Some of the euphoria of Atari's new machines is now
dying and more realistic targets being set. I doubt if all the things
announced at the Las Vegas CES will come into being but most will and
Atari will be a strong force once again. The most important thing they
must do is to deliver the products on schedule. In the States Atari
are taking some hard knocks from competitors who are vociferously
saying that STs don't exist or have problems or will not be out on
schedule. All these remarks are being made out of fear by competitors
with inferior or overpriced machines but the world listens to rumours
and Atari must be careful that any action or inaction on their part
does not give credence to those seeking to maintain a market share by
'rubbishing' better products. In this country Sir Clive Sinclair has
been the most vociferous in his attacks - he probably has the most to
loose - and has been quoted as saying that the ST will not appear this
year (perhaps he knows of another manufacturer whose 16-bit machine
was a year late?) and that the QL is superior. In response I cannot
resist printing a quote attributed to Jack Tramiel. "The ST is to
the QL what the motor car is to the C5"!
Atari must get these machines onto the market as
promised. I hope that by the time you read this, a few STs will be
around and by the next issue will be in the high street shops. If not
the competitors will say 'I told you so' and the public will listen.
Last issue's cover was a nice idea that lost
something in the processing but that's the way it goes! The entire
image, except the words USER MAGAZINE which were too fine to digitise,
was done on an Artron 2000 graphics computer. A lot more could have
been achieved but time was short (and expensive!) and, although the
screen image was superb, it didn't quite translate to print. Never
mind, just wait till I get my ST with GemDraw. I might be able to
prove yet again that an Atari is capable of matching the dedicated
systems. Perhaps I should wait for Atari's 32-bit JAX? Perhaps not,
$5000 is a bit expensive for a magazine cover!
Issue 14 of PAGE 6 could have been the last but fear
not - we live on! The shake out of the computer industry last year
meant that several companies went into liquidation or "no longer
exist" among them Channel 8 Software, C. S. Software,
Microspot, Home Entertainment Ltd., Stack Computers and Micro Research
Ltd. They all owe us money. Then along came this tempting offer from
Database Publications who were looking for an Editor for The Atari
User. I thanked them kindly for the thought and started work on this
issue. Having come this far, why give it up when I know that many of
you can't wait for the next issue of PAGE 6. Thank you all for the
encouragement.
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