Comments on Emma Alvarez Site: Jack Tramiel, Founding Father Of Cyberculture

Business' world is very hard, specially for someon...

2007-12-26T15:34:00.000+01:00

Business' world is very hard, specially for someone like Jack Tramiel that comes from having nothing at all. Surely, he reached that position for being hard and strict. The results of being hard and righteous were Commodore and what it meant in History.

I respect the testimonial of Silicon Valley Old Timer. She has shared her truth with us.
On the other side, I didn't met anyone that talked good about their boss.
And if we hear our boss talking about his employees, I suppose we will be very angry.

A great and interesting article. I see both sides ...

2007-12-26T12:31:00.000+01:00

A great and interesting article. I see both sides about Jack Tramiel, and understand them both. Business _is_ war, but that doesn't mean you should treat your people as objects.

I still have my C64. It doesn't work anymore, though -- according to the error which is reported upon turning it on, there's a problem with a memory chip. Luckily we have emulators like VICE if we want to play those good olde games. ;)

I often wonder where the computer market would be today have Commodore still existed. Maybe it would be a fair rival to the "Wintel" conglomerate and Apple? :D

A while ago I read that a Dutch company bought the rights to the Commodore trademark -- found its website http://www.commodorecorp.com/
Seems interesting, quite expensive, and they don't seem to get the "business is war" mantra just yet. ;)

Great article. I think I still have a C64 around ...

2007-12-15T05:34:00.000+01:00

Great article. I think I still have a C64 around here somewhere. Still to this day play some old games on an emulator at work.

And Tramiel is an interesting guy. Episode 157 of The Linux Link Tech Show had an interview with the author of a book with fantastic stories from Commodore employees: http://tllts.org/dl.php?episode=157

I have to agree with "silicon valley old timer". ...

2007-12-13T00:08:00.000+01:00

I have to agree with "silicon valley old timer". Jack was a powerful man but certainly did not always have the "Midas Touch". There is also little doubt that the computer revolution would have happened without him.

The Amiga was in many ways a truly revolutionary computer which suffered under a Commodore in disarray -- not because of Jack's absence but at least because of the same reason for Jack's exit (financier Irving Gould).

That all said, Commodore's contributions most certainly deserve more recognition than they usually receive.

Emma this is a great article! I had the luck of ow...

2007-12-06T10:58:00.000+01:00

Emma this is a great article! I had the luck of owning a Commodore 64 (and then the legendary Amiga), the C64 was an admirable piece of hardware. It could do most things better than any other other micro at the time, being mostly better at it's audio visual abilities.

As far as popularity is concerned, a strong contender of the C64 was the U.K. bred SInclair's ZX Spectrum 48K which came out in 1982(and it's 1984 "48K+" polished revamping). Although the Spectrum was far lesser capable than the C64, it was very popular, especially in Europe.

Silicon valley Old Timer, thank you very much on the inside info about Tramiel, but I think that Emma's article was focused on the products that his company has developed not on the man himself. Of course he's not the only rough boss around! You should see my boss :D

Oh My Gosh...

2007-12-01T17:53:00.000+01:00

Oh My Gosh...

If you ever meet anyone who has ever worked for Ja...

2007-12-01T17:33:00.000+01:00

If you ever meet anyone who has ever worked for Jack Tramiel, as my ex-husband did, you may want to change your mind. Jack's motto was "business is war!" and my ex told me that he would rather beg in the streets than ever work for Jack again.

Jack's companies had difficulty finding employees and when a firm I worked for recruited a finance manager for him, Jack reneged on his agreement to pay; my ex witnessed explosions of rage, saw things thrown at employees, and was cursed out repeatedly, along with other managers at Commodore. When he quit, Jack refused to pay him his final check and accrued vacation pay...he had to sue to get his money.

My ex went to Atari and became a director, and one morning he came to work only to find Atari's office buildings padlocked. Jack had bought the company over the weekend and locked all of the employees out. It was two weeks before he was allowed into the building to collect his personal belongings from his office. He quit Atari the minute he heard that Jack was the new owner.

Jack overcame adversity and made a fortune, to be sure, but not in a way I would call admirable.

Wow!!! Vladimir I never have seen a real C64, only...

2007-11-29T15:38:00.000+01:00

Wow!!! Vladimir I never have seen a real C64, only in pics, but I really admire very much Jack Tramiel. And commodore brings me curiosity. My husband had one and always tells me how great was that computer. Everybody who had a C64 talks very well about it.

That is an extraordinary article thanks so much. A...

2007-11-29T13:30:00.000+01:00

That is an extraordinary article thanks so much. And I had a C64, in the good old days!