For many years now we have been reminded of the amazing success of Apple, IBM, and Microsoft and how each of these companies launched the Personal Computer revolution. It is true that the victors write history and it is true that Apple, Microsoft, and IBM (precisely the first two) certainly dominate the computing world that we all live in today.
But being someone who was introduced to Personal Computers way back in 1980 at the beginning of the revolution, I know only too well that there were companies that made a significant impact on the world but unfortunately didn’t last to see how it would turn out 40 years later.
One of these companies which I feel genuinely made the most impact was Commodore. With their initial PET series launched at the same time that Apple released the Apple II and then followed up with the VIC-20 and then the world beater Commodore 64, no other company put more personal computers into the hands of normal people like Commodore.
In fact Apple, Tandy (Radio Shack), Atari and a dozen others combined would still fall short of the enormous sales figures that propelled Commodore into 30 million houses and small businesses around the globe.
Until recently Commodore part in the Personal Computer history has mainly been forgotten but now a fantastic new documentary called The Commodore Story has been released, and I have been lucky enough as an early Kickstarter backer to see the final version and WOW.
This documentary is fantastic and does its absolute best to show how Commodore played an essential part in the history of the Personal Computer.
The Commodore Story Offical Trailer
Changing the world 8 bits at a time