup.portal.com> Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes: ->>What I find most interesting is that when "Atari employees" or other ->>Atari Cheerleaders cannot find anything to say to defend Atari's actions, ->>they almost invariably resort to personal attacks... ->> ->>Instead of trying to come up with some rationale for the way Atari does ->>things, or providing us with any hard facts, they call names... ->> ->>Read back over this thread and see who brought it down to a personal level.. -> ->I agree completely. At no time in the past have I insulted anyone, used ->foul language or showered anyone with personal abuse, yet I see these ->"Cheerleaders" resorting to those kind of arguments all the time. If ->you have anything of worth to say, say it. Personal attacks only make ->you look foolish. -> ->> ->>BobR -> ->Cheers, -> ->Chris -> ->------------------------------+--------------------------- ->Chris Mauritz |D{r det finns en |l, finns ->cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu |det en plan! ->(c)All rights reserved. | ->Send flames to /dev/null | ->------------------------------+--------------------------- Well, I don't think this is really true. Just the fact that you've written these notes prove you wrong. If you guys are so sparkling clean, why did you find it necessary to generalize about Atari employees, and happy Atari users by saying that they always resort to personal attacks when that can't think of any facts. Seems to me that you guys are getting a little personal here. I have seen useful information come from both Bob and Chris. I wish they would tone down their criticism a little, but normally there is at least some merit to their criticism. I don't think that people should be talking about preventing them from writing notes at all. It has been said before, and I'll say it again. If you don't like what Chris and Bob are writing, either set up a kill file, or just don't read their notes. I knew Allan Pratt when he lived here in Bloomington. If he could put up with me, and Cat, I'm sure that he can ignore the complaints that he sees here. It would be nice if people would thank him, and John, and the other Atari employees more often. They are spending their own time to respond to notes. I wish that Atari would do a lot of things differently, but they are a small company. They have a plan, whether it's apparent to you, me, Bob, Chris, or even Allan. They've been very sucessful in Europe. I'm co-oping with IBM right now, and I guarantee you that IBM displays many of the same faults that Atari does. Promises about software that never materializes. Trust me, Atari does not have a monopoly on missed opportunities. If a company as large as IBM can piss off customers, I don't see why people should try to judge Atari any differently. I got to see the SHARE songbook a couple of weeks ago. What is the SHARE songbook? Well, SHARE is a national IBM users group. Their songbook is a very large collection of songs written by IBM customers about IBM hardware and software. I skimmed through a small portion of the songs (maybe 20 or so), and all of them were very derogatory. Gosh, this turned out to be longer than what I had originally intended. I'll summarize by saying that I'd much prefer an open discussion that included negative views, as well as positive views to a closed discussion that policed each note that was written. And lastly, I'd like to thank Allan Pratt, John Townsend, and the other Atari employees that take the time to read, and respond in this forum. It may not always be apparent, but your efforts are greatly appreciated. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- kclenden@silver.bacs.indiana.edu Kevin Clendenien BLAST BBS - (812) 332-0573 BLAST member "I want someone like you, only nicer."
rcte2p@jetson.uh.edu (Paul S. Sears) (12/11/90)
In article <15480012@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com>, ritchie@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (David Ritchie) writes: > Listen folks, if you have a gripe with the way Atari runs their > business, then write Jack and Sam and vent your spleen -- the employees > don't control the throttle of the Atari train. I would say that Atari > has their problems, but it isn't anything that has already been beaten > to death here n! times. > > Have you folks ever thought that there just may not be enough folks > at Atari to do all the jobs that have to get done to keep the doors open > and get out new products? That would explain a lot of the problems that > have occured there over the years... > > -- Dave Ritchie > ritchie@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com I also have to agree with this. I have owned Atari's since 1979 when I bought my first 800. The number stamped on my mother board was 1121! I have seen Atari people and Atari dealers come and go. I have also lived with a lack of support. I do find that Atari has a product that is worthwhile and I do understand that they have their problems. We all hope that the future of Atari would be alittle more stable. However, we should appreciate the comments on this newsgroup from the employees of Atari. They are not responsible for the company itself and we should not expect them to sit through a bunch of verbal attacks on them or their company. The fact that they even care enough to post to this newsgroup is good enough for me... -- Paul Sears The Univ. of Houston |"The greater an individual's power Student of the College of Technology | over others, the greater the evil that RCTE2P@Jetson.uh.edu *** | might possibly originate with him." RCTE2P@menudo.uh.edu * * * | - PROPAGANDA, from A Secret Wish (CD)