New Zealand Vintage Computer Forums

You may know this already but..
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/ ... at-age-83/

A ruthless businessman (aren't they all) but someone who brought us iconic computers like the PET, Vic 20, Commodore 64 and Atari ST.

"Computers for the masses, not the classes."

Coincidently I've been playing with a PET all Easter. Beta-testing one of these:
http://www.bitfixer.com/bf/petvet

Yeah not exactly the best news, but it does really piss me off that Jack hasn't even had a mention in mainstream news but when Steve Jobs pegged it nobody would shut up about it! He did a staggering amount to build computing to the point it is today, and barely gets the recognition.

Carcenomy wrote:Yeah not exactly the best news, but it does really piss me off that Jack hasn't even had a mention in mainstream news but when Steve Jobs pegged it nobody would shut up about it! He did a staggering amount to build computing to the point it is today, and barely gets the recognition.

It frustrates me as well, but the fact is that manipulating perceptions was the skill that Jobs really did have, in spades, and JAck Tramiel didn't.

For me, as I was when I learned of Ed Robert's death, I'll be really sad when Uncle Clive, Chuck Peddle, Frederico Faggin or Woz pass away. Believe it or not, it wasn't until Jobs founded NeXT that I realised he had anything to do with Apple - it was all Woz all the time as far as I was concerned.

Carcenomy wrote:Yeah not exactly the best news, but it does really piss me off that Jack hasn't even had a mention in mainstream news but when Steve Jobs pegged it nobody would shut up about it! He did a staggering amount to build computing to the point it is today, and barely gets the recognition.

Yes missed by some and not by others, Many Atari people blame him for the demise of Atari, as he cut the quality, But in 1984 he dumped so many A8's ( 800XLs ) on the market at really cheap prices , I think he made people aware of Atari that would never have been able to afford Hi prices, He closed out the 800XL 600XL line through Dixons and Curry's in the UK with 800Xl and 1050 drives @ £129 and 800XL with 1010 dataset @ £69
The intro the 65XE and 130XE but the quality drop was huge.

As far as I can guess - Jack Tramiel was a marketing/businessman and he was not the technical whizz behind the computers.

The same goes for Bushnell - although he was technical - the real people who designed and worked on the Atari Home Computers line/etc are not given their full credit for their work. Jay Miner was responsible for the chip design - for the Atari 400/800 and Amiga chips, but he of course, did not work alone on this...

Jack Tramiel was out to make the quick buck - and the lowering of computer prices/increasing competition.

Harvey

Harvey wrote:As far as I can guess - Jack Tramiel was a marketing/businessman and he was not the technical whizz behind the computers.

The same goes for Bushnell - although he was technical - the real people who designed and worked on the Atari Home Computers line/etc are not given their full credit for their work. Jay Miner was responsible for the chip design - for the Atari 400/800 and Amiga chips, but he of course, did not work alone on this...

Jack Tramiel was out to make the quick buck - and the lowering of computer prices/increasing competition.

Harvey

Accurate to a point. He certainly wasn't out to make the quick buck, he'd been at Commodore for 30 years when he and Irving had the falling out. And when he was ejected from that particular computer company, he moved to Atari. He was cut throat, ruthless, and not an engineer - but who needs to be when you can hire the talent? I mean who was the bright spark who bought MOS?