8:25 He is so right. Many people from all sorts of professions, walks of life and heritages made their first acquaintance with personal computing through a Commodore (and perhaps Atari, and to a much lesser degree Apple). Everybody can write a game on a C64. The handbook has an introduction on boolean algebra. Both Tramiel and Kildall are so underrated in the history of computing, it's criminal.
The reason Tramiel was underrated was because he was hated by lots of insiders in the industry. Jack Tramiel and his family have destroyed industry insider's lives both internally and externally. There are a lot of companies have gone gone bankrupt both because of Jack Tramiel's ability to keep his eye on the ball by focusing on market share (undercutting his competition) and because of deals with other companies that have had escape holes in contracts leading for Tramiel to get out of contracts, bankrupting his suppliers and retailers. Some refer to him as dealing with Attila the Hun or Jabba the Hutt because that is exactly what it was like under Tramiel's rule in the technology industry (in the 70s and 80s). It got to the point where no one in the industry wanted to deal with him or his family unless they really had to.
Love Jack’s car in this video, at around a minute in. Just a basic late model GM mid size/compact. No nonsense, gets the job done at a good price, very admirable. :-) Most CEO’s were driving expensive and needy 911’s and benz’es even back then…
I can't wait till they make a biopic about Jack Tramiel!! People point to Jobs and Gates but Tramiel had a business sense and the vision that the HOME was the future of computing and the youth were the ones who would take over that world and id be damn if he wasn't right!
Saying the youth will take over the world is always a safe bet. ;-) The real visionary in MOS / Commodore was Chuck Peddle, he had to talk JT into producing computers.
Fascinating stuff. Many thanks. What an amazing time that was. We have a working C64 and C128 with a shelf load of games and other applications. I must try the tapes out one day. We've had them for about 38 years (stored vertically of course). Also, wasn't the cartridge game 'Jack Attack' named after Jack Tramiel?
This man was a human tour-de-force who built Commodore into the biggest player. Interesting to note that the "Peanut" that they were discussing was IBM's PC Junior, which was a massive failure. Also interesting to see that TI exited the market (thanks to Commodore) and that Atari survived -- because Commodore's chairman was stupid enough to push Jack out, and he got his revenge by rescuing and turning around Atari. If you use technology today, you owe him a huge debt for democratizing tech. If you are Gen X, you probably used one of his machines from Commodore or later, Atari, in the 1980s or 1990s.
Jack Tramiel and Irving Gould often argued about how to run the company. After Jack Tramiel tried getting his sons on the board of directors, and then called Irving Gould out for using company assets like they were his own, Gould fired Tramiel over it.
I miss the way computers used to be. Apple and Microsoft want to turn them into dystopian surveillance and control devices. It was nice to get a peek inside Commodore's office. Jack Tramiel would be 94 today.
One day they will make a brilliant movie about this great man who went from the concentration camps of Nazi Germany to making the "Model T" of computers, selling more than anyone else in history. Interestingly, his drive and confidence reminds me of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both had big dreams and the drive to make them happen.
I really hate writing this...but as a lifelong Commodore fan, it has to be said: Jacks' tenacity at cost cutting is also what sunk the company. The C64, as incredible a computer as it was...lacked the most critical feature: OS upgrade. The C64 as well as the Amiga were basically hardware systems. The SID/Graphics were all hardware...the PC/Mac went with bitmapped graphics which ultimately won out. Jack simply stuck with the old Microsoft deal, and this meant for years Commodore was stuck at Basic 2.0 He repeated this mistake by going with GEM OS instead of MS-DOS/Windows. Jack didn't see merit in expanding on the Microsoft upgradability path, this seriously compromised the hardware lineup. Only with the C-128 did they upgrade the OS, but it was the Amiga which finally made OS upgradability a clear feature. By then, IBM with it's (too open) architecture allowed for PC clones to rule the universe. The ability to add cards/upgrade the OS/etc is what made the PC a true winner. Yes, the Apple II had upgradability, but it was still basically a 'frozen' system like the Commodore computers.
