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Brian Bagnall

Commodore: The Amiga Years Hardcover – January 1, 2012

by Brian Bagnall (Author)

66 ratings

Book 1 of 3: Commodore

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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 andÂ 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 struggledÂ 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 length

540 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Variant Press
Publication date

January 1, 2012
ISBN-10

0973864990
ISBN-13

978-0973864991
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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

Best Sellers Rank: #16,163,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews:
66 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		79%
4 star		12%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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Jeffrey S. Johansen

Best. Commodore. History. Period!

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2019

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No long winded review. If you ever loved a Commodore computer and wonder what went on behind the scenes to make it and what every happened to the Commodore company this book (THIS 3-PART SERIES!) is for you! So many never before details are shared with the author from the people who were there. The cast of characters and the projects are legion! Every computer company needs an author to share its history and Brian Bagnall is the man for the job for Commodore!

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.

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Man967

Weird obsession with GEOS aside, quite informative

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2020

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The Amiga story is covered well, and is an interesting read. A bit more on the German side of things would have been interesting, but this book is primarily built from interviews and I guess the language barrier was an obstacle.

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.

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Michael L

Awesome book on the history of Amiga.

Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2018

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I haven't finished this book yet but I really enjoy it. I loved Brian's first in the series "Commodore: A company on the edge" and this is a great follow up.
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.

One person found this helpful

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Brian Monette

Great book.

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2017

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This book was well written and a joy to read. There is no way Mr. Bagnall could have done the topic justice if he had tried to include the last 7 years in this book as well. I look forward to reading the last book when it comes out next year.

3 people found this helpful

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Scott A Julian

Great story about the computer company who was responsible for ...

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2018

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The continuation of the history Commodore. Great story about the computer company who was responsible for putting more computers in the hands of users than anyone else.

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Jeffery Styles

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2018

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Awesome book about the history of the Amiga, high recommed!

One person found this helpful

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Italo De Santis

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2018

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Great book!

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Darek

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2018

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Great, but I don't want to wait next five years for the last book in series :)

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Bucket O' Beans

Wow! Very informative and well written... better than expectations

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 19, 2021

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My second foray into the history of Commodore with Brian was a success. Once again, his research and interviews with ex-staff was perfect. The emotion and annoyance of staff were successfully captured, and examples of management incompetence and short-sightedness clearly explained. The final book of this trilogy is on coffee table, ready to be read... which moron will ultimately ruin a great company?

3D71

Disapointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 29, 2018

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After Bagnall’s excellent earlier history of Commodore broke new ground this delayed book is a dissapointment, reading like overmatter from ‘On the Edge’ and a mashup of other interviews and talks already available online.

One person found this helpful

Tenstorey

Great insight into the birth of the Commodore Amiga however ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2018

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Great insight into the birth of the Commodore Amiga however it stops just as the the story heats up! I look forward to a subsequent book to complete the story. (This is the follow up to the author's book "Commodore: A company on the edge".

2 people found this helpful

SGL

Brian Bagnall non delude nemmeno stavolta...

Reviewed in Italy on December 29, 2017

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Il libro è ben scritto e molto scorrevole, come già il volume precedente (L'eccellente "Commodore: A Company on The Edge"). L'unica nota stonata è il fatto che narra solo metà della storia dell'Amiga, partendo dagli inizi fino al 1987. Il resto verrà riservato ad un successivo volume che speriamo di non dover attendere anni come questo. E' ovviamente richiesta una buona conoscenza dell'inglese americano per poter fruire appieno della lettura.

5 people found this helpful

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Valerio Pastore

ontinua il racconto più affascinante di una grande azienda informatica

Reviewed in Italy on February 14, 2018

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La Commodore ha perso Jack Tramiel, ma non la sua creatività, la passione, il fuoco dei suoi ingegneri! Ora. però, deve affrontare la sua più grande sfida contro un management conflittuale e a tratti impreparato, in un mercato che si evolve e recupera il passo…
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!

3 people found this helpful

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