Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!rutgers!ucsd!nosc!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ames!ncar!oddjob!gargoyle!att!mtuxo!mtgzz!drutx!druhi!med
From: med@druhi.ATT.COM (Myron Drapal)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Another great quote from Mr. Good
Summary: Just some more fuel.
Message-ID: <3337@druhi.ATT.COM>
Date: 9 Aug 88 17:04:13 GMT
References: <3308@druhi.ATT.COM> <1104@atari.UUCP>
Distribution: comp
Organization: AT&T, Denver, CO
Lines: 95

In article <1104@atari.UUCP>, good@atari.UUCP (Roy Good) writes:
> in article <3308@druhi.ATT.COM>, med@druhi.ATT.COM (Myron Drapal) says:
> > From Computer Shopper August 1988, page 214:
> > "Atari to Release Fourth Edition of TOS"
> > .....
> > [text deleted - you can read the original]
> > ***Flame On***
> > [text deleted - you can read the original]
> > ***Flame Off***
> > Just so I don't leave you without some good news, the rest of the
> > article was very informative.  It describes the fixes that are being
> > included in the new version of TOS.  Maybe I'll see one by Christmas
> > 1990...
> > 					Myron Drapal
> > 					AT&T Denver
> > 					att!druhi!med
> 
> [text deleted - you can read the original]
> 
> As for the parting shot about delivery of the new TOS, we have had it in Beta
> for a couple of months, and expect to make a release to Developers next week.
> Lead times to mask ROMs are quite long at present, so I don't expect the
> new ROMs to be in production until late this year. But certainly before
> Christmas 1990!
> 
> I hope this (lengthy) response clarifies the situation!
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Roy J. Good
> Product Development, Atari Corporation
> 
> Views expressed are my own. Atari may agree or disagree; they have the right.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) Malloc has never worked properly, and by the sounds of the
   Computer Shopper article and your own confessions, it really
   won't work properly in the near future.  Malloc, as defined
   in the UNIX environment (or by K&R, Page 173, if you prefer),
   will allow you to allocate or free memory in any machine-
   compatible size in any order until you run out.  Does the
   TOS version do this?  Will it ever?  I realize that you might
   take exception to this definition of Malloc, but Atari doesn't
   seem to believe in manuals or written documentation of any kind
   (plausible deniability).

2) I admit the examples that yourself and A. Pratt provided *do*
   show "misbehaved" code, but can you really be sure that this
   is not a side-effect of a permanently broken Malloc?  Don't
   get me wrong here, I'm not defending the coding style, since
   clearly this code would fail in most UNIX environments.  "Thou
   Shalt Not Screw With Memory Thou Ownest Not" (quote from A.
   Pratt) is a fine motto, if a simple corallary of it is "Malloc
   will allocate any free memory, and free will deallocate is in
   any order."  Having a 1 or 2 meg system on which you can only
   malloc about 20 times, and must free in exactly the reverse
   order of allocation is a ***JOKE***.

3) Two wrongs don't make a right, but one good right will make up
   for a number of wrongs.  Talk to Commodore or Apple users
   (I don't have one, but I know quite a few people who do).
   Timely updates provided to the OS, with disks *AND MANUALS*
   provided at a reasonable charge (media costs + small charge)
   will go a long way towards making your users and developers
   happy.

4) As far as I'm concerned, the "2+" year clock is still running
   on the next set of TOS ROMS.  The ones provided in the MEGA
   series never really made it to the public, due to problems,
   some much worse than those it fixed.  I'm not asking for a
   free upgrade: just a reasonably priced upgrade in a shorter
   amount of time.  The fixes listed for this new version of ROMS
   is good, but it shouldn't have taken "2+" years for these fixes
   to become available.

5) I *DO* appreciate your situation regarding buggy OS and tools,
   but I do feel that if Atari wants to keep the ST alive with
   third party software (it may be too late for this already,
   re: good developers going elsewhere), they better get their
   act together and *SUPPORT THESE DEVELOPERS*.  Without them, the
   ST will die a slow and painful death.

6) I've heard the "Any day now" story from Atari much too long now.
   I'll believe the TOS ROMS by "late this year" when I can go
   to my local dealer and buy them.  Until then... Waiting for
   MINIX so I don't have to put up with the ol' GEM dog no more...

I know I'll probably get some hate mail from a few of you True Blue
Atari owners out there who will claim that I'm just Atari bashing
again.  Well, it might be true, but I really hate to see such a
wonderful machine go down the tubes due to the stupidity of a few
at Atari Corp.

						Myron Drapal
						AT&T Denver
						att!druhi!med