I love the distinction of his opening lead:
And then, the dagger of truth pushed straight into the heart:This year marks the anniversary of the most popular selling home computer ever, the Commodore 64, which made its debut in 1982. Note that I am saying “home computer” and not personal computer (PC) because back then the term PC was not yet in use for home computer users.
He goes on to give a brief walk down memory lane covering the 6502, KIM-1, PET, VIC chip, VIC-20, SID and the C64, C116, C264/C364V, the Commodore LCD, and finally his baby the C128.Some of you have probably not heard of Commodore, which is kind of sad, though there is a simple reason why — Commodore is no longer around to maintain its legacy. If one were to watch a documentary about the 1980s they may see a picture of an Apple computer or its founders but most likely would not see a picture of a Commodore computer in spite of selling tens of millions of units.
Pretty fun read.
I finished reading his book "Back Into the Storm months ago, which covers the same topics in obviously much more detail. I very much enjoyed it and appreciated that he didn't go into painfully technical details. It's written in a very casual and accessible style. Herd did a very nice job keeping things focused on the products and the people behind them. And he shines a light on a very interesting period in computer history about one of the biggest and most influential home computer companies of all time - Commodore. You know, that company missing from most history books these days.