Changes

=='''Shocked By Withdrawal'''==

"Shock" was the word most usedby the presidents to describe theirreactions to Tl's decision to pull outof the home computer market. Kavanaugh notes that a monthbefore the move was announced, a TIrepresentative attended the MSP 99User Group meeting. "We got a lot of assurance on TIstaying in the market," she recalls. ''We have a good computer andwant to continue to use it,'' " Bathmansays. "If TI wants to get out, fine." "It was rather shocking but peopleare still rather hopeful," Jirouteksays. Since the computers were selling"like candy bars" during theChristmas season, he notes, manydon't believe TI will completely dropthe machine. He has heard rumors ofanother company gearing up to producethe 99/4A. ''We feel kind of like orphans now,''" he says. "Primarily the main response wasconcern with what was going tohappen with the club,'' Kuseski says."We reassured everybody that theclub will continue and may be evenstronger." "There was a marked increase inpurchasing both software and hardware,"Papagolos says. Initial "panic," he says, was "followedby an intellectual evaluationthat TI was dong do[i]ng the only thing itcould." Donlan sees the announcement asdrawing more persons to usergroups. The Hoosier group, he says,has become "more close-knit andgoal-oriented.''" He points out that, because of the"dramatic price reduction;" thereare ''"literally millions of people looking for support and direction in theuse of home computers." Utter sees the reaction to theannouncement as'' probably not a lot

get equipment.''" He notes that ''"everyone went outand started buying everything up." Mills says reactions varied from"Why did I buy it? Why did I wastemy money?" to "Now's the time totake advantage" of the low prices. He sees ··a "a rush for everybody thatcan to buy a computer or add to thesystem," noting that there was a lotof ''"panic'' " and a feeling of ''"we'd betterbuy now while we 􀁜ancan." Mills feels that TI "could havewaited to see what Christmas salesmight have done. It could have madea world of difference.''" Hudspeth says the move doesn'tbother most members of the Big Skygroup any moreanymore, noting that the usergroup alone has several hundredprograms in its library and that''"support for software, if not from TI,from other vendors, is going tocontinue."coninue.''He adds, "We're not sure TlTI's notgoing to come back next year with,what is it, the 99/8? Some peoplereally got a deal when they cut theprice and I still feel we have the finestcomputer on the market.''" He compares the 99/4A favorablywith the IBM-PC, which he uses atwork. Some user groups have changedtheir emphasis since the announcement.Papagolos reports makingmore long-distance calls, trying togather information, along with relyingon more third party vendors forhardware and software.