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Post by miner2049er on Jan 30, 2006 17:54:44 GMT -5
A few weeks ago I watched Pirates Of Silicon Valley, and this weekend I watched Triumph Of The Nerds 1,2 and 3.
To be honest I thought that Triumph Of The Nerds being a documentary rather than a dramatisation would have addressed the omission of Commodore from the story, but it didn't.
The films are all great but this was a disappointing factor of them.
Why were they ignored like that?
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Post by Jeff Ledger on Jan 30, 2006 18:24:36 GMT -5
As you dig a bit, you'll find Cringley missed many facts... It is a good documentary, but I suspect the reason he focused on Apple was because he was a former employee.
Jeff
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Post by Golan Klinger on Jan 30, 2006 20:45:36 GMT -5
You beat me to it, Jeff. Cringley did in fact work for Apple. Another reason that Commodore isn't mentioned in Triumph of the Nerds is that it focuses on what was going on in Silicon Valley during the heydays (Apple's headquarters are in Cupertino) whereas Commodore was based on the East Coast. More important than the geographical difference is the cultural one. Commodore, from the top down, saw itself as an outsider. It wasn't part of the 'club'. I've read about ten or twelve books on the history of Apple and there are quite a few I haven't read. Other than Michael S. Tomczyk's "The Home Computer Wars: An Insider's Account of Commodore and Jack Tramiel" and Brian Bagnall's "On the Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore", I can't think of any books about Commodore. Luckily they're both excellent books and the latter is available from www.commodorebook.com/. If you haven't read it, you're missing out. It's the best book I've read in ages.
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Post by Jeff Ledger on Jan 30, 2006 23:13:48 GMT -5
Good Point... Commodore was an outsider in many ways during the microcomputer heydays. Even the marketing was completely different. I recall you could go to the local Apple store which carried Apple computers, books, etc. (And pay premium price!) Radio shack had their own "Computer Centre" for the TRS machines, and yet Commodore was at home in K-MART and TOYSRUS. Perhaps Cringley and others like him overlook the Commodore due to the fact it was marketed with the toys. Without that fact, I doubt my family would have been able to afford a personal computer for several more years. Thank you Mr Tramiel whereever you are!
"Computers for the masses, not the classes!"
Jeff
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Post by Jeff Ledger on Jan 30, 2006 23:24:04 GMT -5
Another reason that Commodore isn't mentioned in Triumph of the Nerds is that it focuses on what was going on in Silicon Valley during the heydays (Apple's headquarters are in Cupertino) whereas Commodore was based on the East Coast. More important than the geographical difference is the cultural one. Commodore, from the top down, saw itself as an outsider. It wasn't part of the 'club'. Yes, but He does mention IBM which wasn't located in Silicon Valley, but rather in Central Florida. I put out an email to him about this. Surely he was not ignorant to the sales numbers that still hold records for numbers of units sold. Perhaps he didn't take the Company seriously because of the marketing as stated in my last message. Jeff
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Post by Golan Klinger on Jan 30, 2006 23:36:06 GMT -5
Hrm, that's true. IBM is in Armonk, NY and the PC was designed and built in Boca Raton. It was a major influence on the industry so I guess that's why it got mentioned. I'm a tired of the way Commodore is marginalized. Surely 22+ million units sold counts for something. If nothing else, there's an entire generation of 30-40 year olds in computer-related jobs because of of Jack Tramiel's philosophy about making computing affordable.
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Post by miner2049er on Jan 31, 2006 3:47:12 GMT -5
I'm halfway through On The Edge now and I have to say it is an excellent read.
Plus I was always a Commodore man following the path of the C64 to the Amiga in the 80s/90s.
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Post by thurstan on Jan 31, 2006 4:52:06 GMT -5
I really enjoyed the film and halfway through Triumph of the nerds. I really dont mind him focusing on Apple, Microsoft, MITS and IBM as they were the companies that started the industry. Lets not forget he does not mention Atari, or Radioshack aswell as Commodore. Those companies alongwith Sinclair and Amstrad (in the UK at least) may well have sold millions of units and been very important in getting many people into computing, but arguably they didnt create anything groundbreaking.
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Post by Jeff Ledger on Jan 31, 2006 10:46:36 GMT -5
Here's what Robert Cringley sent me about the subject... Jack refused to interview... That's not one I would have guessed... Jeff
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