Commodore in the Steve Jobs Biography
November 2, 2011 at 10:01 PM | Posted in Apple, Commodore, History, IBM PC | Leave a comment
The Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson is a good read, and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in getting acquainted with one of the computer industry’s most volatile and out-of-the-box thinkers.
When the story turns to the creation of the Apple II, Commodore and Chuck Peddle are both mentioned right out of the gate. Though I would argue the account of what transpired is highly questionable and one-sided (going so far as to email Isaacson that he should contact Peddle for the second edition of the book), mentioning the famous “$100,000″ meeting with Commodore shows the completeness of his research.
As expected, Wozniak gets in a jibe about the Commodore PET being a ”real crappy product”, that “kind of sickened [him].” Those of us who know better can discount that nonsense. (Let Woz enjoy living in the fantasy world he’s crafted for himself as the “inventor” of the personal computer.)
More interesting is Isaacson’s admission that the famous Apple ad welcoming IBM to the personal computer industry deliberately (and ”conveniently”) relegated “to irrelevance companies such as Commodore … that were doing just as well as Apple.” (135)
The tradition of Apple Revisionism continues with this text, but, nonetheless, it’s a fascinating read for the intimate portrait of Jobs, both professionally and personally.
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