Until 1998, unlike the masses of Windows and Mac users, I used exclusively (at home) an Atari ST. I'm now the owner of a PC which gave me more trouble in 6 months than the ST did in 7 years, but I have installed MagiC-PC so I can still use some of my old software if the need arises. I have found that I use my old software less over time, as I have acquired replacement PC software and due to technical problems such as MagiC-PC (1.2) not knowing about USB printers etc.

[December 2001 update: I have found a way to get MagiC-PC 1.2 to use my USB Deskjet, though with limitations due to using old Atari Deskjet drivers. Contact me via the feedback page if you would like to know more!]

However I still have a distinct soft spot for the Atari platform. It's a long time since I did anything but minor updates to this section, and I find that mostly I am changing things from present to past tense, which is rather sad. But I can't honestly see there being an Atari/GEM renaissance any time soon. Though I'd like it to happen!

Here's the lowdown on why I still think the Atari platform is/was special:

Why an Atari in the first place?
I originally bought my Atari for MIDI work in 1991. The Atari for a long time was the MIDI platform, because it came with built-in MIDI ports which inspired the creation of music software of all kinds, including the industry-standard Cubase and its rivals. My Atari ended up expanded and upgraded and used for most things, including DTP and net access. Later GEM software was vastly improved over the early stuff. The interface was greatly developed (particularly by German programmers, Germany being the one place that Atari actually got the marketing right), and there are several multitasking operating systems/extensions to choose from. I currently have MagiC on my PC, and it's wonderful. I also have MagiC on my STe (mothballed), along with a MiNT setup which I didn't use much once we had good net software for TOS/MagiC. MiNT is a TOS extension which does pre-emptive multitasking and has a Unix mode allowing Unix software to be ported easily. When I'm using PC hardware, MiNT isn't an option of course: MagiC is.
Net access on a machine that old?
Yup, there were still developers working on software up to the late 90s, though things had noticeably slowed down by then: there may still be some development goiing on. In the mid-90s there were several net suites in development, each with different sets of strengths and weaknesses. I'm not up to date with what is happening at present, though.

I use PC software for net access these days, largely as the Atari software I was using would need updating to work with my current ISP and I'm not sure if it's been updated enough, also because CAB, the Atari browser, is getting long in the tooth and doesn't support later features of HTML. Some of the Atari stuff is still pretty good. If you have an Atari and are thinking of using it for net access, it's entirely feasible, though I'd recommend a hard drive and at least 2 megs of RAM if you want to do more than mail.

It's also entirely possible to create and maintain web sites with Atari machines (this site being living proof - it was developed with Everest/OLGA/CAB until about 2001, and there are many other sites developed with Atari software). These days, as I'm using Cascading Style Sheets (mainly because I feel strongly about accessibility issues with respect to web authoring) and CAB doesn't show the results, I'm tending to use PC software for the task (mainly Amaya). If it weren't for CAB's lack of support for features such as CSS I'd probably still be using the above combination to develop my site.

Polemic:
I stayed with the Atari platform for so long mainly because I like it. It's not your average popular computer, which is kind of nice in itself. And there is very nice music, word processing and DTP software for it. Also, there is something particularly special about a computer design dating from 1985 (when the ST was launched) still being viable 15 years later.
It has also encouraged sensible coding from which some of the bloatware programmers on other platforms could learn a few lessons. For example MagiC is a proper multitasking OS which manages to fit on all of two installation floppies, compared to current versions of Windows needing a full CD (or more).

That said, I really needed decent hi-res colour, which is available on some TOS machines, but would require major surgery on my STe, and a really good database package on a par with Access as I've developed an interest in creating database applications. Hence the move to a PC having seen MagiC-PC in action at an Atari show. Seeing a nice GEM desktop in true colour on a good sized monitor running Papyrus 5, CAB and Imagecopy was most impressive.

Isn't Atari dead?
Well, yes, basically. It's been out of computers for a while anyway, then submerged into JTS (who made hard drives) and then passed on to Hasbro who are a toy manufacturer, I believe. I think it's now been swallowed up by a games company.

There were some brave attempts made at reviving the TOS platform with clones/super clones such as the Medusa, Hades and Milan, but I think all these are now dead.

I believe there are still developers working on system and application software. There are also emulators available:
For PCs:
  • Gemulator
  • TOS2WIN
  • Janus
  • TOSBOX
  • PacifiST
  • WinSTon
For the Macintosh:
  • NoSTalgia
For Unix/Linux:
  • STonX
MagiC is available in versions which run on Atari, Apple and PC hardware. A lot of activity for a supposedly dead platform :-)

Where can I find out more?

There's a lot of Atari-related material on the net (try the search engine of your choice!), but here are some really useful links to get you started: