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Commodore: The Amiga Years Hardcover – January 1, 2012
Seeking to ascertain how the Commodore Amiga, a computer now widely regarded as having been five years ahead of its competition, failed so spectacularly in the marketplace, this book takes an in-depth look at the people and personalities behind it. The often unflattering picture that emerges is one of top-level executives who had little understanding of how to market their product to the public and a company that struggled to remain relevant. Other products that Commodore produced and tried to market, such as the C128, Geos, game consoles, and the untold story of the proposed successor to the record-breaking C64âthe C65âare also examined in depth. Told through firsthand interviews with company insiders, this examination of the now defunct company traces the often baffling decisions that led to the eventual demise of Commodore.
- Print length540 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherVariant Press
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 2012
- ISBN-100973864990
- ISBN-13978-0973864991
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Product details
- Publisher : Variant Press (January 1, 2012)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 540 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0973864990
- ISBN-13 : 978-0973864991
- Item Weight : 1.74 pounds
- Customer Reviews:
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This book goes a little too far into the technical weeds.... even as a big computer guy myself I was getting glossy eyed at some of the encyclopedia level technical details. It's a little too long, and the timeline jumps around a bit which is confusing. But it's still a good read if you are interested in such things, and paints a much deeper picture than online articles I've read about Amiga (primarily the Ars Technical series).
TLDR Thomas Rattigan saved Commodore from self destruction in a very short period of time, turned it around and back into a profitable company. And he got fired for it.
I guess I have to read the next book now....
Well written and very entertaining. Informative to a fault. A non-fiction page turner that you can't put down? This book is it! Well worth the acquisition. Order or download. Will be one of your best reads of your year. It was mine.
On the C64 side of things, the author covers the facts quite well: they sold well for as long as K-Mart carried them at $99, eventually being displaced by the NES. After that it was essentially dead in the USA but continued to sell well in Europe where the regional Commodores weren't so beholden to a single distributor. He spends a weird, inordinate amount of time detouring on the never-commercially-relevant GEOS curio operating system though, so be prepared to read around that.
I've read a lot of books about the computer industry and technology but these 2 are up among my favorites for sure. It's a good combination of business history mixed with the technology.
Maybe for some people it's too many specifics on hardware but you can skip over it if it's not your thing and focus on the other parts of the book.
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Brian Bagnall indubbiamente riesce a narrare a 360° gradi ogni aspetto della seconda vita della Commodore dopo l’acquisizione della Amiga, dalle parti puramente aneddotiche a quelle tecniche, tenendo ben per mano il lettore. Si respira l’aria di quei tempi ‘artigianali’, l’eccitazione di nuovissime tecnologie che per noi sono già archeoinformatica, quella BRAMA di fare unica nella storia.
La serie non è ancora completa, ma anche così ormai le aspettative sono altissime!






