Commodore Free 9/Commodore_Free_Issue_09_2007_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.iv worldlam

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 10KB | 369 lines

u      Interview with WORLDLAM A
      potential purchaser of CMD

Q - Please would you introduce
yourself to our reader?

I am 36 years old, married, and have 4
children. I have been a resident of
Oregon most of my life. I started
getting in the commodore scene back
in the 80's when I was a teenager.

I remember at Christmas getting my
first Commodore 64 back when I was 15
years old. I stayed up all night
playing games. Joining different
groups in my local area and staying up
on BBS's most of the night  I phreaked
for a little while when you could get
away with it on the Sprint Network to
call long distance bbs's without my
parents knowing about it. I eventually
sold my C64 to get a Amiga and never
got into it then I just kind went
through my 20's a lost soul partying
way too much. Getting married and
having children brought me back to
reality.

In my late 20's I was going to thrift
store's finding old commodore
equipment and picked up some basic's
and I played for it for a while and
lost interest once again. I remember
the old days of having meetings at our
local community college to swap
software and using Fast Hack'em to
copy games. Still today I have fond
memories of that software. Then about
2 months ago I found Alee650 in the UK
that was selling Fast Hack'em and
Kracker Jax and it brought back many
memories I started buying and then I
couldn't stop. Then I met Jerry Kurtz
which had the biggest collection of
rare games and I started getting back
into games again. Remembering
Phantasie and Space Taxi from my
teeenage years.

Q V What is the term "WORLDLAM" is it
your real name or a "handle" what does
it mean

It is short for my corporate name for
one of my website's. Worldwide
Laminate LLC.

Q - You seem to be purchasing
everything with a Commodore name on it
would you like to comment

I've been buying alot of rare items. I
also collect  Amiga, Apple, and Atari.
My first choice is Commodore 64 of
course.

Q - What is all the equipment going to
be used for?

My goal is to end up keeping one of
each item and eventually selling the
rest back to the community. I really
want to start playing with eproms and
programming them I think it would be
fun. I just haven't had the time to it
yet. Maybe programming some cartridges
as well.

Q - Some users are upset they get
outbid on items and you always win can
you comment

I sometimes overpay because of my
aggressive bidding habits. However, I
have always had a winning attitude and
don't like to lose on anything. I
can't figure out why they get upset as
I took a 2 month window on ebay of
stuff that has been available for
years. I have quit trying to
understand why people continue to
flame me I just try to ignore them
now. It's mainly on the message boards

I have encountered this problem.

Q - Are you just a collector or is
this a part of childhood you missed
out on.

Collecting items I couldn't get when I
was a teenager. Like I said in my
introduction.

Q - I find items on Ebay that were
never released in the uk or were
unavailable is this what your after.

I have noticed where theres a huge
demand and whatever get's the most bid
activity draws me to the auction. If
other's want it really bad then I feel
there is a reason for it so I
sometimes bid overseas to get items
that are rare. I got most of my
Commodore Max items in Japan,
Commodore 232 in the UK, etc. Where in
the USA it's very hard to find them.

Q - Is there an item or items you
desperately want and what you are
prepared to pay for them maybe our
reader could help out.

Part of my collection that I have the
most emotional attachment to is the
freezer cartridges i.e. Trilogic
Expert, Action, Replay, ISEPIC. Eprom
programmers i.e. Promenade C1, Merlin,
Datel, etc. Fast Hack'em ALL
VERSION's, Kracker Jax, Utilities
Unlimited, etc. All the hacker tools
that were very popular today as they
were 27 years ago. You won't find me
selling these item's any time soon.
The games, computers, etc I feel I
could always replace. Besides me and
one other collector there isn't much
competition on these items so I pick
them up pretty cheap. The games on the
other hand its very easy to spend $50k
and not get much in return. Also hard
to resell them and make your money
back its a very strange market. One
day Space Taxi sells for $520.00 and
two weeks later it sells for $242.00
huge price difference.

Q - Can you tell us a little about
your Commodore Collection?

Some people on message boards started
posting everything I was buying and
the pricing I paid which I feel is
nobody's business and I was notified
from a seller I was being talked about
and I went to answer why I was
spending so much and buying so many
rare items. But the flaming wars began
so now I just try to lay low and not
say much if I can. Some of biggest
money items to date are: Commodore 232
(5 known to exist in the world), 2001
8k Pet Clicket Keyboard (pretty rare
in mint condition), 3 Max Computers,
about $55k in rare games and then a
bunch of misc stuff.

