Conference 7.286::atarist

766.0. "Atari Developer classes" by RODNEY::PETERS (Don Peters, CTC2-1/F10, 287-3153) Thu Feb 08 1990 15:20

Being a developer, I was concerned about Atari's urging all developers to
reregister with them, particularly since reregistration seemed to imply
that a developer had to have a software product. We discussed this at our
ST users club, but no one seemed to have the answer.

So yesterday I called Charles Cherry, the manager of Developer's programs at
Atari (408-745-2082). Things are still a bit up in the air, since he has
only been on the job for a few months, and he is still attempting to
expand benefits. But here's how things stand so far.

There are now TWO classes of developers - one that is developing a
commercial product(s), and one that is chiefly developing for oneself.
Unfortunately, there are no specific names to attach to these two classes
- they are working on that. For convenience, I'll refer to them as
commercial and non-commercial developers.

For either class, you send in your $250 with a non-disclosure agreement,
and in return you get:

    - a developer software kit supporting the ST, TT, and STe
      . Alcyon C compiler
      . MADMAC assembler
      . Debugger
      . Linker
    - a newsletter subscription
    - online support

If you are a commercial developer, you also get:

    - customer registration address database
    - marketing support

Mark Williams C is not included, but available separately for a
discounted price of $99.

Why become an official commercial developer? Well, mainly because you get
some hefty discounts on Atari hardware, as well as extended marketing
support. Atari is doing this to encourage the generation of new software
products in the marketplace.

You are probably wondering what you need to do to become a commercial
developer. First of all, if you have been a developer, you are
"grandfathered" in, and have no problem. Otherwise you have to apply
fresh, following these guidelines:

    1) You must have a commercial product

    2) Shareware definitely qualifies as a commercial product

    3) Having your program published in some magazine qualifies

    4) Public domain submissions generally don't qualify

    5) If you are just starting, you most likely won't have any product
       yet. In that case, you must submit a business plan, describing the
       product you are working on and the timeframe for release.

Of course, you could try to lie like crazy, pay your $250, and go for the
discounts, but Charles says Atari will periodically review applicants and
remove them from the list of developers if no product appears to be
forthcoming. I expect policy updates here, since policing this could turn
out to be a nightmare.

All in all, I got the impression from Charles that Atari was really
serious about its claims of increasing developer support. I know I've
received several developer updates recently, each of good quality.

Charles also says to be sure to write him on suggestions. For example, he
recently asked a group of developers what kind of UNIX they wanted on the
TT. In spite of the wide audience, he only received two responses!
Hearing this, I asked if he monitored USENET (where he would get an
earfull). He said that while he didn't, there were others in Atari who
did monitor it (such as Ken Badertscher).

Oh, incidently, I asked him about the developer mailing that I recently
received whereby I got several disks of address data of all the ST buyers
that sent in their warranty cards. He said this was confidential
developer info, and couldn't be given to Atari clubs. On the other hand,
it was OK for the developer to make up mailing labels from these disks,
and for the developer to send out club meeting announcements (along with
any product advertisements, if he chose to do so).

Finally, while I tried to accurately convey the significant points of our
conversation, I no doubt omitted an important thing or two. You may want
to talk to Charles Cherry yourself to clarify some issue. Give him a call
- he seems friendly enough to talk to.