rjung@sal13.usc.edu (Robert allen Jung) (05/04/89)
> [Criticisms of the Atari Portfolio by BobR deleted]
Just two things I want to say about this whole thing:
(1) I believe IBM already has a similar "portfolio" device out. It's an in-
house package, manufactured specifically for them by Motorola, I believe. I
saw a friend with one the other day and caught a few tidbits about it. If
it's that popular, it might be more useful than Bob suspects.
(2) What's wrong with Atari slapping an Atari lable on third-party
developments? Does it TRULY make a difference if the SM194 19" monitor is
made by Moniterm instead of Atari? Do I really care that Atari only licensed
WordFlair from another developer? In the end, all this adds up to is more
Atari support/product development, and isn't this what we were arguing for in
the first place?
1989 looks like a nice year for Atari -- now if only they can get some BIG
advertising done... (Yes, I'm waiting for the Atari response to Apple's
"1984" commercial)
--R.J.
B-)
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#### ## ####c60c-3ds@e260-3g.berkeley.edu (John Kawakami) (05/06/89)
In article <3751@nunki.usc.edu> rjung@sal13.usc.edu (Robert allen Jung) writes: >(2) What's wrong with Atari slapping an Atari lable on third-party >developments? Does it TRULY make a difference if the SM194 19" monitor is >made by Moniterm instead of Atari? Do I really care that Atari only licensed >WordFlair from another developer? In the end, all this adds up to is more >Atari support/product development, and isn't this what we were arguing for in >the first place? In the end, it adds up to more Atari licensing and more of the Not Invented Here syndrome. Broken SM194s will probably end up at Moniterm service centers. WordFlair bugs will take a long time to fix, if they are fixed at all (I hope they didn't buy only the BINARIES this time; remember Write. What about Ultrascript). I wish atari would focus some development in two areas: redesigning the Laser Printer smaller, nicer looking, and easier to change parts; and a better font system for GDOS, maybe a combination outline/bitmap. Oh yeah, it would be nice to see those TOS 1.4 roms before Bush is out of the white house. John Kawakami The 80's were old before they were new. c60c-3ds@web.berkeley.edu
bissiri@blake.acs.washington.edu (Moja Fritzah) (05/06/89)
>Oh yeah, it would be nice to see those TOS 1.4 roms before Bush is out >of the white house. > > John Kawakami The 80's were old before they were new. It'd be nice to see BUSH out before TOS 1.4, actually. --- - --- -kevin bissiri@blake.acs.washington.edu
Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) (05/07/89)
Bush out ... Qualye in? ... AAAHHHH!!! No, I think I'll just take the TOS 1.4 and a one-way plane ticket to Canada please :-] Peter Szymonik Xorg@cup.portal.com
jlemon@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Jonathan Lemon) (05/07/89)
In article <18054@cup.portal.com> Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) writes: > > >Bush out ... Qualye in? ... AAAHHHH!!! > >No, I think I'll just take the TOS 1.4 and a one-way plane >ticket to Canada please :-] > Make that West Germany for me, as long as this happens before the end of Bush's term.... -- Jonathan ...ucbvax!cory!jlemon or jlemon@cory.Berkeley.EDU
Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com (05/13/89)
Responding to comments on my posting about the Atari Portfolio... I'd expected that they would stir up a bit of controversy, but remember, I was replying to a specific question about the applicability of the Portfolio that was posed by a woman who is handicapped, and whose hopes had been raised by the press coverage of the machine. Effectively, my reply is substantiated by the points in Roy Good's reply.. For Lisa Raine, the Portfolio would not be a good choice. There is no provision for using *standard, currently available* RS-232 or parallel port devices. Atari has these "under development" for release some time in the future. There is no (or little) software *currently available* on RAM-cards. Perhaps companies will release software on this non-standare format some time in the future. Software might also be downloaded to the Portfolio using a direct connect cable from a PC, or by modem, using cables to be released some time in the future. Work done on the Portfolio could be transferred to a PC by using the "RAM-card" drive to be released some time in the future. In all cases, the operative phrase is "some time in the future"... when the Portfolio is released, it will be a computer... NOT a computer SYSTEM... This may be fine for some needs, and if large companies are interested in buying Portfolios in quantities, that's great... but for people like Lisa, who need a complete, working computer system, the Portfolio is not the answer. It may indeed be that it was never intended to fill the need for a portable system, and that used properly in its own niche, it may be a great success.. my objection is that all the press hype of recent months has been trumpeting the Portfolio's "MS-DOS compatibility" without going on to tell the rest of the story about how limited the basic machine will be. Generating lots of "potential buyers" is only good if those buyers find that they can do something useful with the computer when they get it home. An awfully large number of people were soured on personal computers when they bought the Timex 1000, then discovered there was little they could really do with it. I hope the Portfolio doesn't repeat the same history. I'd love to see Atari have a big hit on its hands... I just don't think the Portfolio is it... maybe I'm wrong, and I'll log in next year at this time on mine to admit it.. BobR