Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-sdd!apollo!rehrauer
From: rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Atari, TOS and GEM
Summary: Apologies to Atari, with questions
Message-ID: <45ede34f.71d0@apollo.HP.COM>
Date: 29 Sep 89 15:09:00 GMT
Reply-To: rehrauer@apollo.COM (Steve Rehrauer)
Distribution: na
Organization: Apollo Computer, Chelmsford, MA
Lines: 82

Recently in this group I called Atari's TOS and GEM software "junk".
I have been "gently reminded" by some readers that this is a less than
constructive criticism.  True.  I spoke hastily, while under the
influence of other frustrations not related to Atari.  Sorry, Atari;
no doubt you get sick of hearing such blather.  I should think and
then re-think before I post.

And while I believe we all know this, it probably should be said anyway:
"Anything I say or have said regards Atari or Atari products is to be
construed only as the personal opinions of an owner of Atari products,
not that of the corporate entity of the Apollo Division of Hewlett-Packard,
nor of H.P. itself.  I speak for myself."

There, can I come out of the corner now, Mom?  Good.

So, Atari, are we ever going to see any substantive improvements to GEM?
Do you own the rights to the Atari incarnation to GEM, such that you can
even do so?  Can we at least have resolution-independency, such that we
needn't reboot our machines to switch from medium- to low-resolution screens
in an application?  Why does David Beckmeyer say that you have never shown
any interest in incorporating his multi-tasking kernel into the ST?  You
incorporated Dave Small's "Twister" disk format concept into the Megas, I
understand -- why not multi-tasking for the TT if not older models?  You
are aware of it, are you not?  Are there technical difficulties?  Legal
difficulties?  Ego difficulties?  If the TT is as fast as the '030 is
potentially capable of making it, will Atari release something like PC-Ditto
on it, to provide (free of charge) MS-DOS emulation at (I'm guessing)
XT-clone speeds?  Boy, would *THAT* be a marketing hook!  How about
incorporating other, less drastic improvements -- such as the executable-
compression scheme used in products like PACKER and DC SQUISH?  Or the
palette-switching scheme used by Spectrum512 to get the full hardware
palette of 512 colors on a single screen -- could ANTIC Software (or
whomever owns the technique) be persuaded to liscense it to developers?
Do they already?  It's a mighty impressive-looking gadget, even if it
does eat the majority of the cpu's processing power.  How about collecting
some of the best public domain widgets, cleaning them up (to give them
coherent user-interfaces, if they have such) and distributing them on
an extra disk or two to new owners?  At least a RAM disk would be nice
-- is that a feature of the TOS 1.4 release, by the way?  Wouldn't it
be fairly easy to add a new device for a RAM disk to TOS, so that, for
example, formatting the "Z:" drive or some such would create a RAM disk?
Can we ever expect to see the 6-desk-accessory limit lengthened, since so
many accessories are usually employed to get around weaknesses in TOS and
GEM?  Are TOS and GEM in "maintenance, we-won't-touch-it-until-it-bites
mode"?  Is Atari planning to do anything with its CD-ROM player, now that
it (apparently) is a real product?  That is to ask, will Atari release
anything on CD-ROM, or is it a box waiting for applications?  Shouldn't
Atari do something in the way of promoting recommended standard methods
to do things like printer-drivers, visual appearance of GEM dialogues,
etc?  Wasn't there a similar recommendation for command-line parsing &
environment variables & the like from Atari a couple of years ago?  Is
Atari serious about getting its laser printer supported by 3rd party
software?  Is Atari serious about selling its own laser printers, when
the street-price of lasers that support de-facto standard protocols (e.g.:
the new H.P. LaserJet IIP, or any of a number of cheapo LaserJet clones)
is down around $1,000?  Will Atari ever offer any sort of upgrade
allowance to entice ST owners to "buy up" to an STE or TT, similar to
what Commodore did for A1000 owners when the A2000 was announced?  Are
the STE and TT European machines, or will we ever see them here in the
U.S.?  When can we expect to actually be able to walk into an Atari-
authorized dealer (assuming any still exist in the immediate area) and
see one, let alone consider buying one?  Will Atari advertise either
machine in this country, in magazines, say?  Back in 1986, START magazine
published an interview with the prez of Atari, in which Mr. Tramiel said
that the "new, 68020-based Ataris" would be released "within months of
this interview" or some words to that effect.  Rumors of the "TT" floated
for months and months, and apparently prototypes were shopped around.
Why should we believe that this (words from Atari employees to the effect
that they have TTs on their desks notwithstanding) is anything different;
i.e.: yet another VaporBox?

From what I have seen on comp.sys.(apollo|sun|amiga|mac), such questions
would get a reasoned response from someone within the organization.  The
Commodore folks seem especially good about this, unless the questions are
incredibly offensive.  (Are mine?)  I don't own an Amiga, so that isn't an
under-handed plug for that box, just an observation.  Have I just missed
such answers that were given earlier?  Enquiring minds wanna know.
-- 
>>> "Aaiiyeeeee!  Death from above!" <<<  | Steve Rehrauer
    Fone: (508)256-6600 x6168             | Apollo Computer, a
    ARPA: rehrauer@apollo.hp.com          | division of Hewlett-Packard
"Look, Max: 'Pressurized cheese in a can'.  Even _WE_ wouldn't eat that!"