Re: TOS platform (Re: Opera)

[Anthony Jacques <jacquesa@zetnet.co.uk>]

> Look, how Atari world looks like these days. We have several groups of
> computer owners, that is:

> 1) old ST users, who are cultivating so called "nostalgia". They might be

Forget about them - if they want nostalgia, they hardly want the latest
WWW browser and OS etc.

> 2) active ST users who would like to get a better Atari, but have no
>    money. They mostly end-up with a PC, but some of them get second
>    hand Falcons or TTs instead. Our rule would be to convince them to
>    stay in the Atari world. Of course, we can do nothing about prices
>    :) but we can make the Falcon/TT platform more attractive.

I agree. 

> 3) Falcon/TT users. Their machines are good enough to compete with
>    other computers, but they may want to upgrade their computers or
>    change them to TT clones. To do that, they must believe it is worth
>    doing.

Which IMO it isn't (worth upgrading to a TT-clone). Without quality,
modern software, these people will move over to PCs or maybe macs.
We must support the existing Falcon/TT users as our primary base, IMO,
with ST users as secondary "support if possible" (ie dont exclude them,
but dont fudge it to make it compatible if it needs high-rez, new AES
and a fair bit of memory).

> 4) Few clone users. We have to support them as much as possible by
>    developing software for them and patching programs (when necessary)
>    to run on 040/060.

Patching for compatibility, but I really dont consider these people too
important at the moment - there simply aren't enough to justify major
development of any specific software for them...

> 5) Musicians & DTP teams, who are rarely interested in Atari itself,
>    but rather in music software.

Yea, ignore them as well, not really relevant to the rest of the Atari
community.

> The common thing for all these groups (and probably few others I missed)
> is that they're constantly and subsequently loosing users instead of
> getting new people from the outside of the Atari world. Our rule would

I'm sorry, but I really cannot see the Atari market growing rather than
shrinking... Maybe I'm being to pesistic, but 

> you have MiNT Net. A text editor? Here, its 1st Word Plus. What? 1st Word

Everest or QED, but not FWP... it was good in 1987 when I bought it, but
now it really doesn't cut it...

> Generally, we should drop the usual Atarian philosophy, that says "Yes, I
> know that Atari is the best, but nobody will admit the same, so I'd better
> shut up sitting home and try to convert a Papyrus document into MS Word
> format". Wrong!!! It is the MS Word what has to know how to import Papyrus
> documents!!!! :))))))) If we are sitting in our club, silent and
> completely isolated, we WON'T get noticed by the external world. 

> 2) An ethernet card for Falcon & TT, for a reasonable price. It may
> be just a connector for a PC ethernet. These days its a need.

as is a 3d-card if you want anybody to think the machine can play games.

> 4) New MiNT distribution, based on the KGMD, but remade and upgraded with
> all new Unix software we got last two years. This distribution should be

Yes!

>    a) English
>    b) fully modular (scripts should allow to add/remove modules to/from
>       working system)
>    c) upgradable (provided with some standard modules made from new
>       software by a distribution team and made public; such modules
>       could be automatically added to the existing system without a 
>       pain).

d) GEM based.

> 7) platform specific developments, like critical portions of the kernel.
>    device drivers, 

Yes, like the HS-Modem xdd talked about... 

> The point is to make the market bigger, not just sit and complain that it
> is small. 

Do you really expect more people to join the Atari community than leave it?
I dont.

> That's why we should convince existing Atarians to move to MiNT/MiNT-Net.

Yes, at the moment MiNTnet is seen as "use it for PPP if you cannot get StiNG
to work". It should be the standard system, for both SLIP and PPP.

Anthony
-- 
----------------------------------------+----------------------------------
Anthony Jacques           IRC: AnthonyJ | The boy stood on the burning deck
                                        | Whence all but he had fled -
jacquesa@zetnet.co.uk                   | Twit.           
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/jacquesa/ |                  (Spike Milligan)
----------------------------------------+----------------------------------