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The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore
Coming July 2005
“Jack wasn't listening very well.” - Commodore Engineer Chuck Peddle
“I’m not sure that he liked taking instructions very well." - Leonard Tramiel on Chuck Peddle
"He didn't listen real well." - Commodore Engineer Al Charpentier on Jack Tramiel
"He destroyed me, he destroyed my family, he did all kinds of terrible things, but he gave me a chance to do something nobody else would give me necessarily. I can remember that and I thank him for it." - Chuck Peddle on Jack Tramiel
“I like knowing that other people like something I designed.” – C64 design engineer Robert Yannes
"He was not a person who should be in the computer business." - Dave Haynie on Commodore President Marshall Smith
"I punched Marshall one night." - Commodore Engineer Bil Herd
“The relationship between Microsoft and Commodore wasn’t great." - Charles Winterble, Commodore engineering manager
"There’s nothing nice about Steve Jobs and there’s nothing evil about Bill Gates. He is just a top businessman. He plays to win. With all due respect, his shareholders expect that.”
- Chuck Peddle “He was a hard charging guy who I learned a lot from. I learned a lot of things not to do. I certainly wouldn’t want to emulate the way he did some things, but in terms of building a company, it was a good training ground for me.” - Al Charpentier on Jack Tramiel “The guards had been told not to let me on the premises. When I went to my office, they had changed the locks on the doors, so I couldn't get in. They asked me to leave.” - Thomas Rattigan - President and CEO of Commodore "God, what an incredible thing we did." - Commodore-Amiga Engineer R.J. Mical “There’s a guy I would be happy to never do business with again. He destroyed everything in his path, even people that were his friends. For me, there is a dark way of doing business and a light way of doing business, and he chose the dark path.” - R.J. Mical on Jack Tramiel
“I really liked Jack Tramiel” - Al Charpentier