Goodbye Atari Essay from 1996

[pacman000]

 

http://jwcody.tripod.com/Goodbye

 

Goodbye

 

Did you hear anyone say "Goodbye"? ================================== by Donald A. Thomas, Jr. (10/4/96) It's odd to imagine an institution, which was as big and as powerful as Atari once was, to have been shut down in recent days. The real amazement for me is that it was all accomplished without a measurable flinch from within or outside the gaming industry. I can understand that gamers wanted to push Pong out the door early in the timeline. I can appreciate that the classics such as Missile Command and Asteroids do not push 32-bit and 64-bit systems to any technological limits. I know all these things intellectually, but the heart cannot face the truth that the world and the corporate machine known as Atari could not find an amicable way to coexist. On Tuesday, July 30, 1996, Atari Corporation took each and every share of it's company (ATC), wrapped them all in a tight bundle and presented them to JTS Corporation; a maker and distributor of hard disk drives. On Wednesday, the shares were traded under the symbol of JTS. Within a few weeks, the remaining staff of Atari that were not dismissed or did not resign, moved to JTS' headquarters in San Jose, California. The three people were assigned to different areas of the building and all that really remains of the Atari namesake is a Santa Clara warehouse full of unsold Jaguar and Lynx products. It was only as long ago as mid '95 that Atari executives and staff believed things were finally taking a better turn. Wal*Mart had agreed to place Jaguar game systems in 400 of their Superstores across the country. Largely based on this promise of new hope and the opportunities that open when such deals are made, Atari invested heavily in the product and mechanisms required to serve the Wal*Mart chain. But the philosophical beliefs of the Atari decision makers that great products never need advertising or promotions, put the Wal*Mart deal straight into a tailspin. With money tied up in the product on shelves as well as the costs to distribute them to get there, not much was left to saturate any marketplace with advertising. While parents rushed into stores to get their kids Saturns or PlayStations, the few that picked up the Jaguar were chastised by disappointed children on Christmas day. In an effort to salvage the pending Wal*Mart situation, desperate attempts to run infomercials across the country were activated. The programs were professionally produced by experts in the infomercial industry and designed to permit Atari to run slightly different offers in different markets. In spite of the relatively low cost of running infomercials, the cost to produce them and support them is very high. The results were disappointing. Of the few thousand people who actually placed orders, many of them returned their purchases after the Holidays. The kids wanted what they saw on TV during the day! They wanted what their friends had! They wanted what the magazines were raving about! In early 1996, Wal*Mart began returning all remaining inventory of Jaguar products. After reversing an "advertising allowance" Atari was obligated to accept, the net benefit Atari realized was an overflowing warehouse of inventory in semi-crushed boxes and with firmly affixed price and security tags. Unable to find a retailer willing to help distribute the numbers required to stay afloat, Atari virtually discontinued operations and traded any remaining cash to JTS in exchange for a graceful way to exit the industry's back door. Now that JTS has "absorbed" Atari, it really doesn't know what to do with the bulk of machines Atari hoped to sell. It's difficult to liquidate them. Even at liquidation prices, consumers expect a minimal level of support which JTS has no means to offer. The hundreds of calls they receive from consumers that track them down each week are answered to the best ability of one person. Inquiries with regard to licensing Atari classic favorites for other applications such as handheld games are handled by Mr. John Skruch who was with Atari for over 13 years. In spite of Nintendo's claim that their newest game system is the first 64-bit game system on the market, Atari Corporation actually introduced the first 64-bit system just before Christmas in 1993. Since Atari couldn't afford to launch the system nationwide, the system was introduced in the New York and San Francisco markets first. Beating the 32-bit systems to the punch (Saturn/PlayStation), Atari enjoyed moderate success with the Jaguar system and managed to lure shallow promises from third-party companies to support the system. Unfortunately, programmers grossly underestimated the time required to develop 64-bit games. The jump from 8-bit and 16-bit was wider than anticipated. In addition, Atari was already spread thin monetarily, but were required to