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Commodore bought Amiga because it was worried about the QL

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  Commodore bought Amiga because it was worried about the QL Duncan Snowden <duncan_s@talktalk.net> - 2022-11-24 18:43 +0000
    Re: Commodore bought Amiga because it was worried about the QL Volker Bartheld <news2022@bartheld.net> - 2022-11-24 21:42 +0100
      Re: Commodore bought Amiga because it was worried about the QL "OldbieOne" <me@here.com> - 2022-11-28 14:52 -0500
    Re: Commodore bought Amiga because it was worried about the QL Damian Murphy <damian.murphy@gmail.com> - 2022-11-26 09:50 -0800

#5082 — Commodore bought Amiga because it was worried about the QL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3drKG-CsIs

About 9 minutes in. My subject line might be a slight exaggeration, but
Andy Finkel (long-time Commodore guy) says that the European
subsidiaries were worried that they didn't have anything to compete
with Sinclair, and Engineering was too busy with other projects (C128,
the TED series, the LCD machine, and a PC clone), so they set about
looking to buy something in. Later on he reiterates that even once
preliminary talks had started, "the QL was still the target".

I don't suppose they were so bothered after the QL's teething troubles,
but it's still pretty amazing. I think most people just assumed it was
either the Mac or Atari.

-- 
Duncan Snowden.

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#5083

On Thu, 24 Nov 2022 18:43:11 +0000, Duncan Snowden wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3drKG-CsIs
> About 9 minutes in. My subject line might be a slight exaggeration, but
> Andy Finkel (long-time Commodore guy) says that the European
> subsidiaries were worried that they didn't have anything to compete
> with Sinclair [...] "the QL was still the target".

IMHO the two built-in Microdrives were the final nails in - pun intended
- Sinclair's coffin. They already were shit with the IF-1 and the ZX
Spectrum and they were big pile of s* in the QL.

Wished there would have been an affordable alternative back then when I
desperately needed (semi) quick external storage. But OH BOY was the
DISCiPLE expensive in Germany. The Opus Discovery? Unobtanium. The
Timex? Unheard of.

And here I go again with a bunch of cartridges that need foam/felt
replacement to be usable again. And having arrived there, I found out
the hard way about the BASF Superchrome's magnetic print-through issue.

Volker

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#5086

"Volker Bartheld" <news2022@bartheld.net> wrote in message
news:18d3veiwbhk6d$.dlg@news.bartheld.net...
> On Thu, 24 Nov 2022 18:43:11 +0000, Duncan Snowden wrote:
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3drKG-CsIs
> > About 9 minutes in. My subject line might be a slight exaggeration, but
> > Andy Finkel (long-time Commodore guy) says that the European
> > subsidiaries were worried that they didn't have anything to compete
> > with Sinclair [...] "the QL was still the target".
>
> IMHO the two built-in Microdrives were the final nails in - pun intended
> - Sinclair's coffin. They already were shit with the IF-1 and the ZX
> Spectrum and they were big pile of s* in the QL.
>
> Wished there would have been an affordable alternative back then when I
> desperately needed (semi) quick external storage. But OH BOY was the
> DISCiPLE expensive in Germany. The Opus Discovery? Unobtanium. The
> Timex? Unheard of.
>
> And here I go again with a bunch of cartridges that need foam/felt
> replacement to be usable again. And having arrived there, I found out
> the hard way about the BASF Superchrome's magnetic print-through issue.

Those microdrives were beyond unreliable. I used them in the ham shack with
my daddy, and when they worked, they worked well. But the trouble was they
rarely worked without tinkering with the catridges.


--
OldbieOne

The One Who Tells It Like It Is (TM)
Brought to you by RetroPC Build Windows v4.0.950B-2

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#5085

On Thursday 24 November 2022 at 18:44:51 UTC, Duncan Snowden wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3drKG-CsIs 
> 
> About 9 minutes in. My subject line might be a slight exaggeration, but 
> Andy Finkel (long-time Commodore guy) says that the European 
> subsidiaries were worried that they didn't have anything to compete 
> with Sinclair, and Engineering was too busy with other projects (C128, 
> the TED series, the LCD machine, and a PC clone), so they set about 
> looking to buy something in. Later on he reiterates that even once 
> preliminary talks had started, "the QL was still the target". 
> 
> I don't suppose they were so bothered after the QL's teething troubles, 
> but it's still pretty amazing. I think most people just assumed it was 
> either the Mac or Atari. 
> 
> -- 
> Duncan Snowden.

Nice bit of history there!

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