🚀 go-pugleaf

For those of you who don't want to read my responses to Simon's critical
article, skip to the end - there's something there for all ST owners on the
net.  Atari, if you're reading this, please _don't_ skip to the end.

>     -If Commodore can deliver the A500 (Amiga in a 1040ST like
>      box with a redesigned keyboard) for the price which has
>      been mentioned in the mags...

Simon, what is the price quoted in the mags (for that matter, which mags are
you talking about?).  I've never heard of the A500, can you tell us what some
of its features (as opposed to the A200) will be?

>     -The one real advantage of the ST over the Amiga: The
>      monochrome monitor has  successfully been destroyed
>      by Atari with the introduction of the "less quality for the
>      same money" SM125 monitor...

This one is directed to the folks at Atari: is the SM125 going to replace the
SM124, or is it the "multi-sync" monitor we've heard about?  If you really did
make the mistake of discontinuing the SM124, then Simon's predictions of doom
sound much more plausible.

>     -There have been no fundamental advances in the capabilities
>      of the ST series over the last one and a half year, in fact Atari
>      has changed  to a major manufacturer of vaporware...

Again, this one is for Atari: why can't one of you guys give us a definitive
answer about the blitter & rom upgrades?  The fact that you won't speak up on
this issue doesn't do much for our (existing ST owners) confidence in Atari.
And, we know you _do_ read these questions - you only seem to answer the
less painful ones (less painful, in the sense that they won't hurt your
business as much).

>     -In software support of the ST line Atari has failed totally:
>      any company I can think of is able of producing some kind
>      of OS documentation that earns its name in one and a half
>      years, but not Atari...

This is the most obvious problem with Atari, in terms of support.  I've had
the developers kit since September '85.  Since then, the only upgrades I've
received have come through Compuserve, where Atari has provided a _minimal_
amount of "support".  There was some stuff of value there, but not nearly
the amount you might have expected.  And the stuff wasn't free either.  I 
would say that I've spent at least $150-$200 just downloading the stuff I
did want.  And (grrr) the long awaited "official" documentation HAS NEVER
MATERIALIZED.  What is taking so long?

>Conclusion:
>  If Atari can't turn up with some real advances in the ST line
>  real soon now, I don't really see any perspective for the ST
>  line in a year or so. The matter would be different if Atari had
>  managed to create a loyal following of ST owners, but the way
>  the pioneer buyers have been hit by the NON upgrade policy
>  of Atari, I consider that highly unlikely.


Agreed.

Now, for the NEW part:  I think it's time we Atari ST net (Use*, BIT*, ARPA*)
users pulled together and tried to make our collective voices heard up in
Atari's HQ in Sunnyvale.  I don't know how may of you are regular readers,
but I would guess that it numbers somewhere in the thousands.  If we can
organize ourselves in such a manner as to ask questions and really get answers
from Atari, we would all spend less time running around in circles trying to 
track down this critical information.  Also, if we can prove our numbers,
we can probably make a bigger impact on decisions made by Atari.

What I propose is this: a poll will be sent out periodically to the net; all
interested parties will respond to the poll, and send their responses to a
central site which will collect and collate the data; the results will then
be posted both to the net, and, by mail or whatever, to Atari.  For this 
reason, I propose we name our group NAG (Net Atari Group - seems apropos).

Since I have come up with this idea, I will also volunteer as coordinator
for the whole thing.  I know that this thing is probably not going to work
exactly as planned, but I think it should make some difference in the amount
of support we can expect to see from Atari.

O.k., here is this week's poll: cut it out and fill in the blanks and either
mail it me, or post it to the same place you got it.  I'll collect everything
over the next 2-3 weeks and then post the results.

-- cut here --

Net Atari Group (NAG) Poll No. 1 - 2/23/87

Directions: read each question, fill in the "___"s with your answers.  For
those questions which require more descriptive answers, insert as many lines
as you need on the line immediately following the question.


Name (optional): ____________________
Date received: __________
Date sent: __________

#1 Do you think that NAG is a good idea? ___

#2 If you answered NO to #1 above, please give a brief explanation for
   your answer, and give any ideas which you might have which would go
   toward the same end as NAG: 

-- cut here --

That's all for this week's poll (it may be the only poll if response is
less than I expect).  Please, no flames to the net about this idea; I don't
mind _private_ flames though.

-Rich

-- 
 __________ ______ ____ _____ ___
/_________//___   ||__|/____|/__/   Richard E. Sansom
   ___    ____/  / ____________     TRW Electronics & Defense Sector
  /  /   /  /\  <  |    /|    /     One Space Park Drive, R3/1028
 /  /   /  /  \  \ |   / |   /      Redondo Beach, CA 90278
/__/   /__/    \__\|__/  |__/       ...{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!trwrb!sansom