bdenh@caen.engin.umich.edu (Brian J Denheyer) (08/16/89)
Who wants to be loyal to a company that doesn't upgrade the operating system in a regular manner or announces lots of vaporware ? Not me. On the other hand, you get what you pay for. I went out looking for a new computer and thought, gee, maybe I'll get a Mac or an Amiga. Ha ! Anybody looked at the price of a Mac/SE with a 20 MB hardrive lately ? $2700 or so is what you can expect to pay. That extra $700-$800 (above a similar ST) goes into things like OS upgrades. The Amiga is better, but they don't have the nice crisp mono display that the ST has (which I find to be very easy on the eyes). In the meantime I'd have to learn how to program a new machine, just when I've learned to really use GEM efficiently, and give up about $500 in software that I have BOUGHT. So I'm upgrading to a Mega-2 and if I really want a Mac I'll go out and buy Spectre GCR. The sad part is that the ST can do anything that a Mac can do except that nobody has bothered to write the programs. You can get a program called Mathcad for the Mac which I'd really like. There is absolutely no reason why the program could not be ported to the ST except for the fact that the software houses don't think that they'll make enough money in the ST market. The only thing that differentiates the two machines as far as I'm concerned is the software which is available. (Hypercard would be nice, and lightspeed C). All of that software could easily be written to run on an ST ! It also seems to have very knowledgeable and enthusiastic users, and that's the aspect of owning an Atari which I have enjoyed the most (Yes I had an Atari 800 - great machine !). In the meantime the ST is a fun machine to hack on, and I'm able to use it for everything I need to do (Laser C is no slouch). That, ultimately, is what is important.