finance almost every title that was in development. After the initial launch, it took Atari almost a year before an assortment of games began to hit store shelves. Even then, having missed the '94 Holiday Season, many of the planned titles were de-accelerated to minimize problems caused by rushing things too fast. Consumers were not happy and retailers were equally dismayed. The few ads that Atari was able to place in magazines were often stating incorrect release dates because that information changed almost every day although magazines deadline their issues up to 120 days in advance. It was in 1983 that Warner Communications handed Jack Tramiel the reins of Atari. By this time, Atari was often categorized as a household name, but few households wanted to spend much money on new software and the systems were lasting forever. No one needed to buy new ones. That, combined with Warner's obscene spending, amounted to a *daily loss* of over $2 million. Atari was physically spread all over the Silicon Valley with personnel and equipment in literally 80 separate buildings; not considering international offices and manufacturing facilities. Mr. Tramiel took only the home consumer branch of Atari and forced Warner to deal with the arcade division separately. Within a few years, Jack took the company public, introduced an innovative new line of affordable 16-bit computers and released the 7800 video game system. To accomplish these miracles for Atari, Jack implemented his "business is war" policies. While people who publicly quoted his statement often felt that policy meant being extremely aggressive in the marketplace, the meaning actually had closer ties to Tramiel's experience as a concentration camp survivor. Of the 80 buildings in Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and Milpitas, almost every one of them were amputated from Atari's body of liabilities. The people, the work, the heritage, the history were fired or liquidated. Those who survived were unsympathetically required to fill in the gaps and while most tried, few actually found a way to be successfully do what a dozen people before them did. Atop the mountain, Jack pressed with an iron thumb. All Fed/Ex mailings were required to be pre-approved by one of a handful of people. "Unsigned" purchase orders went unpaid regardless of the urgencies that inspired their creation. Employees found themselves spending valuable time trying to find ways around the system to accomplish their jobs. Many of them lost their jobs for bending the rules or never finding a way to make things work. As horrible as it all sounds, it actually was the only way to protect Atari as a company and give it a chance to survive as it did and did very well. Jack's introduction of the 16-bit computer was initially hearty in the United States but it went extremely well in Europe. Europeans were not accustomed to "affordable" technology and although the Atari computers were not IBM compatible, it didn't matter because people could afford them. Jacks' private laugh was that the computers were sold at prices much higher in Europe than Americans were willing to pay. As a result, most of the machines made were being shipped to European destinations to capture the higher margin. This enraged the people in the United States that had been Atari loyalists. While waiting months for stores to take delivery domestically, international magazines were touting ample supplies. Those in the know within the U.S. became dismayed. The remainder never knew Atari was slowly abandoning the value of Atari's name recognition as it became easier and easier to forget some assuming Atari had long filed for bankruptcy. On a technical level, Atari 16-bit computers were designed beyond their time. For less than $1,000, consumers could enjoy "multimedia" before the phrase was ever really widely used. The icon-based working environment proceeded Windows popularity although the essential attributes of the two environments were very similar. MIDI was built-in and became an instant hit in the high-end music industry. Tasks were activated and manipulated with a mouse and the system accepted industry standard peripherals such as printers, modems and diskettes. With all the genius that went into the technology of the machines, very little of equivalent genius went into the promoting and marketing the machines. Mr. Tramiel was the founder of Commodore Business Machines. When he introduced the PET computer in 1977, Jack discovered he didn't have to call a single publication. Instead they all flocked to his door demanding an opportunity to see the product. News magazines. Science Journals. Business newsletters. Newspaper reporters. They were all there with microphone, camera and pen in hand. And they kept coming back. Adding a switch, announcing a new 4K application or signing a new retailer were all big stories the press wanted to