🚀 go-pugleaf

Maybe no one cares, and maybe I'm wasting my time, but....

I'm a second year college student and am the proud
owner of an 520 St (with a meg upgrade), 1200 baud modem, printer, 
and two double-sided drives. This list of hardware should
say to most that I'm "into my computer"...I use it to my homework,
impress my friends, and entertain myself. I like it and am darn proud of
what it can do.

But as a college student, I'm also broke: I have $3.51 in my bank account,
I have to pay over $300 in bills within a week, and I've run out of places
to borrow from. But I'm a dedicated computer user/hacker. So dedicated
that I spent a large sum of money on my STeven in the face of financial ruin.

To get to the point: Atari's choice to eliminate all or part of the
mail-order
availability for their products is a poor one in my mind
(at least if they want to reach the part of the market that includes
 people like myself).

Almost every piece of hardware (and software for that matter)
that I own was bought through a mail order company. And as the speaker 
for my generation (under 22 and still trying to be a real hacker), my
computer system would be non-existant if not for the wonders of mail-order. 
The money I "saved" when I bought my ST (ala mail-order) went into a printer
(ala mail order) and the money saved on that purchase went into a 
modem ...etc., etc., etc.....

I am a dedicated ST user (and will be until someone else creates an
inexpensive
computer system that's better than my ST) and would like to remain one.
But with my budget, it's mail-order or nothing!!!

The BIG question remains:
        does Atari care about the "corner of the market" that I'm sitting
in...and
if so, why're they making it harder for me to remain an ST user???

(My opinions are my own and not those of anyone else unless they're under 22
and have one foot in bankruptcy court.)