rjd@nancy.UUCP (02/12/87)
OK, it's time for my once-every-two-months inquiry into the status
and availability of GDOS. I do this partially because I am amused (in a
sick sorta way) at the sheer volume and variety of answers (while, at the
same time not containing *any* information that is useful) and partially
because *I WANT IT.*
OK, the story so far:
- it *is* available to developer's, at least in a
limited sense, and for a price. (Analog was quoted as saying that the
Atari Corp. is charging developer's $500/year for licensing GDOS...I hope
this is a disgusting rumor, because if its true it reall sucks.)
- it *will* be available to the common user, at a price, I assume.
- President of Regent Software, Frank Cohen, *is* fed up with the whole
thing and will be writing an in-house substitute for GDOS called RDOS.
Cohen makes no bones about the notion of paying $$$ for something that
should be an integral part of the OS. He *will* be uploading RDOS
to public networks for PD distribution. (How compatable RDOS will be
with GDOS, I have no idea...)
At those are pretty much the only "hard" facts I have gleemed from statements
from people on this net (including Atari reps), magazines and CompuServe.
Now, will someone from Atari *please* answer the following questions before
I totally lose faith in your company?
(1) Where the hell is it? When will it be available and how much
will it cost us? (I am willing to pay for it because it is
useful - I have an IBM with GEM on it at home - but I do *not*
intend to shell out half the cost of my machine per year to
use it.) Is the $500/year licensing fee a myth?
(2) What does DRI think about all this? GEM is, after all, their
product, and when they ship GEM to MS DOS based machines, it
comes *with* GDOS.
(3) Did son-of-Jack Tramiel *really* make that comment about
the Ferrari and we should all be satisified with the fact
that Atari is still making computers? (Actually, you don't have
to answer that one, I just threw that it so that you guys can
control your PR a little better ;-) )
I'm a satisfied Atari customer, and I'm sure you don't want me to stop
now...I've already recommended ST's to a total of nine people, 5 of which
have bought one, and one of whom is strongly considering...a happy customer
is a vocal customer, but so is an unhappy one.....
- Rob DeMillo
Brown University - Planetary Science Group
UUCP: ...{seismo!harpo}!ihnp4!brunix!rjd
CompuServe: 73537,2737
------
"...I am not so sure what you want me for!
Either your machine is a fool, or me..." -- "WarGames", CSN
dclemans@mntgfx.UUCP (02/16/87)
The following is my understanding of GDOS availability, based on letters I've received from the developer support person at Atari. GDOS is available now from Atari to registered developers. There is no cost for using it for personal development/testing. There is a one-time only $500 fee to ship products containing it. dgc