XPost: comp.sys.cbm, rec.games.video.classic   
   From: starsabre@net.att   
      
   In article ,   
    "Sam Gillett"  wrote:   
      
   > BTW, if I understand correctly, the management at Atari had put game consoles   
   > on back burner long before Tramiel arrived.  The folks at Atari were already   
   > trying to emulate the success of Commodore by putting everything into   
   > computers.   
      
   You failed to understand.  The 7800 was going full bore when jack   
   arrived, and his first act was to shelve the project.  He also   
   immediately started shutting down the Atari 8-bit lines that were   
   developing evolutionary models.   
      
   > When Jack arrived at Atari he spearheaded the development of the ST so that   
   > Atari would have something to compete with the new flagship of Commodore, the   
   > Amiga.  Without the ST and Jack's leadership Atari would have folded years   
   > before it did.   
      
   The ST project is what he wanted to do at Commodore.  Gould saw it as a   
   potential flop and refused to allow Jack to start it.  As the new man in   
   the pants at Atari, he had no oversight to reign in his harnesses.   
      
   > Never mind that Commodore stole the Amiga from Atari.  That was not Jack's   
   > fault as it happened _after_ he left Commodore.  Blame Irving Gould.   
      
   Atari was starting the ST project while Amiga Corporation was developing   
   the Amiga.  Amiga got in financial trouble, and Commodore bought them   
   out in a fire sale.  Commodore saw Amiga when they finally bought in as   
   a ready to market competitor with Macintosh, but with color and better   
   sound.  No R&D costs, just porduce it and ship it.  Amiga did approach   
   Atari first, but Tramiel already had his ST in the works, so he had no   
   interest.  Commodore stole nothing.   
      
   > If Jack can be blamed for the death of Atari, it is not because of anything   
   > he did at Atari.  It would be because he made Commodore, especially the   
   > Commodore 64, so successful before leaving Commodore.   
      
   Jack shelved the 7800 and 8-bit models.   
      
   He started the ST.   
      
   He needed money, so he revived the 8-bit line with a variant of a   
   shelved model redubbed the XE-Game.  It didn't do well because by this   
   point the market place had already abandonned the 8-bit line.  The   
   remaining 8-bit loyalists were not enough to make it work.   
      
   Still needing money, he revived the 7800.  By this time, the NES and SMS   
   were established in the market, and retailers still remembered the   
   losses they suffered with the Atari label in 1984.   
      
   The ST finally came out, and was not a big seller.  Desperate to keep   
   the company alive, the Lynx and Jaguar systems were released, but the   
   Tramiels were so hard to work with that few developers came to either   
   platform.   
      
   All the post Warner foibles of Atari's failings center on everything   
   Jack did to Atari.  Gould was wise to remove him from Commodore.  Atari   
   enthusiasts had no option but to give up on the great fuji, as there was   
   nothing we could to change Jack's business models except not buy his ST.   
   We moved on to Macs and PCs for our computers despite their price tags.   
   We moved to the new powerhouses of Nintendo and Sega for our video   
   games.  Most of us didn't by our Lynxes and Jags new, but used or   
   clearance, and only as parts of our Atari collections.  Few of us were   
   willing to give Jack our money.   
      
   And many of us would like to throw tomatoes and/or insults at him on   
   Dec. 10.   
      
   Now if you PET petters want to bestow roses and red carpets on him,   
   fine.  But don't try to convince us game enthusiasts that he was   
   anything close to a God.  We still see those horns sticking out.   
      
   jt   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)