7:20 "Last year's fad: Video Games." It was a 152 Billion dollar industry last year. This airhead reporter had no clue that people were buying Commodore 64's and Atari 800XL's to mostly play video games. I have already seen equally idiotic reporters predicting the PS5 will be the last game console ever..... The media never learns.
@@b.v.6032 There was never a video game crash in Europe thou. We used mostly home microcomputers such as Commodore 64 here instead game consoles and played games on them. :) That's why Commodore grew so big and ruled the computer world for many, many years.
that's not the same thing. gaming consoles have a very different strategy. commodore made zero $ on 3rd party c64 sales, for instance, but that's not the case with consoles. completely different demographic, economic, and sales strategies.
I had one of those PCjr. Dad bought it for sale for $1000 in 1985. He figured that it's an IBM, it's cheap, and it would be just like those IBM 1620 he used in college. The PCjr was a gutless machine and was obsolete quickly. My neighbors had a Commodore 64. I envied them.
If only jack had still been at the helm of commodore in the early 90s then perhaps commodore would have not languished in liquidation....gould and mehdi ali were greedy but jack was business smart....
8:25 He is so right. Many people from all sorts of professions, walks of life and heritages made their first acquaintance with personal computing through a Commodore (and perhaps Atari, and to a much lesser degree Apple). Everybody can write a game on a C64. The handbook has an introduction on boolean algebra. Both Tramiel and Kildall are so underrated in the history of computing, it's criminal.
Agreed!!
plus: Kildall death could be also a real criminal act!
The reason Tramiel was underrated was because he was hated by lots of insiders in the industry.
Jack Tramiel and his family have destroyed industry insider's lives both internally and externally. There are a lot of companies have gone gone bankrupt both because of Jack Tramiel's ability to keep his eye on the ball by focusing on market share (undercutting his competition) and because of deals with other companies that have had escape holes in contracts leading for Tramiel to get out of contracts, bankrupting his suppliers and retailers. Some refer to him as dealing with Attila the Hun or Jabba the Hutt because that is exactly what it was like under Tramiel's rule in the technology industry (in the 70s and 80s). It got to the point where no one in the industry wanted to deal with him or his family unless they really had to.
Love Jack’s car in this video, at around a minute in. Just a basic late model GM mid size/compact. No nonsense, gets the job done at a good price, very admirable. :-) Most CEO’s were driving expensive and needy 911’s and benz’es even back then…
It looks like perhaps an '83 Caprice Classic. My dad had an '82, which he later handed down to me.
You have to hand it to the guy ruthless he may have been but he certainly earned his stripes.
“I’m not taking them on, they’re taking me on.” God bless you, JT. RIP.
"The youth's hunger for new technology is unbelievable."
You can say that again, Jack.
Jack was so awesome. "Business is like Sex. I like to touch it. I like to be there where the action is."
What poetry!!😂😅
In case anyone is wondering... the Ibm Peanut was the codename for the PC Jr.
I can't wait till they make a biopic about Jack Tramiel!! People point to Jobs and Gates but Tramiel had a business sense and the vision that the HOME was the future of computing and the youth were the ones who would take over that world and id be damn if he wasn't right!
Saying the youth will take over the world is always a safe bet. ;-) The real visionary in MOS / Commodore was Chuck Peddle, he had to talk JT into producing computers.
Jack was wild, What a Man he was.
Such a fascinating guy... C64 forever!
ATARI ST FOREVER !
@@RobBob555 FALCON 030 FOREVER! ):
Fascinating stuff. Many thanks. What an amazing time that was. We have a working C64 and C128 with a shelf load of games and other applications. I must try the tapes out one day. We've had them for about 38 years (stored vertically of course). Also, wasn't the cartridge game 'Jack Attack' named after Jack Tramiel?
