Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ncar!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!ALASKA.BERKELEY.EDU!FTDDR
From: FTDDR@ALASKA.BERKELEY.EDU (Don.Rice@Elvey.708D, Ph 5173)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: (none)
Message-ID: <8809282300.AA22339@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 28 Sep 88 23:28:52 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: 
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 37

How rumors start

There's still hope for the machine.  TOS 1.4 really makes a difference
(and will make more on ROM).  You might say that it gives you the machine
you thought you were buying in the first place.  If Atari had released
these fixes two years ago, I suspect traffic in this group would have
been reduced by half!

Anyway, I heard that Atari was dying from an independent source.  A student
here who has been interested in the ST's for some time decided it was time
to by one, so he started calling the various advertisers listed in ST
magazines.  He came to me, dismayed.  "All the places I called have stopped
carrying Atari computers.  One place told me that Atari wasn't selling
computers anymore.  Did they go out of business?"

I explained that Atari, in their infinite(smal) wisdom was only selling
520STs via mail order these days.  I asked if he'd checked with our local
Atari dealer.  "Yes, but their price is so high that if I have to go that
route, I'll just get a Mac through the University discount program instead."
In the end, he bought a used ST from another student who had also become
convinced that Atari was dying or dead after talking to mail order
distributors.

Has Atari given any thought to trying to soothe their mail order distributors?
Those guys have the potential for spreading the doom and gloom over a vast
geographical area...and it sounds like some of them intend to do just that.

On the upside, word is that the university discount prices of macs are about
to take a jump upwards, which will make STs look better.  On the downside,
IBM, Toshiba, and Zenith are now offering discounts here, and they have some
good deals.

I hope Atari doesn't turn this rumor into reality.  I still like the ST,
despite some of the company it keeps...

Don Rice
FTDDR@ALASKA.bitnet