Michael: Ironically, when I first entered the computer industry,
it was because
I was managing a small firm in San Francisco and we became a beta
site for
the first Atari 600 game computer. My staff wouldn't stop
playing "Star
Raiders" so I took the Atari home. Three days later I looked
up and
saw a thin shaft of light streaming in through the curtains and
realized
I had been up 3 nights in a row, playing that space game.
A few weeks later I quit my job, took all my savings and spent the
next
six months learning everything I could about computers. I
used to hang out
at Apple Computer and got to know Steve Wozniak and Mike Markula
and
some of the 'technical gnomes' at Apple. Since I was basically
a journalist
with an MBA (from UCLA), I used my reporting skills to do
interviews with
several people in the "new" personal computer industry. My
first interview
was with the inventor of the Star Raiders game (of course!), for
COMPUTE!
Magazine.
After 6 months I had job offers from Apple, Atari and Commodore.
Apple
had too many geniuses. Atari had no geniuses (they lost $1
billion in 5
years which proves it!). Commodore had half geniuses and half
"duhs."
So I brazenly set an interview with Commodore founder Jack Tramiel
but
after 6 months I only had, literally, $10 in the bank and $6 in
my pocket and
I didn't know if that would pay for the gas to get down to Santa
Clara and
back for my interview with Jack -- so I asked Robert Locke, the
Editor
of COMPUTE!, to wire me $140 for an article I'd written and he did
and it was the first time I ever got money via Western Union.
The next day I went to see Jack Tramiel and got hired as Assistant
to the
President. My first day was at a meeting of Commodore general
managers
in London and my second week was in Germany. The third week
we came back
and fired the entire marketing department. The fourth week
I wrote a 30 page
single spaced memo on everything I could think of that should be
in the
new low-cost color computer we were planning and the next thing
I knew
I was in charge of the VIC-20 product line.
Later, to promote the VIC-20, I started writing a column called The
Vic
Magician in Compute's Gazette and I really used this column to teach
myself new ways of working with BASIC and what you really saw in
these
articles was Michael Tomczyk learning something new in BASIC and
sharing it with the VIC community at large, in the magazine.
Paul: What memories do you have of the people/places/events
concerning Commodore
and the early days of microcomputing?
Michael: In the early days, no one knew what a computer would
be used for.
The first users were writing their own programs in BASIC (remember
that?).
I knew store owners who were writing their own mail list programs
on Radio
Shack TRS-80's and trying to get 80 columns of text out of a 40
column
Apple so they could do correspondence, and so on. Engineers
were using
SIM boards and other computers in kit form to drive various machines
and
systems. The three leaders in personal computing at the time
were Apple,
Radio Shack and Commodore, in that order. The market was pregnant
and
the demand was incredible. It was like wildcatting in a new
oil field.
A few of us figured out that there was a "core" set of uses for personal/home
computers: wordprocessing, spreadsheets, databases, and telecommunications.
When we launched the VIC-20 there was no software, so I came up with
the concept of a "six-pack" of software on tape. We programmed
everything
in BASIC or assembly code on Commodore desktop computers.
We started with
two six-packs, just to seed the market. This was also a clever
retail strategy.
I figured retailers could either sell the packs intact, or split
them up, mark up
the price and sell them individually if they wanted. In any
event, the retailers
(and hopefully customers) had to buy six tapes at a time instead
of one and
this was more efficient for us as a company.
Keep in mind, I had an MBA and most of my early decisions, while
they
looked like "fun" to the outside world, were based on business motives.
For example, I set the price of the VIC-20 at $299.95 because my
instinct
told me that $300 was the "magic" price point for a home computer.
Actually, each VIC system wound up capturing $1,000 to $1,500 in
revenues from accessories and add-ons. We were rewarded
when
the VIC became the first microcomputer to sell one million units,
beating even Apple and Radio Shack to this level.
My own favorite product idea was the VICModem, a direct connet modem
priced under $100. I contracted an outside design team
to develop this modem
to my specification. It had to be on a cartridge, and cost
less than $33 so we
could retail it at $99. Then I negotiated deals with CompuServe,
The Source
and Dow Jones for $197.50 worth of free subscriptions and time to
these
very early telecomputing services and put a sticker promoting this
on
the package. The VICModem sold like hotcakes and became the
first
modem priced under $100 and the first modem to sell 1 million units.
In 1982, the Commodore Information Network that we created to
support the VicModem was the highest traffic area on CompuServe.
In 1981, I noticed that Atari had trademarked the phrase "Computers
for People" and that really made me angry. So I trademarked
the
phrase, "The Friendly Computer" so no one else could use "friendly"
with their computer.
I was one of the first people to promote the use of the phrase "user-
friendly." The prime directive to ALL developers and marketeers
at
Commodore, from me, was that this had to be a "user friendly" computer.
One day the editor of BYTE Magazine -- who knew that I was evangelizing
"user friendliness" -- sent me an article and told me that "user
friendliness"
in German was "Benutzefreundlichkeit" so I had brass plaques made
up
that had this word in big letters and under it, "Official Motto
of the VIC
Commando Team."
The VIC Commandos were the real heros of the VIC success story.
The VIC
product line was developed by a small group of 5 young hackers I
recruited.
