houser@mcnc.org (Kevin D. Houser) (05/30/89)
I believe that most of the complaints about pirating on the ST are a bull-s&!@ excuse for poor sales. Most of the quotes for sales volume seem to come from GAME sales, not from REAL development tools and productive software. I have spent over a thousand dollars on a few < 4 software packages for the ST that are PROFESSIONAL quality. I do not buy games for my ST because I do not consider games as being worth the OUTRAGEOUS prices that local retailers want (ST versions are around $50 average). Now, that does not mean that I pirate them either. I would rather buy games for my 8 bit atari, or CoCo 3 system at more reasonable prices ($25 average). Being honest, I have only one pirated program for my ST which I do not USE or distribute further, because it was sooo poorly written. However, many of my friends with IBM's and IBM Clowns receive about 80% of their proffesional and game packages (illicitly) through work etc. When I used an IBM clone I too was part of that lifestyle. BUT since my main system is now an ST, many of my fellow STers are very very reluctant to pirate even the most poorly developed software for fear that future development of useful products will be hindered. On a final note, I would like to say that it is unfortunate that NO ONE seems to market anything but GAMES here in Raleigh NC (for the ST). Kevin Houser houser@mcnc.org
mn@atari.UUCP (Mike Nowicki) (05/31/89)
In article <4575@alvin.mcnc.org> houser@mcnc.org (Kevin D. Houser) writes: > > I believe that most of the complaints about pirating on the ST >are a bull-s&!@ excuse for poor sales. Try developing a program using your own sweat equity, spend a bunch of money on packaging and advertising and then come back and tell me piracy is a bullsh*t excuse. I did, got discouraged and came to work for Atari. The ST is a fun machine to use and program on and thus attracts users who have a high degree of technical/programming skill. It also attracted many former Color Computer users who are by far the worst pirates I've ever encountered, well, second only to ham radio computerists. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- char *soapbox="Boycott Exxon and boil 'em in their own oil!"; char *disclaimer="Views are my own, not my employer's"; Michael Nowicki Atari Corp.