rtb@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Todd) (09/14/87)
It seems obvious now that Gemwrite and GemDraw will never be available for the ST. I am posting this article because I am curious. Does anybody have any theories as to why these two programs died on the vine? It should have really easy for the programmers at DR to port it over from the IBM code. They had the source, the knowledge of GEM, the manuals written, and it shouldn't have been that big of a project. I suspect it was part of the Apple-DR agreement of a couple of years ago over the "look and feel" issues. I would think DR would take a new interest in the ST because OS/2 with its presentation manager and the newer versions of Windows are going to take their toll on the PC sales of GEM. R.T. Bradstrum
usenet@nancy.UUCP (Usenet file owner) (09/15/87)
Followup-To: Mutated Waterfowl Keywords: missing defunct why? From: koster@msudoc.ee.mich-state.edu (Kurt Koster) Path: msudoc!koster In article <2182@ihlpf.ATT.COM> rtb@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Todd) writes: > > >It seems obvious now that Gemwrite and GemDraw will never be >available for the ST. I am posting this article because >I am curious. Does anybody have any theories as to why these >two programs died on the vine? It should have really easy >for the programmers at DR to port it over from the IBM code. >They had the source, the knowledge of GEM, the manuals >written, and it shouldn't have been that big of a project. I suspect >it was part of the Apple-DR agreement of a couple of years ago >over the "look and feel" issues. I would think DR would take a new interest >in the ST because OS/2 with its presentation manager and the newer >versions of Windows are going to take their toll on the PC sales of >GEM. > > R.T. Bradstrum Yes, there's a reason. GemDraw and GemWrite aren't that good. With 1st Word and Neochrome [the versions included with the ST] being better programs, Digital Research wisely decided not to attempt marketing either. There was also a slight matter of Digital Research and Atari not getting along well together at the time. At least, I think this is the way things went. Perhaps someone else can further enlighten the issue? -koster {ihnp4!msudoc!koster}
dgy@sigmast.UUCP (Dave Yearke) (09/15/87)
In article <2182@ihlpf.ATT.COM> rtb@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Todd) writes: > >It seems obvious now that Gemwrite and GemDraw will never be >available for the ST. I am posting this article because >I am curious. Does anybody have any theories as to why these >two programs died on the vine? Talking with some people at Atari recently, I got the impression that they felt they just couldn't compete with third-party products such as DEGAS, and that they felt NeoChrome and Microsoft Write would be better products when they were ready. -- Dave Yearke, Sigma Systems Technology, Inc. / boulder \ /!cald80!sigmast!dgy ...!< decvax >!sunybcs < \ seismo!kitty / ...!ames >!canisius!sigmast!dgy
jsf@felix.UUCP (09/16/87)
In article <2182@ihlpf.ATT.COM> rtb@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Todd) writes: > >It seems obvious now that Gemwrite and GemDraw will never be >available for the ST. I am posting this article because >I am curious. Does anybody have any theories as to why these >two programs died on the vine? I have a copy of GEM WRITE for the ATARI ST from around July of 1985, before the ST was widely available. It's quite buggy, and not really useable; but it does seem to have most features implemented. I'm not sure why they never finished it, but here are some possibilities: 1. Some of the top GEM developers at DRI left around that time to form Ventura Software. 2. DRI and ATARI didn't seem to be getting along very well. I think this has something to do with the fact that GEM on the ST wasn't completed (no font support) or fully debugged. I've worked with GEM on the PC as well as the ST, and have encountered ZERO bugs in the PC version. 3. Perhaps the DRI people had advance warning that ATARI was going to give away free copies of First Word, thus killing the market for third-party word processors. -- Jeff Freedman ...hplabs!felix!jsf
steven@cwi.nl (Steven Pemberton) (09/21/87)
In article <2182@ihlpf.ATT.COM> rtb@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Todd) writes: > It seems obvious now that Gemwrite and GemDraw will never be > available for the ST. Well, I've just got back from the Dutch "Efficiencybeurs" (an office/office automation trade fair) and guess what? I saw both Gemwrite and Gemdraw running on an ST, as well as Gem version 2.2, and a number of other Gem programs (Draw, Graph, Cash...). The version of Gem was obviously a post-Apple version, because there were no rubber-boxes, or desk-top icons and that sort of thing. Also at the Beurs was the "Silicon Animation Machine" video digitiser, which I've mentioned before. It really is amazing. Real time digitiser, 25 or 30 frames per second (really!), monochrome, 320 x 200 pixels. Really impressive. Only 250 English pounds too. Steven Pemberton, CWI, Amsterdam; steven@cwi.nl
c9c-eh@dorothy.Berkeley.EDU (Warner Young (WHY)) (09/23/87)
In article <67@piring.cwi.nl> steven@cwi.nl (Steven Pemberton) writes: > ... office/office automation trade fair) and guess what? I saw both > Gemwrite and Gemdraw running on an ST, as well as Gem version 2.2, and > The version of Gem was obviously a post-Apple version, because there > were no rubber-boxes, or desk-top icons and that sort of thing. >Steven Pemberton, CWI, Amsterdam; steven@cwi.nl By GEM version 2.2, I assume you mean on the Atari PC? As far as I know, the version of GEM in the Megas and in all forthcoming versions of the ST will not comform to Apple's idea of a safe competitor. Also, do you know what versions of GEM Write and GEM Draw you saw? Are they in the beta-test stage, or more advanced now? Also, did you happen to see anything that mentions if DRI will market them, or Atari, or someone else? -Warner Young W H Y ? -because...
steven@cwi.nl (Steven Pemberton) (09/23/87)
> In article <67@piring.cwi.nl> I wrote: > I saw both Gemwrite and Gemdraw running on an ST, as well as Gem > version 2.2 and in article <3906@zen.berkeley.edu> c9c-eh@dorothy.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Warner Young (WHY)) asks: > By GEM version 2.2, I assume you mean on the Atari PC? No, I saw it running on an ST. > Also, do you know what versions of GEM Write and GEM Draw you saw? Fraid not. > Are they in the beta-test stage, or more advanced now? They were being sold. > Also, did you happen to see anything that mentions if DRI will > market them, or Atari, or someone else? I was led to understand that they were being marketed by DRI, imported (and translated) by a Dutch firm called ABC software. By the way, the man that I spoke to (who seemed to be quite knowledgable) claimed that the reason that Gem Write and Draw weren't available before now was that there was something wrong with the version of Gem on the ST that couldn't support them. I'm afraid I can't remember the details now. Steven Pemberton, CWI, Amsterdam; steven@cwi.nl
gsender@rmi.UUCP (Gerd Sender) (09/23/87)
A Dutch Company has ported GEM Version 2.2 from the IBM to the ATARI ST. They also ported all (?) GEM Programs from the IBM to the ST. To name only a few: GEM Write, Draw, Paint, Dairy. They showed GEM and the GEM Software on the ATARI fair in Duesseldorf, West Germany (18-20 September). They will now starting distributing it world wide. Here is their address:+ ABC Software Dorpsstraat 2 5314 AE Bruchem NL Netherlands