CompuServe Messages

I agree that just plain healthy computer use should be the best promotion for the Amiga. (Just a day ago in Gamers Forum, a member sat down with both the ST and the Amiga in a computer and left the store with an Amiga. Fair comparison. Honest decision.) However, I disagree that Atari owners are no better or worse than any other group of computer owners who seem compelled to expend ennormous amounts of energy justifying their purchase (often by bad-mouthing the competition). I certainly don't want to appear paranoid about it, but there does seem to be an organized effort to misrepresent and malign computers in competition with the ST. And I am embarrassed for the surprisingly large number of my colleagues in the writing profession who have uncritically accepted the propaganda. But back to the subject of Atari zealots. I believe (and still believe) that the old Atari 800 line was THE best home computer ever designed. All things considered (graphics, disk I/O, OS design, useability, sound) I think it set standards in 8-bit computing that have never been surpassed. And while I was a newspaper computer columnist, I never hesitated to express that opinion. As a result, I was a big buddy of the local Atari users' group. When the Amiga came along, I saw it as a revolutionary advance in the state of the personal computer art and wrote that in the newspaper. I compared the ST and the Amiga and, while I made the (not controversial) conclusion that the ST was a tremendous value, I also found it more utilitarian than exciting. For me, the Amiga recaptured that initial thrill that we all felt for micros. No sooner had that article appeared than I instantly was excommunicated from the Atari fold. The president of the club even refused to talk to me and I was regularly libeled at club meeting (including one which I attended). VERY poor form, in my opinion. That kind of behavior is disappointing and, no matter how thick or deep the Atari ST party line becomes, I would hope that Amiga owners would resist fightingfire with fire. The hardware can and will speak for itself.