Conference 7.286::atarist

92.0. "Comdex report" by BAGELS::BRANNON (Dave Brannon) Fri May 13 1988 20:49

Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Path: decwrl!ucbvax!agate!eos!ames!nrl-cmf!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osu-cis!att!ihnp4!upba!eecae!conklin
Subject: Comdex report
Posted: 12 May 88 15:39:34 GMT
Organization: Michigan State Univ., Engineering, E. Lansing
 
Well after 2 days at Comdex, we got our work done early and came home so
I thought you might be interested at what was news.
 
Atari was there, on the floor with a relatively large booth. This is a
very serious attempt at marketing because even a small 10 x 10 booth
will cost a company upwards of $40,000 to put up, and Atari's booth was
about 40 x 40.
 
The Atari booth had Mega ST's everywhere. Almost every display was a
Mega, except for an occasional 1040. After searching the entire booth, I
finally asked and found that Atari did not have a _single_ 8 bit on
display.
 
On the other hand, Atari did have a '286 AT compatible on display, and a
couple of the Atai Laserprinters. I didn't notice them in operation but
I was very busy at the time.
 
Neil Harris was there, and so I asked about his presence on the net. His
presence or lack of is simply a matter of time. He logs on to things
about 4 (?) times a week these days. He did mention that several people
in engineering log on, so if you guys are out there, please speak up.
 
As for products at the show? I wasn't really looking. I just kept
thinking about the thousands of people back home with 8bits. But we've
gotten to the point where millions count.
 
One thing that Neil Harris did mention that I thought was interesting. 8
bits still account for a meaningful amount of sales, largely because
they are being sold to (suprise!) Poland now. I think something like
100,000 units sold in Poland or such. Interesting.
 
Such was excitement. Sorry I don't have more, but Comdex is a big show
and the few minutes I spent at the Atari booth was probably the most I
spent at any single vendor.
 
Terry Conklin
ihnp4!msudoc!conklin
(517) 372-3131  3/12/2400
(313) 334-8877  3/1200