Was no doubt Jack was a complete ballbuster to work for - however given his background of having to fight tooth and nail for success, coming from a concentration camp to North America, it's quite understandable he was particular in his ways. Fight your way up the ladder from the bottom, you'll inevitably step on some toes, and Jack got a lot of bad press for that. Oddly, Steve Jobs was worse, but in retrospect is now lauded as a sheer visionary rather than the cut-throat (and borderline neurotic/abusive) businessman he was.
I never owned a Commodore 64, but used them a fair bit back in the day. Tramiel is one of the ones that got computers to the masses, and while I do think he did so for profit value to some extent (good intentions don't pay the bills, after all), I firmly believe he had some revolutionary motives and simply wanted people exposed to this new medium of home computers. That in itself is something to be admired - the "home computer" market was virtually non existent back then.
I know for certain I would have gotten into computers far, far later if the offerings from Commodore were not so affordable for the masses. I never owned a 64, but they undoubtedly sparked my interest, an interest I have to this day in all things "computer".
Back then, everyone had a VIC or a 64. Apple offerings were 3-4x the cost of a C= 64 and were only generally found in schools in my area at the time - the VIC and 64 series were truly revolutionary back then, and I fondly remember spending weekends with a now deceased friend, typing in BASIC programs from the popular print magazines at the time on his 64.
He was also a co-founder of the US Holocaust Museum, another noteworthy cause.
RIP Jack - if it wasn't for you and your ideals of computers for the masses, I can safely say many of us here wouldn't have the passion we have for computers right now.
