Jack Tramiel was born in 1928 in Poland and survived the Nazi concentration camps. After the war he emigrated to the US (and later Canada) where he proved to be a technical genius. In the mid-1950s he started a company that manufactured electric typewriters and calculators. It was called the Commodore.
Unfortunately, was Jack Tramiel not as ingenious when it came to the economy, and in 1965 the company was on the brink of ruin. In stepped the Canadian businessman Irving Gould bought a large portion of the shares of the Commodore and became Chairman of the company.
Computer War
Typewriters became calculator, and in the mid-1970s was the Commodore as economically strong that they could start eyeing new markets. Commodore PET was released in 1977 and from that day computers became core business. VIC-20 and Commodore 64 broke new ground and crushed the competition, but at the same time a power struggle between Tramiel and Gould constant. In 1984 the break, and Jack Tramiel left the company as an immensely rich, but bitter man.
Just one month later, he had bought a majority shareholding in the arcade pioneer Atari, who was behind the milestones Pong and Breakout but at that point was heading towards destruction. And this is where the story takes off.
Atari drew away his eyes on the small indie company Amiga (which in turn was driven by a defector from the Atari named Jay Miner), which developed a prototype for computer games that utilized the 16-bit technology. It was just what Tramiel needed to crush the Commodore 64. The Atari had previously given the Amiga a short-term loan of $ 500 000 with the requirement that if you could not pay back within one month, the entire company, including all technology, free fall into Tramiels knee.
Unfortunately, was Jack Tramiel not as ingenious when it came to the economy, and in 1965 the company was on the brink of ruin. In stepped the Canadian businessman Irving Gould bought a large portion of the shares of the Commodore and became Chairman of the company.
Computer War
Typewriters became calculator, and in the mid-1970s was the Commodore as economically strong that they could start eyeing new markets. Commodore PET was released in 1977 and from that day computers became core business. VIC-20 and Commodore 64 broke new ground and crushed the competition, but at the same time a power struggle between Tramiel and Gould constant. In 1984 the break, and Jack Tramiel left the company as an immensely rich, but bitter man.
Just one month later, he had bought a majority shareholding in the arcade pioneer Atari, who was behind the milestones Pong and Breakout but at that point was heading towards destruction. And this is where the story takes off.
Atari drew away his eyes on the small indie company Amiga (which in turn was driven by a defector from the Atari named Jay Miner), which developed a prototype for computer games that utilized the 16-bit technology. It was just what Tramiel needed to crush the Commodore 64. The Atari had previously given the Amiga a short-term loan of $ 500 000 with the requirement that if you could not pay back within one month, the entire company, including all technology, free fall into Tramiels knee.
Jay Miner embarked on a desperate hunt investing. And found the Commodore, who bought the Amiga, paid the debt and declared that they were acknowledged.
Then followed a few years of heated and dirty lawsuits, but they belong in another article. Now we look at the hardware ...
The pieces are added up
Jack Tramiel made the first move. Atari 520 ST was released in September 1985, just before the Amiga 1000. The base was common - Motorola 68000 processor running at 8 MHz, which last year made debut in the Apple Macintosh. ST in the product name stands for "Sixteen-Thiry-two", because of the processor's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internal.
Otherwise, there were very reminiscent of the Macintosh in the Atari 520 (so much so that, for some wags called "Jackintosh"). Among other noticeable graphical user interface (called GEMDOS), storage on Sony's new 3.5-inch floppy disks and powerful tools for graphic design and music.
Particularly in the field of music would Atarin become leader for many years, mainly thanks to the midi port that made it a powerful and inexpensive sequencer.
In contrast, the design was influenced by the Commodores earlier computers albeit in a more attractive and stylish shell, although it also was big and bulky because of the oversized numeric keypad.
Price war
For obvious reasons, wanted Tramiel quickly kill the Commodore's domination on the home computer market and put a very low price on Atari (800 dollars). At the same time grew flora of games and productivity apps for the platform.
Irving Gould had both a lot of money and hard hands, but he lacked insight into the home computer market. When the Amiga 1000 came out, it had a great hardware platform, with the same processor as Atarin. Moreover delivered it with separate chip for video and audio processing (named Denise and Paula) who gave superior performance in those areas. Although the operating system Amiga OS with its overlying the Workbench interface was at the forefront. But it cost 1295 dollars, and was marketed primarily as a serious computer rather than as an entertainment machine, which meant that Atari could work relatively undisturbed for the first time.
While Jack Tramiel was sitting with arms crossed began Commodore crisis deal. 1987 was released two models; Amiga 2000 with built-in hard drive and the pure "Atari-killer" Amiga 500.
The turnaround
Amiga 500 was a return to Jack Tramiels own old success concept - a cheap entertainment PC that was marketed as an exclusive geek toy. It cost less than half of what the A1000 done, but had exactly the same skills. Since Atari done nothing over the past year (the sequel in 1040 was exactly the same computer as 520, with double the memory) had the Commodore is still a substantial technological lead.
Then followed a few years of heated and dirty lawsuits, but they belong in another article. Now we look at the hardware ...
