Commodore The Inside Story: The Untold Tale of a Computer Giant
- Downloads：9608
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-05-07 08:51:42
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：David John Pleasance
- ISBN：191349165X
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
- Download
Summary
The enthralling rise and fall of a former giant of home computing。
Founded in 1958， Commodore International， the American home computer and electronics company， was once a titan in its industry。 In 1994， the company went bankrupt。 What happened？ To tell the story， former Commodore employee David John Pleasance gathers his own personal stories and experience from more than twelve years at the company and presents them alongside insights from engineers， suppliers， other members of senior management， and Commodore fans。
Founded in 1958， Commodore International， the American home computer and electronics company， was once a titan in its industry。 In 1994， the company went bankrupt。 What happened？ To tell the story， former Commodore employee David John Pleasance gathers his own personal stories and experience from more than twelve years at the company and presents them alongside insights from engineers， suppliers， other members of senior management， and Commodore fans。
Reviews
John McDermott
，
David was there。 A highly credible witness to the goings on at Commodore from a Senior Exec position （MD of Commodore UK by the end up）。 This book chronicles what others simply speculated about in a "warts and all" way that sometimes leaves you wondering "what the hell？ How？" and leaves you to lament the fall of the once great company and what "could have been"。 It's a very interesting and informative read， full of direct experience and anecdotes of the good and bad days and supplemented by well David was there。 A highly credible witness to the goings on at Commodore from a Senior Exec position （MD of Commodore UK by the end up）。 This book chronicles what others simply speculated about in a "warts and all" way that sometimes leaves you wondering "what the hell？ How？" and leaves you to lament the fall of the once great company and what "could have been"。 It's a very interesting and informative read， full of direct experience and anecdotes of the good and bad days and supplemented by well known and loved contributors from the industry。 This is a great book， and if you want to hear what happened from the horses mouth， this is it。 。。。more
Levent Pekcan
，
İmzalı bir kopyasına sahip olduğum için sevindiğim kitaplardan biri。 Tam olarak "meraklısına" diye nitelendirilebilecek bir kitap。 Commodore'un İngiltere ofisinde uzun süre yöneticilik yapmış olan yazar， kendi yaşadığı olayları ve bilgisayar pazarında liderlik şansı olan bir firmanın nasıl yok olduğunu güzelce anlatmış。 Anlatı fazlasıyla Amiga odaklı， ama yazarın çalıştığı dönem zaten Amiga dönemine denk geliyor。 Commodore'un iflasından sonra yaşananlarla ilgili bilgiler özellikle önemli， o bilg İmzalı bir kopyasına sahip olduğum için sevindiğim kitaplardan biri。 Tam olarak "meraklısına" diye nitelendirilebilecek bir kitap。 Commodore'un İngiltere ofisinde uzun süre yöneticilik yapmış olan yazar， kendi yaşadığı olayları ve bilgisayar pazarında liderlik şansı olan bir firmanın nasıl yok olduğunu güzelce anlatmış。 Anlatı fazlasıyla Amiga odaklı， ama yazarın çalıştığı dönem zaten Amiga dönemine denk geliyor。 Commodore'un iflasından sonra yaşananlarla ilgili bilgiler özellikle önemli， o bilgiler okuduğum diğer Commodore kitaplarında yoktu。Uzunluğu 350 sayfa civarında olan kitabın aslında 120 sayfa kadarında yazarın anlatısı var， kalanı konuk yazarlara ayrılmış。 İlk başta bunu farkedince， bu konuk işinin bir şişirme çabası olmasından kaygılandım ama öyle çıkmadı， konuk edilen yazarların bir ikisi dışında hepsi önemli şeyler anlatmışlar。Commodore firmasının nasıl yaşadığı ve nasıl battığı kaç kişiyi ilgilendirir， bilemem。 Beni ilgilendiriyor， dolayısıyla bu kitabı okumak da benim için yararlı oldu。 。。。more
Juan
，
I had a lot of fun reading David's own chapter accounting how business was like in the crazy eighties， although there's a bit too much grudge still going around after all this time and that reflects throughout the book， which at times feels like it was put together to prove a point。 The rest of the stories are mostly not that exciting to read （it's clear that most of these people have little writing skills） but nevertheless the contributors do represent a wide range of nationalities， periods in I had a lot of fun reading David's own chapter accounting how business was like in the crazy eighties， although there's a bit too much grudge still going around after all this time and that reflects throughout the book， which at times feels like it was put together to prove a point。 The rest of the stories are mostly not that exciting to read （it's clear that most of these people have little writing skills） but nevertheless the contributors do represent a wide range of nationalities， periods in time and departments - enough to get quite a good picture of how working for Commodore must have been。 A must read for any Commodore fans。 。。。more
Themistocles
，
Oh my。 What could be a unique insight left me with quite a sour taste。 Pleasance comes through as a thoroughly unpleasant （ha）， self-centered and loud guy， using the book to make himself look good and everyone else he （presumably） disliked look bad。I mean， it comes as no surprise from a man boasting about tricking people into buying a useless machine （Plus/4） or appointing his girlfriend to a position so he could see her when travelling。At the very beginning of the book he describes how Scotch s Oh my。 What could be a unique insight left me with quite a sour taste。 Pleasance comes through as a thoroughly unpleasant （ha）， self-centered and loud guy， using the book to make himself look good and everyone else he （presumably） disliked look bad。I mean， it comes as no surprise from a man boasting about tricking people into buying a useless machine （Plus/4） or appointing his girlfriend to a position so he could see her when travelling。At the very beginning of the book he describes how Scotch spent £3 million for a rebranding， and the only thing the consultants delivered was a suggestion that the logo colour be changed。 If you believe that， I've got a tower with a big clock in London to sell you; there's no way a company would spend £3000 for that， let alone millions。 The fact that Pleasance described it as such is a sign he has absolutely no idea what he's talking about， but he does have a strong opinion about it nonetheless。In other points in the book he quite maliciously describes orther as schizos or liars， giving their full names （！） but of course without giving them an opportunity to respond or giving their side of the story。If you believe what Pleasance says， he invented giving games away with computers and consoles， he was responsible for every sales and marketing effort （only successful ones of course） and everything in between。For some reason he spends less space talking about the closure of the UK factory than he does about him driving drunk at night after the farewell party - gives you some insight into his character and what he considered important。So how about the 'inside' story he gives？To begin with， his writing is awful。 And I mean it。 This thing needed an editor or a ghostwriter like plants need water。 Various anecdotes （many without even the least interest） thrown around in a often confused timeline in a simplistic， loud language that makes me imagine what it's like to sit opposite him while he bombards you with salesman stories that make him look good - you know the guy I'm talking about。 Unfortunately， in the end， I learned very little about Commodore that I didn't already know from other sources。 And this is the greatest failure of this book， in my opinion - you would guess it'd be a unique insight but it seems， after all， that everything that can be said is already out there without Pleasance's help。 To top everything off， he spends some 10% of his text describing his life after Commodore so what is a already meager text is even less satisfying。HOWEVER。。。Pleasance's part is only about a third of the book！ The rest is a collection of stories from people involved with Commodore and the Amiga， and that's where things get interesting。 Again this second part of the book could do with some serious editing and polishing because frankly， some of the stuff reads like forum or blog posts， but at least the stories are authentic and much， much， much more interesting！So in the end we basically have a book in two parts， an awful first part and a much better second one。 My suggestion is to skip right to the latter。 。。。more
Kurt Geisel
，