Amiga History Tape (+bonus Computer Chronicals Amiga episode)

[cswiger]

On Fri, 4 Mar 2005, cswiger wrote:

> On Fri, 4 Mar 2005, Curt @ Atari Museum wrote:
>
> > The only problem I have with RJ Michaels talk is he completely rewrites
> > history on Amiga's dealing with Atari, omits the fact that Amiga was
> > desperate for cash in late 1983 and through one of the unspoken chip
>
> Hi Curt - I don't know, but in this tape they talk about the cash
> crunch, mention people getting 2nd mortgages to stay solvent - but
> they didn't say anything about breech of contract with Atari. Jack
> Tramiel bought Atari from Warner in 1984 - certainly he would have
> taken legal action to get the chips if he thought he had a case.
> You know, Mr. "Business is War". RJ talks a lot about Atari knowing
> they were in a bind and offering less than $1 / share, and working
> out a last minute deal w/ Commodore for $4.25, then paying off Atari.
>

Just did a little research - appearently they DID go to court:

from http://www.answers.com/topic/atari-st

At about the same time, Amiga were desperate for a buyer or investor, and
the "Warner owned" Atari had paid Amiga for development work (see: "TOP
SECRET: Confidential Atari-Amiga Agreement"
(http://www.atarimuseum.com/articles/mickey.html)). In return Atari was to
get one-year exclusive use of the design. By May Tramiel had secured his
funding, bought the remains of Atari from Warner for a very low price, and
set about re-creating his empire.

When Tramiel took over the company he tried to leverage this and take
ownership of the Amiga properties. Right under the noses of Atari, and at
the 11th hour for Amiga, Commodore purchased Amiga lock, stock, and
barrel. Tramiel was furious, and the resulting court case lasted for
years. In the meantime this left Atari with an incomplete 16-bit design,
while Commodore would soon have the best.

--Chuck