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Offline TensionTopic starter

Amiga airbrushed from history
« on: October 09, 2009, 06:48:39 PM »
It`s not just me, is it?

Downloaded Pirates Of Silicon Valley the other day.  Good show, but not a single mention of CBM or the Amiga.  Also, this film backs up the famous theory that "There is nothing nasty about Bill Gates, and nothing nice about Steve Jobs."

Also, watched Micro Men on BBC Four yesterday.  One of the guys from Acorn Computer actually said "We need to keep advertising like IBM and Commodore".  Weren't Commodore almost infamous for not advertising?  Again, no mention about the Amiga, even though they did really well in the UK.

Has there ever been a credible documentary made about computing (including the Amiga)?

Deathbed Vigil doesn't count :)

Offline Jose

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Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2009, 07:31:43 PM »
IMHO that's just the way history is done on everything, a lot of details and facts just vanish...
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Offline Nlandas

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Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2009, 07:32:43 PM »
Quote from: Tension;525273
It`s not just me, is it?

Downloaded Pirates Of Silicon Valley the other day.  Good show, but not a single mention of CBM or the Amiga.  Also, this film backs up the famous theory that "There is nothing nasty about Bill Gates, and nothing nice about Steve Jobs."

Also, watched Micro Men on BBC Four yesterday.  One of the guys from Acorn Computer actually said "We need to keep advertising like IBM and Commodore".  Weren't Commodore almost infamous for not advertising?  Again, no mention about the Amiga, even though they did really well in the UK.

Has there ever been a credible documentary made about computing (including the Amiga)?

Deathbed Vigil doesn't count :)


Commodore did a great job advertising initially back when all it took was to run some simple ads on TV and print saying look, here's a Commodore 64 with 64K of memory, color graphics, sound and all this software for what under $600 and here is our competitors with less memory, green screens for thousands.

Then came more sophisticated marketing of the maturing computer market and Commodore didn't even bother to continue it's look how much more powerful and less expensive our machines are advertising.

Instead they shifted to limited advertising and using artsy ads to sell Amiga.

But you are 100% correct. In all but a few cases Commodore and Amiga have been wiped from computer history or only quickly mentioned as an early pioneer. I guess I'm biased but I personally think that a lot of what we can do today on computers was influenced by Commodore and many of it's computer models. I think historically, there should be more mention of it's influence.

Of course, "On the Edge" made me cry so what else can I say.
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Offline tone007

Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2009, 07:36:21 PM »
It would've been hard to put Commodore management in the "Pirates" story, as while Jobs and Gates were calculating and succeeding and competing with each other, Commodore was just blundering left and right and shuffling leaders like playing cards.  Maybe they could do a comedy...
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Offline persia

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Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2009, 07:39:51 PM »
I hope you pirated it!

Quote from: Tension;525273
It`s not just me, is it?

Downloaded Pirates Of Silicon Valley the other day.  Good show, but not a single mention of CBM or the Amiga.  Also, this film backs up the famous theory that "There is nothing nasty about Bill Gates, and nothing nice about Steve Jobs."

Also, watched Micro Men on BBC Four yesterday.  One of the guys from Acorn Computer actually said "We need to keep advertising like IBM and Commodore".  Weren't Commodore almost infamous for not advertising?  Again, no mention about the Amiga, even though they did really well in the UK.

Has there ever been a credible documentary made about computing (including the Amiga)?

Deathbed Vigil doesn't count :)
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Offline TensionTopic starter

Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2009, 07:42:10 PM »
Absofeckingtootley!!

Quote from: persia;525288
I hope you pirated it!

Offline cpfuture

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Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2009, 07:48:46 PM »
The otherwise very entertaining "Triump of the Nerds" documentary about the creation and evolution of home computers doesn't even mention Commodore or the Amiga at all, which is pretty blasphemous IMO. Always wondered why Commodore often seems to be forgotten (or purposely left out) in some "historical" accounts, because they were definitely at the forefront of the home computer revolution of the 80's.. To me Commodore is undeniably linked to making available affordable home computing in the 80's. "Computers for the masses, not the classes" to quote Jack. But hey, I'm probably preaching to the choir here. ;)

Offline TensionTopic starter

Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2009, 10:46:49 PM »
Perhaps someone should make a documentary about the fight between Commodore and Atari, the Jack Tramiel defection and all that banter.

Offline pan1k

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Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2009, 11:00:44 PM »
Well, as far as I know, Commodore left advertising up to it's different areas. Check out you tube.. Commodore commercials are different for each regional area..
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Offline illy5603

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Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2009, 12:13:39 AM »
Kind of like world history, the victors get to write it.

