Brian Bagnall > Quotes

“Commodore did not have a reputation for fun and games in 1980—they were CBM, the business machine company.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“After the huge push for CES, it was time for Amiga to sort a few things out. First, the Amiga systems engineers began producing 100 Lorraine developer systems to hand out to companies like Activision, Electronic Arts, Infocom, and Microsoft. At the time, Commodore programmer Andy Finkel was helping Infocom in Cambridge to port its games to the C64. “That was where I first got a hint of the Amiga,” says Finkel. “There was this locked room where I couldn’t go, even though I could go anywhere else in the building. The Infocom tech people would sneak in and work on the computer. They told me there was a secret computer that they couldn’t talk about.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: The Amiga Years

“It is true that Dan Bricklin prototyped the first spreadsheet on an Apple II because it was the available machine at that moment,” says Jennings.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“The few Commodore employees who supported the VIC project gained power within the company beyond their official title.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“Then, in the late ’60s and early ’70s, there was a big revolt against technology. People were attacking computer centers with axes, claiming computers were taking over our lives. We’re talking about serious hippy-type stuff.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“when production lines encountered a shortage of VIC-II chips, technicians went to the bin labeled “defective chips” and took the sign off it.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“Each Kmart set up a computer center with demonstration VIC-20s, software, and peripherals contained in glass display cases. The new displays attracted customers who stopped to try out the new devices.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“Trip Hawkins took out an ad in several computer magazines that would appear two months later. The two page spread announced, “Why Electronic Arts is Committed to the Amiga.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: The Amiga Years

“Commodore engineers predicted most users would use cartridges and cassette drives, so there was no pressing need for commands to copy, delete, or list files.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“RJ Mical began single-handedly coding a GUI for the Amiga. At the time, many computer companies were beginning to embrace the GUI paradigm originated at Xerox. “The Mac would have influenced the decision, but less so than some of the more sophisticated machines that we were using at the time,” says Mical. “We were using Sun Workstations and they had very powerful user interfaces that were much more powerful than what the Mac had.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: The Amiga Years

“That gave me the best title I have ever had in my entire professional career,” he quips. “For a while there at Commodore, I was their Director of Intuition.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: The Amiga Years

“We were kicking his ass, and Apple was kicking his ass because BASIC was what people were buying.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“With Wescon rapidly approaching, and no manual in sight, Sehnal approached John Paivinen and told him, “He’s not doing it.” “John Paivinen walked into my office with a security guard, and he walked me out of the building,” recalls Peddle. According to Peddle, Paivinen gave him explicit instructions. “The only people you’re allowed to talk to in our company is your secretary, who you can dictate stuff to, and Petr. You can’t come back to work until you finish the two manuals.” Peddle accepted the situation with humility. “I wrote them under duress.” A week later, with Petr Sehnal editing, he emerged from his exile with his task complete.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“I was one of those people who went off to see if I could make life harder on myself.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“Commodore eventually included Adam Osborne’s 430-page manual with every PET.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“Andy Finkel, the technical manager of the software group, was one of four employees who helped with the search, along with Eric Cotton, Benny Prudin and Judy Braddock.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“The nice thing about having loners who are really smart working for you is they bust their ass working 24 hours a day.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“The 1541 became just a 1540 with minor software changes.” The deletion of a few metal circuit traces ultimately resulted in millions of wasted hours for C64 owners.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“dinner meeting between Commodore and Micro-Soft. “Before the meeting Chuck said, ‘You are going to meet someone tonight who looks like a 16-year-old nerd, but he is really quite bright and shouldn’t be underestimated.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“Herd tried fixing several problems in the C64 [while developing the C128 C64 compatibility mode] but those fixes inadvertently created new problems. "I started out as one of the only guys who knew where all the glitches were," says Herd. "I designed them out, and you know what? Cartridges stopped working... the guys who designed the cartridges would use the glitches on the IO select lines to clock data... I had to put them back in," laments Herd. "There was a wire on the C128 and next to it, it said 'Puts the glitches back in.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: The Amiga Years

“The PET was the first totally assembled, totally integrated computer with all the necessary components for software distribution and development.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“High-tech companies need three players in order to succeed: a financier, a technology god, and a juggernaut with a Type A personality.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“So Jack had somebody pretty clever figure out where he could drill holes right where those chips went.” The holes made it impossible for the dealers to upgrade their memory, forcing them to buy the 32-kilobyte models from Commodore.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“The plan was, we would make this computer for Radio Shack and that would get us instant distribution to sell calculators,” says Peddle.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“But Apple soon bred competition. Radio Shack and Commodore and even Atari, among others, started selling their own personal computers.” In truth, Commodore and Radio Shack began selling personal computers in 1977, and Atari followed in 1979.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“One of the best disciplines you can have, instead of having cost centers, you make profit centers, and you try and make everybody think that way,” he says. “Most of the workforce responded very well to that as it felt like they had their own business. They knew if they earned more they could do more and expand.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“In reality, Commodore employees worked tirelessly to deliver state-of-the-art technology to its customers at prices far lower than Apple’s. PBS adapted Cringley’s book as a popular TV series, Triumph of the Nerds (1996). The adaptation ignored Commodore completely.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“Thin lines called traces connected the polygons, creating a complex circuit. Incredibly, the engineers created the layout in pencil, one component at a time. The task was formidable, with a completed diagram containing approximately 4,300 transistors.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge

“He also told the executives BMW stood for “Big Mean Worm”, something Apple should fear.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: The Amiga Years

“In early 1977, Seiler became disenchanted with Allied Leisure. When the company had more orders for game machines than they could immediately deliver, it took advantage of existing customers. “They did some real unscrupulous things,” he recalls. “People would send in their broken video games. I was fixing them and then they would put them in a new machine and sell it to somebody! They’d just keep telling the guy they hadn’t fixed his board yet.”
― Brian Bagnall, Commodore: A Company on the Edge