handle. Today, a new video game announcement may generate a request from any of the dozens of gaming magazines for a press release, but a lot of costly work has to be done to assure fair or better coverage. Editorial people are literally swamped with technical news. Samples are mailed regularly to their attention. Faxes fly in through the phone lines and e-mail jams up their hard drives. It takes a lot to grab their attention. While Atari retained hopes to be successful with the Jaguar, Atari's marketing people were fighting established standards in the industry with severe handicaps. Since cartridges (the Jaguar was/is primarily a cartridge-based system) were so expensive, editorial people were required to return them before new ones would be sent. Editorial people like to assign review projects. So finding cartridges they sent out was not always easy to do. Additionally, reviewers often love their work because they get to keep what they write about. Regardless, the few magazines willing to cover Atari products were more often turned away because of a lack of programmable cartridges or any number of other indecisive barriers. In-store signs and posters were sometimes created, but many retail chains charge premiums to manufacturers that want to display them. Some direct mail campaigns were implemented, but Atari often could not afford to keep those things being advertised on schedule. Therefore, the advertisements were published and distributed, but the product was not available. Clearly, Jack's experience with the world beating a path to the door of a company making a better mousetrap no longer applied. The world had revolved a few times beneath him and he never noticed. The tactics used to successfully sell Commodore computers were simply antiquated notions from the past. Meanwhile, Sony launches the PlayStation with over $500 million in marketing funds. Today, the PlayStation is considered the most successful next-generation gaming machine throughout the world. Sony bought the market. Tramiel's Atari never learned how to do that. Actually, they never could afford it anyway. After the 1990's got underway, Europe as well as the rest of the world, discovered that IBM-compatible computers were becoming more powerful and more affordable. The world always did want computers at home just like in the office and companies like Dell and Gateway exemplified the industry's trend toward home-based office computers. As a result, companies like Commodore, Atari and Next couldn't compete any longer. While the dedicated user base of each of them felt abandoned by these companies having to leave the computer market, the inevitable prevailed. Commodore jumped ship, Next changed business goals completely and Atari invested what they had left in the Jaguar game system. Even today, Apple is kicking and screaming. As good as Apple was at creating a huge niche for themselves, they focused more heavily on education. When kids grow up and get jobs, they want business machines. IBM was always the business standard. When one examines the history of Atari, an appreciation can grow for how many businesses and people were a part of the game over the years. Chuck E. Cheese Pizza was started by Atari's founder, Mr. Nolan Bushnell. Apple Computer was born in a garage by ex-Atari employees. Activision was founded by Ace Atari programmers. The list goes on and on. But for some pathetic reason Atari's final days came and went with no tribute, no fanfare and no dignified farewells. Why? Where did all the talent go? Where are all the archives? Where are the vaults? Where are the unpublished games and where are the originals of those that were? Why has no company stepped forward to adopt the remaining attributes Atari has to offer? Where are the creditors? What has happened to all the properties and sites? Where are the databases, warranty cards, promotional items, notes on meetings, unanswered mail? Who owns P.O. Box 61657? Who goes to work in Atari's old offices? Where do consumers have their systems fixed? Who is publishing new games? Who still sells Atari products? Why are there still a lot of people talking about Atari on-line? I'm an ex-Atari employee and proud to have been. I'm still an Atari devotee and proud to be. To me, these are questions which all deserve an answer, but who will ask them? The best people to ask these questions are those who have exposure to the public. If you believe Atari left us without saying goodbye, contact Dateline at dateline@nbc.com. If you REALLY believe, then send this article to 10 of your friends in e-mail. AND if YOU REALLY, REALLY believe, mail a few to newspapers or other news programs. A letter in your own words would be great! I'd spend money for a thorough retrospect on Atari. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't it at least be nice to say "Goodbye"? --Don Thomas 75300.1267@compuserve.com 209/239-3898

