Jack Tramiel Update
Brian Bagnall
10th appearance of Jack Tramiel at the Computer History Museum in California.
The event will include key people from Apple, IBM, and Amiga (see below). When
writing the book "On the Edge: the Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore" I
tried getting an interview with Jack by calling him almost a dozen times,
writing several letters to him, and getting his son Leonard to convince him -
everything short of showing up at his ranch and demanding an interview. I'm in
awe that Karen has been able to make this happen. Apparently she and Leonard
convinced Jack that it was important for him to talk about his experiences
before it was too late.
Karen wanted me to pass on some information. Basically Jack is done with the
confrontational period of his life where he had to be hard nosed in order to
run a company in a cutthroat industry. He's now a retired grandfather who
spends most of his time traveling with his family. Karen wants Jack to feel
welcome, where everyone in the audience can listen to his history with an open
mind. Hopefully if he feels welcome at the museum he will participate in other
events and we can eventually piece together his experiences in the early
computer industry. Karen knows that most people will be receptive to Jack, but
she was a little worried that a few might decide to throw his kind gesture
back in his face by confronting him. If you know of anyone who plans to do
this, please discourage them from attending.
>From what I could gather, this is in celebration of the 25th anniversary of
the C64. There will first be a one-on-one interview with Jack moderated by
John Markoff of the NY Times. After that, Steve Wozniak (Apple II), Bill Lowe
(IBM PC) and Adam Chawniac (Amiga) will take to the stage for more discussion.
The discussions will probably focus on Commodore, though it's possible his
Atari history will be included. Everyone is welcome and if you aren't in the
area there will be a video webcast of the event available on their website.
This promises to be a great event, and I hope to see you there!
More information should be available soon at:
http://www.computerhistory.org/events/
All the best,
Brian Bagnall