jerry@polygen.uucp (Jerry Shekhel) (04/14/90)
In article <90032523232155@masnet.uucp> (DAVID MEGGINSON) writes: > >I don't know why we're all so worried about the future of Atari. Right >now, my ST lets me do some decent DTP, read e-mail, word process, and >(using MT-CShell) gives me an incredibly cheap platform for developing >Unix-like software at home instead of spending too much time sitting >in front of an orange monitor under florescent lights. Sure, it's out of >date -- so are the Mac, Amiga, and anything which runs MS DOS (I include >Windows and MSDOS's messy follower, OS2). ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I agree with your comments about the ST -- I used to have one myself, but have you ever really seen OS/2? I wouldn't call it out of date, considering it has features not present even in the latest UNIXes, like advanced interprocess communication, shared dynamic-link libraries, multi-threaded applications, and a windowing/GUI subsystem. It is a real OS that has nothing in common with MSDOS except the similar shell syntax. Really, don't comment on it if you haven't used it! > >There's a new generation on >the horizon, which will be so much larger and faster than any home >computers that we won't know how we ever got along with only a few lousy >megabytes and speeds under 50mhz. We'll have multi-gigabyte HDs and >machines running really nice graphic interfaces on top of a (usually >invisible) Unix, all for a little more than the price of an ST today. > Gosh, I can't wait! > >But it is still today. I've used (and programmed for) MSDOS, and it's a >real pain. I like Unix, but I miss GEM, which is very easy to program. > If you get a chance, do check out OS/2. I used to program GEM when I had my ST, and loved it -- at the time. Now I program for OS/2 PM. You don't even have to look closely to find that the object-oriented OS/2 Win and Gpi libraries blow away the ST's AES and VDI, respectively. An example is that Win and Gpi know about each other, while AES and VDI don't. Because of this, if you want to draw a line in OS/2 PM, you don't have to go querying the window manager for the visible parts of your window; All output is clipped to it automatically. Those of you who've programmed GEM know what I'm talking about. I do have to admit, though, that programming the ST is cheaper and there is less to learn. But honestly, it's a less powerful system than a PC running OS/2. > >I'm ready to dump my mega 2 as soon as I can afford something better, >but I'm not ready to whine about it in the mean time. Sure it's cheap. >Sure Atari has no future, but neither do car manufacturers. Let's worry >about these things tomorrow. > Agreed. > >David Megginson, Centre for Medieval Studies >BITNET: meggin@vm.epas.utoronto.ca --- +--------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------+ | | Polygen Corporation | UUCP: | | Jerry J. Shekhel | Waltham, MA 02254 | {princeton, mit-eddie, | | | (617) 890-2888 | bu, sunne}!polygen!jerry | +--------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------+