It's always amazed me how much time, energy, R&D, etc. was wasted on things like the C128, C128D, 1581, 1571, C264, C65 and whatever else those dummies (C=) had on their plates when they should have been putting all that effort into the Amiga all along. IMO. Okay, *maybe* not the C128, but that machine was a little too late in its arrival. Guess that happens when you're used to competing with yourself. lol
The initial brief of what turned into the 264 series was for a $50-70 dollar 16kb full colour machine like a spiritual successor to the old VIC-20. What was released as the Commodore 16 is what this machine was supposed to be....I think we can all agree that had the C16 been $60/£50 combined with the C64 @ $199 and the Amiga 500 style machine launching BEFORE the high price niche A1000 machine then they would have had the strongest line-up of any computer company ever.
Of course Jack left and we ended up with the Plus4 at C64 prices, the A1000 at top end price for mass market (so effectively leaving the market free for Atari ST for nearly 2 years in total) and the Commodore 128D 8bit with no improved SID/VIC-II/1mz 6510 speed for the price of an Atari ST with 8mhz 68k and a superior Mac-a-like than the original $3K monochrome Mac! What a travesty.