Good observation in general. I am more into "the scene" and there was very little mention of the Commodore 64 / Amiga systems in BBS: The Documentary and we all know that Amiga BBS systems were the "fastest" in the world for most of the early to mid 90's. Confused a lot of people, but that is the way it was.

 
 

Offline quarkx

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Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2009, 12:18:13 AM »
Quote from: pan1k;525321
Well, as far as I know, Commodore left advertising up to it's different areas. Check out you tube.. Commodore commercials are different for each regional area..


You are right, Commodore did leave its advertising up to the different regions. As a result, Jack shifted products to where they sold the most. Earliest example was the PET. Jack also charged more in Europe than in the US, And when the PET was selling like wildfire in the UK, he shipped nearly all of them out there. There was a time when you could not find a PET in the US, even thought they were made there.
That is also why products like the Colt and Commodore PC were made and sold in Germany, or the A500+ and A600 had such a small and limited release in North America ( I don't even think any A500+'s were released)- Because Commodore's strongest markets were Germany and the UK. Here in Canada, for example, I don't think the "high end PETS" (or "B Series" ) was ever sold here. All we had were the original Iron pets. The C116 was sold only in Germany. The US couldn't market Commodore at all, the only successful North American Campaigns were done by Kit Spenser when he was brought over form the UK office.
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Offline chris

Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #11 on: October 12, 2009, 09:58:23 PM »
Quote from: Tension;525273
Also, watched Micro Men on BBC Four yesterday.  One of the guys from Acorn Computer actually said "We need to keep advertising like IBM and Commodore".  Weren't Commodore almost infamous for not advertising?  Again, no mention about the Amiga, even though they did really well in the UK.

Has there ever been a credible documentary made about computing (including the Amiga)?


Micro Men wasn't about the Amiga and wasn't even about 80s computers really - it was about Chris and Clive.  Hence it missed out the sale of Sinclair computers to Amstrad, missed out the cancelled Loki, had nothing about the Archimedes etc.  Also it only went up to about 1986 so the Amiga wouldn't have got a look in regardless.

You're right though - I've seen many computer history documentaries, in the rare event that they do mention the Amiga, they seem to miss out the Spectrum!  It's as if the two are mutually exclusive and cannot be seen in the same programme.  Some docs focus on consoles after a point and bypass the Amiga that way, others skip straight to the PC (which as we know is far inferior to the Amiga available at that time).  It's shocking how little coverage it gets - I'd have thought at the very least, the competition and crossover between Commodore and Atari would make an interesting segment, if not an entire show.  The Amiga was very popular and a lot of games developers and even current games series started there.

It's a shame but I suppose as it isn't British it doesn't deserve a mention, even though none of the computers or consoles that came after were British either.

Chris
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Offline scuzzb494

Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #12 on: October 15, 2009, 12:27:12 AM »
You will find a load of video snippets of adverts and articles in programmes about the Amiga on YouTube. I have a number of videos about the Amiga and Commodore. They are about, its just been a few years now.... This video is a classic given that its talks to all the creators of the Amiga. [ link below ]

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/media/a227_media07.jpg

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Offline Chewi

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Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #13 on: October 20, 2009, 01:39:20 PM »
Not seen "Pirates" but I get the impression it was more about making a good film than properly documenting the facts. It's been a very long time since I saw "Triumph of the Nerds" but I do remember being very shocked at Commodore's absence. There was really no excuse in this case.
 

Offline Acill

Re: Amiga airbrushed from history
« Reply #14 on: October 20, 2009, 04:14:40 PM »
Quote from: Tension;525273
It`s not just me, is it?

Downloaded Pirates Of Silicon Valley the other day.  Good show, but not a single mention of CBM or the Amiga.  Also, this film backs up the famous theory that "There is nothing nasty about Bill Gates, and nothing nice about Steve Jobs."

Also, watched Micro Men on BBC Four yesterday.  One of the guys from Acorn Computer actually said "We need to keep advertising like IBM and Commodore".  Weren't Commodore almost infamous for not advertising?  Again, no mention about the Amiga, even though they did really well in the UK.

Has there ever been a credible documentary made about computing (including the Amiga)?

Deathbed Vigil doesn't count :)

Well Commodore did advertise, but they did it in places that didnt help get new users on the system or share it outside of the circle of people using them. Whats the point if putting huge ads in Amiga publications? Things like that.
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