The pieces are added up
Jack Tramiel made the first move. Atari 520 ST was released in September 1985, just before the Amiga 1000. The base was common - Motorola 68000 processor running at 8 MHz, which last year made debut in the Apple Macintosh. ST in the product name stands for "Sixteen-Thiry-two", because of the processor's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internal.
Otherwise, there were very reminiscent of the Macintosh in the Atari 520 (so much so that, for some wags called "Jackintosh"). Among other noticeable graphical user interface (called GEMDOS), storage on Sony's new 3.5-inch floppy disks and powerful tools for graphic design and music.
Particularly in the field of music would Atarin become leader for many years, mainly thanks to the midi port that made it a powerful and inexpensive sequencer.
In contrast, the design was influenced by the Commodores earlier computers albeit in a more attractive and stylish shell, although it also was big and bulky because of the oversized numeric keypad.
Price war
For obvious reasons, wanted Tramiel quickly kill the Commodore's domination on the home computer market and put a very low price on Atari (800 dollars). At the same time grew flora of games and productivity apps for the platform.
Irving Gould had both a lot of money and hard hands, but he lacked insight into the home computer market. When the Amiga 1000 came out, it had a great hardware platform, with the same processor as Atarin. Moreover delivered it with separate chip for video and audio processing (named Denise and Paula) who gave superior performance in those areas. Although the operating system Amiga OS with its overlying the Workbench interface was at the forefront. But it cost 1295 dollars, and was marketed primarily as a serious computer rather than as an entertainment machine, which meant that Atari could work relatively undisturbed for the first time.
While Jack Tramiel was sitting with arms crossed began Commodore crisis deal. 1987 was released two models; Amiga 2000 with built-in hard drive and the pure "Atari-killer" Amiga 500.
The turnaround
Amiga 500 was a return to Jack Tramiels own old success concept - a cheap entertainment PC that was marketed as an exclusive geek toy. It cost less than half of what the A1000 done, but had exactly the same skills. Since Atari done nothing over the past year (the sequel in 1040 was exactly the same computer as 520, with double the memory) had the Commodore is still a substantial technological lead.
Atari had reached a deadlock, and when the hardware upgrade STE finally came out in 1989 it was both late (now also had the first 16-bit console, the Sega Mega Drive, was launched) and full of problems with backward compatibility. Atari Falcon 1992 was a better computer with the powerful 68030 CPU, but by that time had even PC computers started to become the main option for serious players. Atari withdrew from the home computer market in 1993 for an ambitious but unsuccessful attempt to venture into the console war with Jaguar.
The winner falls
Amiga 500 was especially popular in Europe but never managed to take a substantial market share in the US, and it also became Commodore's last major success. Even Amiga took plenty of beating when the console market exploded and the success of the Mega Drive and especially the Super Nintendo, launched in 1991, worsening situation. Someone greater decisiveness was shown not up.
The higher performance model Amiga 3000 seemed outdated already when it arrived in 1990, and CDTV from the year after (a kind of hybrid between PC and console games based on the A500 platform) created confusion and made large holes in the checkout.
Death knell came in 1992, when both the new financial model Amiga 600 and the more expensive Amiga 4000 flopped. At the same time released between the model Amiga 1200, which otherwise had the potential to be a last resort, on the market in unfinished condition. During the autumn of 1992 began the stock price plummet and staff being laid off, and a year and a half later, the Commodores tale all.
Jack Tramiel sold his share of the Atari 1996. He died in 2012, at 83 years of age. Irving Gould retired from the computer world and lived the remainder of his life in the Bahamas before he passed away in 2004. The brand Atari lives on in the gaming industry and is now owned by the French holding company Atari SA.
The relics from the world's dirtiest PC wars are thousands of unforgettable games, lots of music and two dedicated legions of fans who still can debate all night through which side really should have won.
The winner falls
Amiga 500 was especially popular in Europe but never managed to take a substantial market share in the US, and it also became Commodore's last major success. Even Amiga took plenty of beating when the console market exploded and the success of the Mega Drive and especially the Super Nintendo, launched in 1991, worsening situation. Someone greater decisiveness was shown not up.
The higher performance model Amiga 3000 seemed outdated already when it arrived in 1990, and CDTV from the year after (a kind of hybrid between PC and console games based on the A500 platform) created confusion and made large holes in the checkout.
Death knell came in 1992, when both the new financial model Amiga 600 and the more expensive Amiga 4000 flopped. At the same time released between the model Amiga 1200, which otherwise had the potential to be a last resort, on the market in unfinished condition. During the autumn of 1992 began the stock price plummet and staff being laid off, and a year and a half later, the Commodores tale all.
Jack Tramiel sold his share of the Atari 1996. He died in 2012, at 83 years of age. Irving Gould retired from the computer world and lived the remainder of his life in the Bahamas before he passed away in 2004. The brand Atari lives on in the gaming industry and is now owned by the French holding company Atari SA.
The relics from the world's dirtiest PC wars are thousands of unforgettable games, lots of music and two dedicated legions of fans who still can debate all night through which side really should have won.
