knudsen@ihlpl.ATT.COM (Knudsen) (10/21/88)
A friend of mine, a very active Coco-ist, works part-time at a RadShack. I asked him if he'd heard the edict from Ft Worth to push the Coco as strictly a game toy. He said "no, and my store's manager knows me too well to even say such a thing to me." Instead he's been told to "sell Cocos any way he can" -- which leaves his options open. Since he sold 4 PClones in one evening, you can see why his manager trusts him. I also questioned the notion of trying to compete explicitly with Nintendo and Sega, who have revitalized the game market. Their machines have special-purpose sound chips and video sprite generators and such, and we all know about Coco game sound, don't we. He agreed, but pointed out that in some of the games (particularly Shanghai/Mah Jong), the Coco III has better looking graphics than the Tandy 1000 PClones. Not that this applies to Nintendo, but it might lead someone interested in graphics or games to prefer buying a Coco over a 1000, even if the prices were equal. BTW, I have nothing against buying an MSDOS box from Tandy if I wanted one. THeir stuff is well built, reasonably priced (at least when on sale), and easily serviced (try to get your Hong Kong Klone or Leading Edge fixed). As a Coconut I can dig the spite factor, but I wouldn't let it stop me. -- Mike Knudsen Bell Labs(AT&T) att!ihlpl!knudsen "Lawyers are like handguns and nuclear bombs. Nobody likes them, but the other guy's got one, so I better get one too."