ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (L.J.Dickey) (10/29/89)
In a rather lengthy and meandering article, (what was his point anyway?), <211@fjcp60.GOV> winston@fjcnet.GOV (Winston M. Llamas) writes: > ... In many ways, > I got what I paid for - a lack of programs that I'd really like to use. This rings a bell for me. I remember some advice that I got from John Bear, in his delightful book "Computer Wimp", he lists "166 things I wish I had known before I bought my first computer". Point number 25 says to choose the software before you buy the hardware. I think he is absolutely right, and his advice helped me to buy the Atari I now have. I got what I wanted, APL.68000, and am still happy with it; it is the highest level programming language I know for any micro, and is almost the fastest implementation of any APL for any micro. Of course, I have been delighted to see certain other good things come along... for instance, UNITERM, Gulam, and Maple, but the point is still the same: Pick your software first, then but a machine that runs it. -- L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo. ljdickey@water.UWaterloo.ca ljdickey@water.BITNET ljdickey@water.UUCP ..!uunet!watmath!water!ljdickey ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu
winston@fjcnet.GOV (Winston M. Llamas) (10/30/89)
In article <2731@water.waterloo.edu>, ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (L.J.Dickey) writes: > In a rather lengthy and meandering article, (what was his point anyway?), > <211@fjcp60.GOV> winston@fjcnet.GOV (Winston M. Llamas) writes: > > > ... In many ways, > > I got what I paid for - a lack of programs that I'd really like to use. > > This rings a bell for me. I remember some advice that I got from > John Bear, in his delightful book "Computer Wimp", he lists "166 > things I wish I had known before I bought my first computer". > > Point number 25 says to choose the software before you buy the hardware. > ... Checking to see what software on a computing platform is certainly a good idea. On the other had, if you buy a machine when it first comes out, you really don't have the luxury of examining a broad software base. It's too bad that the process of hardware introduction - software availability is akin to the "chicken before the egg" situation. One can't always tell how a machine will do in a marketplace, thus restricting the amount of software inititially developed for the machine. This lag in software availability translates to diminished hardware sales - after all, there are machines out there that can do the same thing at roughly the same prices. What makes a difference in the early moments of a computer's life-cycle is support from the manufacturer. The fact that Atari has not always provided good aftermarket support has not helped it in the marketplace. When the ST was first introduced, it was a good, low cost computer with the same capabilities as other machines on the market (the Mac, the AT). The Mac market and the PC compatible market have moved forward in the last few years. We are now only getting a glimpse of what Atari has to offer for the future. In many ways, the TT is a good machine. Is it significantly better than what a decent 386 clone has to offer? I don't think so. Unless Atari gives users an overriding reason to buy a TT, it's market penetration will be marginal, at best. In short, Atari will have to offer more than "power without the price" to lure people to buy their machines. I'd be interested to see how the new machines are marketed (with Comdex coming soon). And in keeping with today's consumer spending attitude, "give me a reason to buy it, and I probably will." Good software (that I can use) is as good a reason as any. -Winston