[+CyranoJ]

That wall of text is totally unreadable without formatting.

[walter_J64bit]

That wall of text is totally unreadable without formatting.

What he said!

[+save2600]

I remember that article from way back when. Sad times.

 

...follow along now and use your finger if need be. Easier to follow than some peoples posts these days.

[pacman000]

Yeah, I probably should've broken it up into paragraphs. It does give a good, contemporary view of what happened.

[+madman]

Is this a Lost Dragon post?

[+save2600]

Is this a Lost Dragon post?

Nah, no drunken text from a broken cell phone with a cracked screen here.

[Keatah]

..and here it is as the author intended:

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~gkomatsu/Text/don1

Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 21:34:01 -1000From: "Donald A. Thomas, Jr." <75300.1267@CompuServe.COM>Subject: Did you say "Goodbye"?Did you hear anyone say "Goodbye"?==================================by Donald A. Thomas, Jr. (10/4/96)It's odd to imagine an institution, which was as big and as powerful asAtari once was, to have been shut down in recent days. The real amazementfor me is that it was all accomplished without a measurable flinch fromwithin or outside the gaming industry. I can understand that gamers wantedto push Pong out the door early in the timeline. I can appreciate that theclassics such as Missile Command and Asteroids do not push 32-bit and64-bit systems to any technological limits. I know all these thingsintellectually, but the heart cannot face the truth that the world and thecorporate machine known as Atari could not find an amicable way tocoexist. On Tuesday, July 30, 1996, Atari Corporation took each and every share ofit's company (ATC), wrapped them all in a tight bundle and presented themto JTS Corporation; a maker and distributor of hard disk drives. OnWednesday, the shares were traded under the symbol of JTS. Within a fewweeks, the remaining staff of Atari that were not dismissed or did notresign, moved to JTS' headquarters in San Jose, California. The threepeople were assigned to different areas of the building and all thatreally remains of the Atari namesake is a Santa Clara warehouse full ofunsold Jaguar and Lynx products. It was only as long ago as mid '95 that Atari executives and staffbelieved things were finally taking a better turn. Wal*Mart had agreed toplace Jaguar game systems in 400 of their Superstores across the country.Largely based on this promise of new hope and the opportunities that openwhen such deals are made, Atari invested heavily in the product andmechanisms required to serve the Wal*Mart chain. But the philosophicalbeliefs of the Atari decision makers that great products never needadvertising or promotions, put the Wal*Mart deal straight into a tailspin.With money tied up in the product on shelves as well as the costs todistribute them to get there, not much was left to saturate anymarketplace with advertising. While parents rushed into stores to gettheir kids Saturns or PlayStations, the few that picked up the Jaguar werechastised by disappointed children on Christmas day. In an effort to salvage the pending Wal*Mart situation, desperate attemptsto run infomercials across the country were activated. The programs wereprofessionally produced by experts in the infomercial industry anddesigned to permit Atari to run slightly different offers in differentmarkets. In spite of the relatively low cost of running infomercials, thecost to produce them and support them is very high. The results weredisappointing. Of the few thousand people who actually placed orders, manyof them returned their purchases after the Holidays. The kids wanted whatthey saw on TV during the day! They wanted what their friends had! Theywanted what the magazines were raving about! In early 1996, Wal*Mart began returning all remaining inventory of Jaguarproducts. After reversing an "advertising allowance" Atari was obligatedto accept, the net benefit Atari realized was an overflowing warehouse ofinventory in semi-crushed boxes and with firmly affixed price and securitytags. Unable to find a retailer willing to help distribute the numbersrequired to stay afloat, Atari virtually discontinued operations andtraded any remaining cash to JTS in exchange for a graceful way to exitthe industry's back door. Now that JTS has "absorbed" Atari, it really doesn't know what to do withthe bulk of machines Atari hoped to sell. It's difficult to liquidatethem. Even at liquidation prices, consumers expect a minimal level ofsupport which JTS has no means to offer. The hundreds of calls theyreceive from consumers that track them down each week are answered to thebest ability of one person. Inquiries with regard to licensing Atariclassic favorites for other applications such as handheld games arehandled by Mr. John Skruch who was with Atari for over 13 years. In spite of Nintendo's claim that their newest game system is the first64-bit game system on the market, Atari Corporation actually introducedthe first 64-bit system just before Christmas in 1993. Since Ataricouldn't afford to launch the system nationwide, the system was introducedin the New York and San Francisco markets first. Beating the 32-bitsystems to the punch (Saturn/PlayStation), Atari enjoyed moderate successwith the Jaguar system and managed to lure shallow promises fromthird-party companies to support the system. Unfortunately, programmersgrossly underestimated the time required to develop 64-bit games. The jumpfrom 8-bit and 16-bit was wider than anticipated.  