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ATARI - poised to take us by storm? [message #80400] Mon, 03 June 2013 23:22
geller is currently offline  geller
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Message-ID: <337@rlgvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 9-Jan-85 13:33:20 EST
Article-I.D.: rlgvax.337
Posted: Wed Jan  9 13:33:20 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Jan-85 07:02:01 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: CCI Office Systems Group, Reston, VA
Lines: 52
Xref: watmath net.micro:9040 net.micro.atari:560

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)
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