Changes

"Shifting to another computer willbe a real burden," says Harter. "Coleco would be good but so muchof their stuff is proprietary. They'regong going all out just like TI did to make thesoftware market all their own. TheIBM market is so huge the competitionis just fierce. It's just too big for us toget into. Apple has a lot of programsfor sale." He says that Cor-Comp's Phoenix"looks good" and that Radio Shack'shome computer "is cheap and it'spopular. We may end up supportingone of those two." "In the business are􀁻 area I've worked on12 different computers in seven differentlanguages," Hughes says. "In thehome area, only on TI. The reason forthat is I thought I might absorb everythingthere is to know about TI andthen move on, but I'm still learningabout TI." TI, he notes, has built-in hardwarefor the multiply-and-divide functionand a 16K memory, whereas for theoriginal Apple, for instance, thememory is BK 8K and the multiply-anddivideand-divide function is on software.''"By no means is the TI an oldfashionedold-fashioned,out-of-date, consigned-totheto-the-graveyard child's toy," he says."It's still a very powerful machinewhose potential has barely beenscratched. That's not to say it won't besuperseded." For instance, he says, the proposedPhoenix looks to be ''"even more powerfuland more wonderful.''" Vaughn produces only items for theTl99/4A at present, except for "somein-house used items for the TRS-80. It'smostly because that's where themarket is." He says the quality of a lot of softwareon the market is not good enoughand that when people "get a taste ofours" there is a market. Compared to, for instance, Apple,"there are not very many producers ofsoftware for this machine. Since TIcancelled there's a lot on the market,but six months from now people will beneeding software for this machine." Swett says he is negotiating withseveral companies to write software.Because he has written Companion forthe TI, he says, his "credibility is veryhigh," with "expertise I can handthem on the basis of this programpackage."''"I'd just rather concentrate on theTI," says Lannie, conceding that hemay have to convert to anothermachine in a year or two. "I wouldn'tjump in with Apple just now. Themarket's saturated." Dollard says he works only with TIbecause "that's all I own presently.Even if I did have another computer Iwouldn't have the time to spend on it.''"Studying takes up a great deal ofmy time," says Dollard, a sophomoreelectrical engineering major. ==FUTURE PROSPECTS==