They were all young - 18 to 23 - and this group wrote or adapted
the first 12
programs on tape. One game we called "Blue Meanies From Outer
Space"
and it became a minor hit. We also did the obligatory mortgage
calculator
and so on. Because of our youth, everyone at Commodore kept
stealing
our development systems to take to conventions because we never
had
enough computers in the company (we were selling them as fast as
we could make them).
So one day I convened our group in an open bay and 1) told them
we would henceforth call ourselves the VIC COMMANDOS because
this was a guerilla war and we had to be prepared to fight to hold
our
ground, 2) I announced in a loud voice that the next person who
stole
a computer from our area would be fired, I would see to it, and
3) I
handed out the new "symbol" of our group.
Neil Harris, who was the de facto "second in command" in the VIC
group and a VERY talented guy with great instincts for technology
AND marketing, had access to advertising premiums and brought
in some "lucky gold coins" about the size of silver dollars.
Those
became our symbols. Pretty soon you could see us standing
in the
entrance to our small open bay, flipping those coins like George
Raft in an old gangster movie.
I never lost my coin flipping skills, by the way. And after
that day,
no one ever borrowed another computer system from our group.
Paul: Tell me a little bit about "The Home Computer Wars".
Could you elaborate on Jack Tramiel's speech about the Vic-20?
Michael: At that first general manager meeting I attended
on my first day,
we met at an old English country estate outside of London, in April
1980.
Jack told the group that he wanted to develop a low cost color computer.
The U.S. engineers were already working on a high cost color business
computer and were deadset against the idea of a cheaper version.
Jack told everyone to discuss it and said he would return the
next day to discuss it further.
At this time Commodore was the number THREE personal computer maker
in the U.S., but number ONE in Europe. Commodore had beaten
Texas
Instruments to Europe with handheld calculators in the 1970s and
every-
one in Europe knew Commodore and they have VERY strong brand
loyalty there, so Commodore computers easily became number
one there.
The bottom line was this--most of the managers felt that it was too
soon to lower the cost of personal computers. We were still
making
good margins, why change? When Jack returned and asked the
group again, what did they think about the idea of a low cost
color computer?, a huge debate broke out with everyone
not only talking to the group, but also debating among
each other in small groups. Actually, only a handful of
people were in favor of this: Jack, Tony Tokai the general
manager from Japan, Kit Spencer the general manager from
the U.K., a Japanese engineer named Yashi Terakura...and me.
Jack listened for awhile, then he stood up, banged his palm on the
table to get everyone's attention and declared, "Gentlemen, the
Japanese are coming - so we will become the Japanese." That
silenced the group and they grudgingly accepted the idea.
Well, the Japanese never came. We developed the VIC parly in
Japan
and partly in the U.S. We introduced the VIC as the VIC-1001
in Japan
and showed our first prototypes at Seibu Department Store in September
1980.
At this time, NEC had a terrific looking computer called the NEC
PC
5000 and it had function keys, 32K of memory and retailed for around
$600 but because of the VIC's introduction in Japan, NEC and all
the
other Japanese companies, never entered the home computer market
in the U.S. By the time they were ready, we had the Commodore
64
and by staying ahead of them, we stopped them from moving in.
During the 1980s they tried to pool 12 companies around an outdated
operating system called MSX but it was based on really dated technology
(the pixels looked like little cubes) and the moment I saw it I
declared it
"MS-Dead."
Paul: Finally, what accomplishment are you most proud of?
What stands
out in your lifetime as having been the most important event?
Michael: I would count as a major life achievement, my role
in the
development and launch of the VIC-20 and Commodore 64, the first
million-seller microcomputers (sometimes called the first home
computers).
But in a larger context I was always gratified to be able to help
bring
computing to people from all income and social levels, who could
not
previously afford to participate. This was always something
we held
as a goal in the back of our minds, and this was a motivation I
shared
with Jack Tramiel.
For example, the VIC-20 allowed elementary schools to afford
computers, which were previously limited to high schools and colleges.
At one time, many school districts refused to teach algebra to children
under the age of 13 because they weren't capable of grasping the
concepts.
The VIC and C64 proved that four year olds can learn the write a
BASIC
program that says A=1; PRINTA. And that's a variable and that's
algebra
and that proves that MANY things can be taught sooner in life to
children.
These are just a few of the results that I sometimes think about
when
looking back.
I think it's also interesting that I am able to count myself as a
pioneer in the earliest version of the Internet, but I believe the
first million people who bought the Commodore VICModem
and surfed the Commodore Information Network and other
tele-services, can also count themselves as Internet
pioneers.
One of the many lessons I was taught by my mentor Jack Tramiel is
to
"live in the future" -- I am still doing that. My current
job at the Wharton
School keeps me busy studying critical issues in emerging technologies,
from the Internet to Gene Therapy, and the nice thing about emerging
technologies is that they keep emerging.
I am currently working on a website portal that will involve me in
what
I feel will be the next big wave for the Internet and eCommerce,
which is
the "Wireless Internet."
This site will be a homebase for early adopters, developers and
application-seekers in the wireless community, and will be up and
running during May or June. I am developing this with a small
group of Wharton students, and friends. Anyone interested
in
seeing this project can visit our "placeholder" site at:
www.wirelessfrenzy.com
and you'll see a photo of me
hugging a shark underwater.
So the answer to your last question is this: The "most important
event" in my lifetime probably hasn't happened yet, because I'm
still living in the future and eager to see what happens next, and
still trying to figure out where and how I can help "make the
future happen faster."
best regards,
Michael Tomczyk