geller@rlgvax.UUCP (David Geller) (01/09/85)
Is ATARI poised to once again take the computer field by storm.
They did it once with superbly engineered highly graphical 6502
machines five years ago. Despite slow initial sales and the name
ATARI (games...) the line of machines eventually took off. Today
you can't find a better bargain than an Atari 800XL (~$125). Is
ATARI going to amaze us once again? I suspect that they will and
that their new line of 68000 based machines featuring Digital
Research's GEM facility will do very well. After all, Tramail has
made business magic before. He can do it again.
With ATARI entering into the fierce battle of the techno-giants
we are likely to see a few things occur. For one, I predict that
the price of the Apple MAC will plummet considerably. This will,
perhaps, delight some and likely frustrate others. Sales may also
be impacted although this may be considerably less likely. The
new ATARI line, when it is released, will be highly significant
and trend setting. Some have said that such actions have stopped
within the micrcomputer industry. I don't agree.
ATARI will be able to dazzle the world because it will be
bringing out very competively priced 68000 based microcomputers.
These machines will feature CP/M 68K by DGI as well as GEM - an
operating system independent graphics environment manager based
in part, I'm told, on GKS. GEM will be availble for MS-DOS
machines as well. You can expect these new machines to be prices
in the $500 range with an ample supply of accessories. Jack
Tramail was quoted as saying that by the June CES he will release
a 15 meg hard drive for the new line priced at $400. Wow! Good
overseas buying can do the trick. That's what Tramail is good at.
By the way - ATARI is touting its 68000 machines as 16 bit
systems rather than Apple's market nonsense of having 32 bit
machines. (It is said that ATARI will be the first to have a home
based 32 bit machine. It will likely be based on the NS 32032 -
who knows for sure, though.) One other neat product due out from
ATARI is a voice/music synthesizer that has phenomenal sound
capabilites. Mix that with the new line's MIDI interface (pretty
amazing, eh?) and you have got a new choice system for high tech
musicians.
I've said it before and I'll reiterate it again now. Apple has a
great product. It is not, as many think, god's gift to hobbyist
or business computing. It nice that there will soon be some
strong competition. It will be to the betterment of the consumer.
Let's hope a few of the amazing ATARI engineers made it this far
and that ATARI really revives itself. As for Apple - let's hope
their prices drop and that they continue to do well.
David Geller
rlgvax!geller
(all of this stuff is my own and doesn't, in any way, represent
the sentiments or ideas of my employer)