Q - Why Commodore what is the entire
Buzz about.

Back in the 80's everyone had a
Commodore 64 in their home. We all
teased anyone that had a IBM or Apple.
It was the machine. The love for them
still hasn't died 27 years later. They
are the best 8bit computer ever made.
Period....

Q - You recently posted that you
wanted to purchase CMD from Maurice
Randel - do you have a business plan

I emailed him and didn't get a
response. I saw a huge demand for CMD
products on eBay and they were always
going for high amounts. Yet on
Maurice's website they are a lot less
money. I almost ordered there but read
all the complaints on the message
board's that he hasn't delivered in a
long time. I would need to fly out
there and visit with him and see the
whole story before I made a decision.
There is always 2 sides to every story
and I haven't heard his. I have no
hard feelings for him because I never
dealt with him before and he doesn't
have any of my money. After hearing
his side I could create a great
business plan to present to him. I
have been self employed for many years
and know what it takes to run a
business.

Q - Have you spoken to Maurice and or
do you intent to visit him personally.

I have not spoken to him yet and at
this time until I get some of kind of
feedback via email I will not pursue
this much anymore. Maybe it would be a
good time for you to interview him and
see what he thinks about the thought
of selling CMD and if so I would be
happy to re-contact him. I emailed him
but will never beg for his business so
I will not continue to email him over
and over again I feel he will contact
me back if its a interest to him.

Q - Would you be prepared to hint at
the amount you offered for CMD

Nope. There is alot of factors I would
have to see the inventory, his
financial books, etc. Until I know the
whole picture I would never buy
something blind. You would never buy a
house without seeing it first,
correct?

Q - What did the offer cover
Intellectual Property and software or
was it the whole company including
spares or components Maurice has in
"stock". It has not gone this far yet.

Q - Our reader may not be aware of the
term IP (intellectual property) can
you explain the term

The term "intellectual property"
denotes the specific legal rights
which authors, inventors and other IP
holders may hold and exercise, and not
the intellectual work itself.

Q - When you start production - What
will the products retail at

I will look at cost's of materials,
labor to assemble, packing, and see
what the profit ratio is. I would keep
the pricing the same if I could.

Q - Will you keep the CMD website
www.cmdrkey.com

Yes the domain itself is worth money
and everyone knows it by the name. I
would never change the domain name.

Q - Will Maurice still do repairs and
programming?

I would love to keep him with the team
of course. You can't replace his
ideas, knowledge, and new product
ideas.

Q - What is you technical background
in electronics and programming

I have been a PC technician for 8
years. I can fix a PC with my eyes
closed. But, anything I am not a
expert in I would hire outside help or
keep Maurice around to assemble the
products until someone was trained or
just keep him doing it if he choose to
do so.

Q - Will the products be mass produced
or do you intend to carry on hand
production

I would have to see the manufacturing
process to develop a plan to expand or
keep things the way they are.

Q - Do you have any feelings for users
that have ordered CMD products from
Maurice and still after 2 - 3 years
still not received any product or
refund?

Of course I do. There is a lot of
damage control that would need to be
addressed but there is also fraud
issues where anyone can say we owe
them product. There would need to be
proof. Credit card receipts, mailing
tracking #'s, invoices, etc to address
the problems.

Q - Have you looked into the
complexity of the products - some of
the designs are multilayer boards

I own almost every product I have not
taken the time to take them apart. I
am sure they are high quality
products. My role would be more of a
CEO and not the one assembling them I
would hire someone that would do this
work but I would also hire someone to
do quality control and make sure
everything is working before it ships
out.

Q - Will the designs change, and have
you spoken to any Electronics
manufacturer about mass production.

If I was buying the business I would
have access to all wholesale
distributors, sales agents, etc I
would ideally call them and tell them
I have took over and introduce myself
and develop a relationship. I would
also take feedback from our customers
on what mods they would like to see
and if there was a big demand I would
see if we could develop it and market
it.

Q V Will the products be available to
distributors for example "protovision"
and should it return "Commodore Scene
Import Service"

Distributors are always a good idea as
it get's your product to more
customers in different country's.

Q - If you were given 1 million pounds
what would you do with the money (can
be none Commodore related) A castle
what man doesn't want that.

Q - Is there a question you would have
liked to have been asked?

Nope I think we covered it all.

Commodore Free
Thanks for your time
and good luck with your purchase.

I open this for discussion in the
magazine, would a purchaser of CMD be
a good or bad thing for Commodore


...end...
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