Thanks Jack for the Commodore 64 and even more 😃
This man was a human tour-de-force who built Commodore into the biggest player. Interesting to note that the "Peanut" that they were discussing was IBM's PC Junior, which was a massive failure.
Also interesting to see that TI exited the market (thanks to Commodore) and that Atari survived -- because Commodore's chairman was stupid enough to push Jack out, and he got his revenge by rescuing and turning around Atari.
If you use technology today, you owe him a huge debt for democratizing tech. If you are Gen X, you probably used one of his machines from Commodore or later, Atari, in the 1980s or 1990s.
Jack Tramiel and Irving Gould often argued about how to run the company. After Jack Tramiel tried getting his sons on the board of directors, and then called Irving Gould out for using company assets like they were his own, Gould fired Tramiel over it.
@@scottythegreat1 Resulting in the eventual bankruptcy of Commodore and Gould losing most of his assets.
I miss the way computers used to be. Apple and Microsoft want to turn them into dystopian surveillance and control devices.
It was nice to get a peek inside Commodore's office.
Jack Tramiel would be 94 today.
One day they will make a brilliant movie about this great man who went from the concentration camps of Nazi Germany to making the "Model T" of computers, selling more than anyone else in history. Interestingly, his drive and confidence reminds me of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both had big dreams and the drive to make them happen.
I really hate writing this...but as a lifelong Commodore fan, it has to be said:
Jacks' tenacity at cost cutting is also what sunk the company.
The C64, as incredible a computer as it was...lacked the most critical feature: OS upgrade.
The C64 as well as the Amiga were basically hardware systems. The SID/Graphics were all hardware...the PC/Mac went with bitmapped graphics which ultimately won out.
Jack simply stuck with the old Microsoft deal, and this meant for years Commodore was stuck at Basic 2.0 He repeated this mistake by going with GEM OS instead of MS-DOS/Windows. Jack didn't see merit in expanding on the Microsoft upgradability path, this seriously compromised the hardware lineup.
Only with the C-128 did they upgrade the OS, but it was the Amiga which finally made OS upgradability a clear feature.
By then, IBM with it's (too open) architecture allowed for PC clones to rule the universe. The ability to add cards/upgrade the OS/etc is what made the PC a true winner. Yes, the Apple II had upgradability, but it was still basically a 'frozen' system like the Commodore computers.
A brilliant man
the company we miss.
Atari ST creator.. fantastic !
7:20 "Last year's fad: Video Games." It was a 152 Billion dollar industry last year. This airhead reporter had no clue that people were buying Commodore 64's and Atari 800XL's to mostly play video games. I have already seen equally idiotic reporters predicting the PS5 will be the last game console ever..... The media never learns.
@@b.v.6032 There was never a video game crash in Europe thou. We used mostly home microcomputers such as Commodore 64 here instead game consoles and played games on them. :) That's why Commodore grew so big and ruled the computer world for many, many years.
that's not the same thing. gaming consoles have a very different strategy. commodore made zero $ on 3rd party c64 sales, for instance, but that's not the case with consoles. completely different demographic, economic, and sales strategies.
Commodore was still one of the best computers for doing more than games on.
IBM Peanut turned into PC Jr, which only sold half a million, fail!
"I like to touch it!" :D
I had one of those PCjr. Dad bought it for sale for $1000 in 1985. He figured that it's an IBM, it's cheap, and it would be just like those IBM 1620 he used in college. The PCjr was a gutless machine and was obsolete quickly. My neighbors had a Commodore 64. I envied them.
@@lnm4444 mental eh ?
If only jack had still been at the helm of commodore in the early 90s then perhaps commodore would have not languished in liquidation....gould and mehdi ali were greedy but jack was business smart....
Now we know what Commodore employee's did with their old TV's
What are you referring to?
@@NuntiusLegis The old tv on the assembly / testing station.
I have 4 Commodore 64 and 64C systems. 🙂❤