ScuzzBlog: Diaries December 2023 Entry 17th December 2023: Post 1: Amiga 1000 - Unpopular historical view. Amiga 1000 - Unpopular historical view. I do not profess to be fully knowledgable when it comes to the history of the Amiga and so what I say here are my own opinions and should be viewed accordingly. The other day I was moved to respond to a post on a well known forum regarding the action taken out by Atari against Amiga over the sale of the technology and Amiga 1000 back in 1984. History tells us that Atari loaned Amiga half a million dollars to develop three semi-conductors. There was also a stock offer I believe to guarantee the purchase of a million shares in Amiga at three US dollars per share. The whole matter became voided if Amiga were to default on the repayment of the 500,000 dollars granting Atari ownership of the Amiga company and technology. This was circumvented by Commodore who basically paid off Atari and their half a million dollars and so acquired Amiga. Jack Tramiel had walked away from Commodore following I believe some dispute over his family and their involvement in the company. Jack decided to take a rest for a while and then formed his own new company with three members of his family appointed as key figures. Atari under the ownership of Warner were failing badly though in their control managed to secure the arrangement with Amiga. Jack Tramiel acquired Atari with Warner retaining around 32 percent control. The sum involved was 240 million I believe. If you know the history of Jack Tramiel and his creation and building of the Commodore company you will appreciate that he was first and foremost a winner. He bludgeoned his opposition into submission and was pretty ruthless in his pursuit of success. So when he discovered the way Commodore had nabbed Amiga from under the noses of Atari he was somewhat angry. The action was in many ways a battle line drawn between Atari and Amiga that would linger all the way into the early nineties. The case was resolved and I don't believe the truth ever came out. Commodore agreed to pay Atari's legal costs and they succeeded in getting the Amiga. In truth Atari had a case, given that the semi- conductors were developed with Atari's money and so I guess they were deserved of something from the processes. Whether the actual acquisition of Amiga was reasonable is one you would probably have to fight in a court outside of the US to get a reasoned truth. There was no way Amiga was ever going to be able to pay the half a million back given that they had no product sales to fund such a sum. Atari had set the deal up as a win for them regardless. They also were very likely to abandon the Amiga name and badge the whole project as an Atari computer. Remember please that these are my views. But, I have read the history and watched the video so many times I think I have a good handle on it. And so to my response to a forum poster about the whole saga to which I have subsequently removed my words from said forum. The unpopular view that I make at the end is that I believe that the state of the Amiga 1000 project was unfortunately in a bit of a mess at its launch. And given the actions by Atari to take them to task over what happened I feel that Commodore were not too unhappy at disbanding the originating team and closing the offices. I always sensed that that was a little strange. For me the Amiga starts and ends with Commodore. It may have had its originating arc under a different team and they created the concept, but the 500 and 2000 is where the Amiga really starts and sadly the 1200 is where it ends. What happened before and after is an era outside of the true Amiga bloodline. Just my unpopular view and one I wanted to share here today. Here is my response on the forum. Please note that the opening thread had stated a number of presumptions which were a little confusing to say the least. I do not quote that OP thread. I'm not absolutely sure I know what you are talking about but assuming you are referring to the three semi-conductors that the Amiga company had agreed to develop using financial support from Atari prior to the purchase by Commodore, then this goes back to the deal that was struck to pay back the cash and decline the three dollar a share price offer for the company. Jack Tramiel declined to confirm in the day whether he brought out the action after or before he found out Commodore were acquiring the company. Had Atari won any challenge then they would have developed the Amiga as an Atari brand with an Atari label. The use of the chips could only be used in video games machines anyway. That was the agreement. Had there been a substantive case then the courts would have ruled accordingly. The basis of the technology was the key because these were substantive to the development of the Amiga, and although later chips were developed for the ECS and AGA machines the original integrity would have been denied had the case founded in Atari's favour. Intellectual rights and all that. By the time this reached a head, Jack had lost anyway. He also wasn't in charge when the purchase was originally agreed as it was owned by Warner. The final twist was that Commodore disbanded the original Amiga team and closed down its operations at the time Commodore's own team moved in to develop the A500 and A2000. And the A1000 for all its admiration was actually a mess and Commodore put this straight without the originating team. It's not unpopular as a view that Atari could have won this case, or should have. The truth is that it would have most likely only resulted in the A1000 not ever hitting the shelves and the range commencing with the 500 and 2000. And a way more unpopular view is that the Amiga only took off after the Los Gatos offices were closed down anyway. And don't you think Commodore with all that happened with Atari and Jack weren't happy to do that, so what does it matter. History would have just taken a different path but finished up in the same place. Two busted companies and only one that I shed a tear for.. End of story. I will so say no more. Amiga 1000 - Unpopular historical view.

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Last updated 17th December 2023

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