home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Commodore Free 7
/
Commodore_Free_Issue_07_2007_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64
/
t.iv patton
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
2023-02-26
|
7KB
|
241 lines
uInterview with Wills Patten
By Commodore Free Magazine
Q. Can you introduce yourself to our
readers?
A. I am 79 years young and a passion
for Commodore beginning with a Vic-20
in 1984. I am married to a wonderful
saintly lady (Phyllis) who, while not a
Commodore user herself (uses an
emachine) supports me & encourages me
with my devotion to Commodore.
Q Wills can you tell us about your
magazine
A. My Journal is called GEOS Publica-
tion. Currently it has been a 16 page
publication, the first 8 pages of
which are devoted specifically to
Commodore Computers & Commodore GEOS
predominantly.
The second 8 pages (maximum allowed by
geosPublication) is a conglomeration of
humor, Documentations on history,
trivia, pee-cees, cartoons, self-
esteem, etc. One of my obstacles was I
began getting further & further behind
in keeping up with getting issues out
on time due to various obstacles
related to keeping my Commodore system
operative. At one time my subscrip-
tions were almost 200 strong, but
currently has reduced to just under
50, which tends to be the story of many
Commodore publications.
Q. I understand you have now closed the
magazine can you explain why
A. The above explains some of the
reasons. Beyond this, due to lack of
revenue, & trying to keep it going with
money out of my wife & my joint bank
account, the margin of profit has been
zilch for several years. I do not have
the cash to invest in my business as I
should be able to. Another reason is an
inexcusable fault of my own, somehow I
lost my mailing list, & due to a mix-up
in up-grading my HD I lost a file of my
current mailing list. If I find a
fairly current mailing list (my good
wife correctly tells me I am a poor
housekeeper in my office) I intend to
put out one more issue, which will give
my currently paying subscribers (I have
more than I should complimentary subs-
criptions) some options on future
alternatives they will have.)
Q. Tell us about Commodore what
machines do you own
A. My system consists of A Commodore
128, 1571 drive, FD-2000 drive
(currently inoperative), a RAMLink, 2
gig HD, Zoom Modem, & a Commodore 1802
Monitor. I also have a pee cee, an
emachine with 40 gigs, 3 1/2" drive,
HD, monitor, external zip drive; all of
which I consider supporting hardware
for my Commodore. I obtain & download
for my Commodore my graphics and
documents for use in my Journal. While
my first love has & always will be my
Commodore system, finally succumbing to
accept as a gift a pee cee from my son
& wife, I have never been sorry. I now
have a lot of respect for what my pee
cee can do for my Commodore.
Q. What is your favourite Commodore
magazine
A. At present I subscribe to no
Commodore magazine, since my
predominant love in the Commodore world
is for GEOS. I used to take the CMD
Magazine, & before that RUN and one or
two others.
Q. Do you have any other projects on
the go with the closure of your
magazine
A. Well, at first a thought I would
just re-retire (I am a retired
minister) from the desktop publishing
business, & just dabble in BASIC
programming & maybe either machine
language or GEOS programming. I may
still do some of this. But then I got
the inspiration that I do not yet wish
to be put out to pasture... yet. I am
having a dialog with Gaylene to see if
I can convert my present GEOS
Publication website to a predominantly
personal website with perhaps a little
information and promotion of another
publication with 8-16 pages, probably
not copywrited as GEOS Publication is.
It will be partly a family website,
partly to publicise this new
publication. It will be financed partly
by me & freewill contributions. It will
be a conglomeration of documents,
including Commodore, pee cees, humour,
self-esteem & moderate Christianity,
cartoons, & God only knows what else.
Q. Why use Commodore what was the pull
of the machine
A. My continuing devotion to Commodore
is today as it was in the 1980s, the
comparatively ease of use & learning
how to use it. Pee Cees are so much
more complicated, but I have not found
them to difficult to use for my own
needs. But as I have always insisted,
I have always loved my Commodore system
first and foremost, & primarily use my
pee cee system to support & enhance my
Commodore work.
Q. What do you think Commodore failed
to do in its history
My thinking on this may have some
disagreement with other Commodore
users, & I respect that. However here
is my thinking on this:
(1) I think Commodore executives were
too afraid to spend money for adver-
tising more & often venturing out &
manufacturing for sale some other
brainstorm upgrades and improvements
etc. (for example, the C65) Perhaps
they were afraid they could not do this
& maintain their high salaries. But
regardless they eventually went
bankrupt from poor management.
(2) I feel both CBM & Commodore users
(for the most part) have always been
too smug & isolated from the whole
computer world. The concept & reality
of IBM compatible computers (PCs) was
the right idea & became a great
advantage for the pee cee world of
computers. Commodore did of course
dabble in this, but did not push &
promote this properly with their
compatible IBM computers. I believe I
am correct that the Amiga also had
compatibility slots. We should have
recognised that we can still maintain
our independence & yet work
cooperatively & congenially with the
pee cee world community of computers.
The success of the United States has
always been using the concept of both
competition & cooperation in a
balanced manner. Perhaps CMD had
some intensions in these concepts since
their hardware copied to some extent
the pee cee hardware.
Q. How do you feel seeing Commodore
name on new devices like MP3 players
etc
A. I use Windows Media players & have
not yet acquired a MP3 player so I know
little or nothing about this.
Q. Everyone has what I call a Dumb day
when everything goes wrong what was
your dumb day & what went wrong
A. I believe I covered this also at
least somewhat. I have had hardware
breakdowns & at first Maurice was
excellent at meeting my needs. Him
buying out CMD was a brainstorm, but I
guess was more than he could
sufficiently chew. But now I have
problems getting my Super CPU
repaired & if necessary find a source
for a new one I can afford. Part of
this whole thing is mental, & I have
faith in the Commodore hardware and
programming & utilities, etc.
I still do, but may not live to see
what the future holds. For me it is
amazing how we have survived &
continued to hold together in spite of
our difficulties. Homestewad is a
wonderful bond for Commodore users,
Gaylene & Rod a tremendous Accessories
& facilitator, etc. We have many
pillars of our Community & a few are
options that depend on the nature of
the individual Commodore operator &
what their objectives are.
Q. What did you learn from the Dumb day
A. That there is always a better day
coming.
Q. Have you anything you would like to
add
I think I probably have said enough,
except I owe much of my motivation to
my wife & of course most of all to
Almighty God.
Willis Thanks for your time Good luck
Take care
My pleasure.... My very best to
everyone :>)={SHIFT-+}=<