res@ihlpe.UUCP (09/25/87)
In article <1972@encore.UUCP>, paradis@encore.UUCP (Jim Paradis) writes: > In article <7279@reed.UUCP> palegray@reed.UUCP (Prometheus Hawthorne) writes: > > I have a Tandy 2000. The programs I have for it, plus the very > >attractive design of it, make it a very nice computer to have. > > I agree. It's a wonderful machine. I used to own one. In fact, I was the > first kid on my block to own one (got it 2/14/84). > > I also got rid of it eventually. Why? Simple: I couldn't stand Tandy's > cavalier approach to supporting the machine. Not only did it have a > proprietary bus architecture and was hardware-incompatible with just about > everything in existance, but Tandy did NOTHING to encourage third-party > development for the machine! As a result, you were stuck with Tandy's > meager-and-wildly-overpriced selection of hardware and software expansion > options or nothing at all. I understand where you are coming from. I have a Tandy machine that I will replace soon. I do not know what I will replace it with, but I DO know that it will not be with another Tandy machine. I have a Radio Shack Model 2 that I bought several years ago. The hardware is magnificent! The OS (TRSDOS 2.0) is quite well done. Other software for the machine was sad. Many packages were available for it, but (aside from Tandy-grown software like Scripsit -- my favorite editor bar none) they were never upgraded. For example, I bought the Microsoft Fortran compiler for it. Later I bought a version of CPM for it (Aton's version) and obtained another version of the Fortran compiler. Despite the fact that CPM on 8-bitters is essentially dead, the CPM version of the compiler was many versions beyond that for TRSDOS. To this day I have not received any opportunity to upgrade the TRSDOS version of the compiler, nor have I seen fixes for any of the many bugs in the package that I found (and some of which I reported!). > Not only that, but I eventually had it with > dealing with Tandy salespeople. If I wanted to do something that was > not part of one of Tandy's prepackaged solutions, they were lost. You ask > them a question on item availability or pricing, and the first (and only) > thing they do is pick up the same glossy catalogue that you and I get and > look it up. I'm educated, and I don't need anyone to read the catalogue > to me, thank you! A M E N !!! I also found, as someone who is somewhat computer-literate, that the specs for a machine or add-on often told me a different story than the salesperson did ... often less optimistic. Also, if you wanted specs beyond those in the glossy catalog, you had to by and expen$$$ive manual that gave a tremendous amount of information, often more than I found useful. Rich Strebendt ...!ihnp4![iwsl6|ihaxa|ihlpe]!res