Stephen Jacobs
04-04-2005, 12:43 AM
"Stu Venable" <sturvnospam@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:kzDTa.116726$Io.9959248@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
> "Stephen Jacobs" <jacosa@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:Vs6dnU0mcuZTZoOiXTWJgA@comcast.com...
> > Nice hardware. Marketing plan that made Adam Osborn look brilliant by
> > comparison. Sad.
>
> It was an attrocious computer. I was never exposed to their marketing
> campaing ... just their lack of software (not to mention availability). It
> was a gift from a cousin who worked at TI.
>
> All the software came on these cartridges -- sort of like an Atari 2600. I
> had a couple games that would get buggy (like failing to detect sprite
> collisions) if the cartridges weren't in all the way, but the games would
> still work. Then I got a Commodore 64 and thought to myself, "This is the
> ultimate game machine. How could computer games get better!?"
>
The C64 was indeed a nice machine, and the 'serious' Atari machines
(effectively the successors to the C64 because the Tramiels got kicked out
of Commodore and were given Atari in hopes they could revive it) were
probably a peak in elegant PC design. Atari collapsed because the younger
generation of Tramiels appear to have seen that as the only way to get their
father to stop running their lives. Commodore collapsed because the Amiga
was expensive to manufacture and required talented engineers (who had been
fired) to improve.
What turned you off about the TI machine was indeed the marketing plan: give
away the main box and charge the moon and stars for all the accessories.
Might MAYBE have worked if that moon and stars bit wasn't such a reasonable
image. Nobody ever saw a 99/4A fully tricked out, and software makers had
to design to the completely inadequate base model. At least with the
Sinclair you could get a memory expansion for a fair-ish price. (Sinclair
went away because Sir Clive got tired, sold the business to Timex and went
on to another bright idea that didn't work nearly as well--an ultralight
vehicle as I recall)
Since I find business an interesting model for poker, this sketch ought to
have some practical interpretation.
news:kzDTa.116726$Io.9959248@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
> "Stephen Jacobs" <jacosa@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:Vs6dnU0mcuZTZoOiXTWJgA@comcast.com...
> > Nice hardware. Marketing plan that made Adam Osborn look brilliant by
> > comparison. Sad.
>
> It was an attrocious computer. I was never exposed to their marketing
> campaing ... just their lack of software (not to mention availability). It
> was a gift from a cousin who worked at TI.
>
> All the software came on these cartridges -- sort of like an Atari 2600. I
> had a couple games that would get buggy (like failing to detect sprite
> collisions) if the cartridges weren't in all the way, but the games would
> still work. Then I got a Commodore 64 and thought to myself, "This is the
> ultimate game machine. How could computer games get better!?"
>
The C64 was indeed a nice machine, and the 'serious' Atari machines
(effectively the successors to the C64 because the Tramiels got kicked out
of Commodore and were given Atari in hopes they could revive it) were
probably a peak in elegant PC design. Atari collapsed because the younger
generation of Tramiels appear to have seen that as the only way to get their
father to stop running their lives. Commodore collapsed because the Amiga
was expensive to manufacture and required talented engineers (who had been
fired) to improve.
What turned you off about the TI machine was indeed the marketing plan: give
away the main box and charge the moon and stars for all the accessories.
Might MAYBE have worked if that moon and stars bit wasn't such a reasonable
image. Nobody ever saw a 99/4A fully tricked out, and software makers had
to design to the completely inadequate base model. At least with the
Sinclair you could get a memory expansion for a fair-ish price. (Sinclair
went away because Sir Clive got tired, sold the business to Timex and went
on to another bright idea that didn't work nearly as well--an ultralight
vehicle as I recall)
Since I find business an interesting model for poker, this sketch ought to
have some practical interpretation.