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No Fragments Archive 10: Diskmags
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POWERMAG
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POWER01.MSA
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ST_ZINE.SZ1_ARTICLE2.SZA
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1989-04-04
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9KB
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362 lines
Is The ST Dying?
Is The ST Dying?
~~~~ THE END OF THE ST IS NIGH! ~~
==================================
Sorry to write an article about this. I know just about every
computer mag and disk mag has written an article on this subject
but I want to get my feelings off of my chest.
It makes me very annoyed seeing the ST dying. I think we all know
that the ST is getting nearer to it's death no matter how good the
machine is and I think this is due to Amiga and it's rip offs of
the ST but I also think that some of it is due to Atari too.
Atari don't advertise half as much as they need too. They see
that Amiga is taking over and therefore they should try and
advertise so they can show people that they have the better
machine. It seems that Atari are not even TRYING to put up a
fight! Atari also see that most people are buying an Amiga for
their children so why don't Atari try to get some more software
out which IS aimed at children. It is too late now in my opinion
but as soon as they saw the Amiga taking all the first releases of
games, Atari should of done something about it and now, as hardly
any game producers produce Atari games it is very hard to get a
release out on the Atari before the Amiga. It seemed to me that
Atari were trying to be a computer designed just for serious work.
The problem is that although the Atari is a very powerful and
efficient computer, it is not quite powerful enough to be able to
support itself by just supplying owners with serious software.
Therefore, Atari should have tried a more all round attempt at the
computer market. Even with the new Falcon - Which could have
brought an end to Atari's problem - is mainly for the serious
side of computing and this is where the Amiga takes alot of
Atari's customers. The thing is that many children from 3 years
to around 16 years prefer to have a computer or console that they
can just sit down and have a good old blast with. Then the over
16's (this is generalising - I am not being agist!) prefer to use
their computer for more serious stuff rather than games. The
story that often applies is that the parent needs a computer which
is capable of writing letters on and a bit of work but the
children also want to have a good joystick waggle. So the quest
begins - The Atari - Well, it is good for the parent but the
children don't want it as there are not many games for them and
seeing as the parent wants this computer to be used by the whole
family he moves on. The Amiga - Well for the parent, it has the
odd word processor and that should be enough for the time being
and the children want it as there are so many games available! So
the Amiga is chosen. That is what happens in many cases but what
happens when it is someone getting a computer for a school or for
their buisness. Well, they go on their quest - The Amiga - No
way, too many games and not enough software and hardware that will
help me with my buisness. Next up is the Atari - Well, it doesn't
really concentrate on the games aspect and it does have alot of
serious software which might be helpful but it can only be easily
upgraded to 4 megabytes and on a whole it's not really powerful
enough! So they try for third time lucky and they come up with
something like a PC which IS powerful enough and in the end it is
the PC that is bought. So now you can see that genrally speaking
- The ST loses out in both aspects.
To give the death of the ST a little shove, I have just heard that
WHSmiths and John Menzies have decided not to supply ST software
anymore. Because of this; new computer buyers are going to notice
that there is a shortage of software and it will be another ST
sale lost. This just proves a letter right. It was a letter in
ST Format saying that the death of the ST was due to the shop
assistants saying so and the articles such as this one. If they
weren't there to put people off then maybe more people wouldn't be
scared off on to the Amiga. This may be very true although I
doubt this article will put a new ST buyer off as if they don't
own as ST yet they can't read it can they?!
Another thing stealing away from the ST and the STE is the new
Falcon. Software producers (and even P.D. writers!) are
abandoning the ST/E to swap over to the Falcon. Again, people
will be left with even less software and ST/E owners are going to
find themselves getting rid of their ST's so they can get their
hands on the new Falcon!
You may say that the Falcon will bring Atari back into the
computing light but I personally don't think that this is true.
Once again, Atari have decided to concentrate on the serious side
of computing again and have given up a perfectly good chance to
start afresh. I think all the problems with the ST/E still stand
with the Falcon - I just don't think it is powerful enough for
companies (big ones in particular) to buy one. You may argue that
the Falcon has improved sound, Midi, better graphics and thousands
of colours but think about it. If the Falcon is going to be used
mainly for word processing, accounting and so on, then all of this
brilliant sound and extra colours won't be needed! Once again the
PC will steal the scene again when it comes to the serious side of
computers and once again the Amiga (probably the 1200) will steal
the gaming side. It is like a big circle - only this circle seems
to have an end which is getting closer and closer! The thing that
really gets on my nerves though is the fact that Atari could have
done something about it but they didn't. Just go into a shop and
see the two or three ST mags next to the ten or eleven Amiga mags.
Just go into a shop and look at all of the Amiga new release games
next to the three or four budget release Atari games. As Amiga
get bigger, Atari get smaller and that is another thing that
annoys me. An Amiga is practically excatly the same as an Atari
except that Atari have Midi and a faster screen update and that an
Amiga can be upgraded to 8 megabytes instead of four. Then
in school I hear everyone talking about how the Amiga is much
better that that Atari when it is not and when you think how Atari
got the ST out while Commordore still had its famous C64 it makes
me beleive that an Amiga is almost a straight copy of an ST.
More news proving how the Atari ST is on its way out is that Atari
have just revealed that they will be selling their STFM in a big
package at around £150, yes that's right - £150!!! That price
range is around with the consoles and even the old C64 with only
64k. Don't you find that annoying? A computer with 512k, a
floppy disk drive and so much else going for it - down along with
the ancient C64 while a spitting image of the ST known as the
Amiga is still selling at around £300 to £400. That's double the
price for the same computer!!!
Because of the prices dropping so much, it is not really going to
be worthwhile for ST owners to sell their ST. Therefore thay are
going touse them untill they drop and as they die out there will
be no coming back and I also think that it won't just be the ST
dieing out - It will be Atari itself and we will be left with
consoles and Amiga's....HELP!
Well I don't think I should write anymore as otherwise I might
blow up my ST as this article is bringing tears to my eyes and
water doesn't go very well with electricity so I bid farewell and
I just hope that even if the selling of ST's is stopped, people
that still own them will be able to use a vast range of P.D. and
read disk mags such as POWER!
Thankyou for listening, I know you have probably read hundreds of
articles like this. Don't let POWER die alonmg with the ST, we
ourselves must save it as Atari don't know what they are doing!
I sign off in hope!