🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Sep.9.13.44.07.1989.11918@topaz.rutgers.edu> clong@topaz.rutgers.edu (Chris Long) writes:
>
>On a related topic, *why* doesn't Atari come out with a machine that
>comes with, as standard equipment, a PC emulator?  A Mac emulator
>might not also be a bad idea.

There was a lot of speculation after the Apple ][ got its CP/M emulation
card with a Z80 on it that this card caused the demise of the Apple ][ in
the business market. After it came out, business vendors had no incentive
to port high-priced business software in Apple ][ native mode -- they told
their customers to just buy the Z80 card.

If everyone who had an ST had PC Emulation, then you could use off the
shelf ugly PC software instead of Atari-specific software with the nice
user interface. Then software development firms who already had PC versions
of their software would have little incentive to do an ST port, and
other firms wouldn't even enter the ST market because it was the "same"
as the pc market.

Would this really happen? Who knows.

Mac emulation gives more trouble, because Mac software can have a
similar user interface and runs as fast as the current low-end Mac
hardware. Would you re-write Excel from scratch (a very expensive
proposition) when everyone already had Spectre 128 and could buy
the "real thing" from Microsoft?

Would this really happen? Who knows. Should Atari take the risk?

Ask around and see if the software houses who support the ST would
like Atari to bundle PC Ditto I with the box...

------
Greg Lindahl
gl8f@virginia.edu                                             I'm not the NRA.