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- Path: msuvx1.memphis.edu!uglmiller
- From: uglmiller@cc.memphis.edu
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
- Subject: Re: Jack Tramiel
- Date: 13 Apr 96 19:36:00 -0500
- Organization: The University of Memphis
- Message-ID: <1996Apr13.193600@msuvx1.memphis.edu>
- References: <4jkpib$9e5@news1.io.org> <316F9C98.36A2@prodigy.com> <9604131711.AA001ew@cosine.demon.co.uk>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: msuvx1.memphis.edu
-
- In article <9604131711.AA001ew@cosine.demon.co.uk>, Jason <tmr@cosine.demon.co.uk> writes:
- > I just *have* to reply to some of this!
- >
- > Josh Spatz (mjkv57c@prodigy.com) wrote:
- >
- > : It was Jack Tramiel who made Commodore what it was in the early 80's. It
- > : was Irving Gould who ruined it. Gould wanted only to fill his own
- > : wallet, and dragged Commodore down. Gould was the one who pushed Tramiel
- > : out and destroyed the company.
- >
- > Possibly so, no arguement there!
- >
- > : Atari was in poor shape when Tramiel bought it, and he fixed things quite
- > : a bit. Atari was making outdated 8-bits at that time, ant Tramiel brought
- > : them forward, creating a 16-bit machine that was technically equivalent
- > : to an Amiga or Mac, but costing much less.
- >
- > Questionable, I think. The Atari ST was cobbled together in a horribly
- > short space of time because Jack had to get something 16 bit out *fast*
- > He had originally wanted the Amiga as a big stick to beat C= with but they
- > got it just before he closed the deal. So Jack turned to his tech guys
- > and said "I need a 16 bit machine and within 6 months." The result was
- > the ST and for a while Jack had the market. Until the Amiga was released
- > and kicked seven shades of sh*t out of it.
-
- Actually, despite the technical advantages of the Amiga, Jack marketed
- the ST so well, people were worried Commodore might go under and take the
- Amiga with it... But suddenly Jack lost all marketing ability whatsoever
- and Atari's never been the same since...
-
- >
- > : People like Jack Tramiel built the computer industry into what it has
- > : become. Others put out mediocre products just to make money (Does the
- > : name Gates ring a bell?). I bet that if Tramiel remained CEO of Commodore,
- > : and Steve Jobs stayed at Apple, the computer industry would have turned
- > : out much better than it has.
- >
- > I agree about Steve Jobs but look at the state of Atari now. I don't know
- > about the States but over here you get more funny looks trying to buy ST
- > stuff than C64 gear! The Falcon is no longer available except by mail
- > order and the Jag is taking a pounding from the PSX and Saturn. Not
- > exactly promising news. Jack was good for C= in a lot of ways but also
- > very bad. I know Irving was worse, but I can't help thinking that if
- > Jack were still with C= they would still be in the same or maybe even worse
- > shyte than now.
- >
- > Jason =-)
- --
- If Superman can fly, why can't super models?
-