In addition, Atari wasalready spread thin monetarily, but were required to finance almost everytitle that was in development. After the initial launch, it took Atari almost a year before an assortmentof games began to hit store shelves. Even then, having missed the '94Holiday Season, many of the planned titles were de-accelerated to minimizeproblems caused by rushing things too fast. Consumers were not happy andretailers were equally dismayed. The few ads that Atari was able to placein magazines were often stating incorrect release dates because thatinformation changed almost every day although magazines deadline theirissues up to 120 days in advance. It was in 1983 that Warner Communications handed Jack Tramiel the reins ofAtari. By this time, Atari was often categorized as a household name, butfew households wanted to spend much money on new software and the systemswere lasting forever. No one needed to buy new ones. That, combined withWarner's obscene spending, amounted to a *daily loss* of over $2 million.Atari was physically spread all over the Silicon Valley with personnel andequipment in literally 80 separate buildings; not consideringinternational offices and manufacturing facilities. Mr. Tramiel took onlythe home consumer branch of Atari and forced Warner to deal with thearcade division separately. Within a few years, Jack took the companypublic, introduced an innovative new line of affordable 16-bit computersand released the 7800 video game system. To accomplish these miracles for Atari, Jack implemented his "business iswar"  policies. While people who publicly quoted his statement often feltthat policy meant being extremely aggressive in the marketplace, themeaning actually had closer ties to Tramiel's experience as aconcentration camp survivor. Of the 80 buildings in Sunnyvale, Santa Claraand Milpitas, almost every one of them were amputated from Atari's body ofliabilities. The people, the work, the heritage, the history were fired orliquidated. Those who survived were unsympathetically required to fill inthe gaps and while most tried, few actually found a way to be successfullydo what a dozen people before them did. Atop the mountain, Jack pressedwith an iron thumb. All Fed/Ex mailings were required to be pre-approvedby one of a handful of people. "Unsigned" purchase orders went unpaidregardless of the urgencies that inspired their creation. Employees foundthemselves spending valuable time trying to find ways around the system toaccomplish their jobs. Many of them lost their jobs for bending the rulesor never finding a way to make things work. As horrible as it all sounds,it actually was the only way to protect Atari as a company and give it achance to survive^E as it did and did very well. Jack's introduction of the 16-bit computer was initially hearty in theUnited States but it went extremely well in Europe. Europeans were notaccustomed to "affordable" technology and although the Atari computerswere not IBM compatible, it didn't matter because people could affordthem. Jacks' private laugh was that the computers were sold at prices muchhigher in Europe than Americans were willing to pay. As a result, most ofthe machines made were being shipped to European destinations to capturethe higher margin. This enraged the people in the United States that hadbeen Atari loyalists. While waiting months for stores to take deliverydomestically, international magazines were touting ample supplies. Thosein the know within the U.S. became dismayed. The remainder never knewAtari was slowly abandoning the value of Atari's name recognition as itbecame easier and easier to forget^E some assuming Atari had long filedfor bankruptcy. On a technical level, Atari 16-bit computers were designed beyond theirtime.  For less than $1,000, consumers could enjoy "multimedia" before thephrase was ever really widely used. The icon-based working environmentproceeded Windows popularity although the essential attributes of the twoenvironments were very similar. MIDI was built-in and became an instanthit in the high-end music industry. Tasks were activated and manipulatedwith a mouse and the system accepted industry standard peripherals such asprinters, modems and diskettes. With all the genius that went into the technology of the machines, verylittle of equivalent genius went into the promoting and marketing themachines. Mr.  Tramiel was the founder of Commodore Business Machines.When he introduced the PET computer in 1977, Jack discovered he didn'thave to call a single publication. Instead they all flocked to his doordemanding an opportunity to see the product. News magazines. ScienceJournals. Business newsletters.  Newspaper reporters^E. They were allthere with microphone, camera and pen in hand. And they kept coming back.Adding a switch, announcing a new 4K application or signing a new retailerwere all big stories the press wanted to handle. Today, a new video game announcement may generate a request from any ofthe dozens of gaming magazines for a press release, but a lot of costlywork has to be done to assure fair or better coverage. Editorial peopleare literally swamped with technical news. Samples are mailed regularly totheir attention.  Faxes fly in through the phone lines and e-mail jams uptheir hard drives. It takes a lot to grab their attention. While Atari retained hopes to be successful with the Jaguar, Atari'smarketing people were fighting established standards in the industry withsevere handicaps. Since cartridges (the Jaguar was/is primarily acartridge-based system) were so expensive, editorial people were requiredto return them before new ones would be sent. Editorial people like toassign review projects. So finding cartridges they sent out was not alwayseasy to do. Additionally, reviewers often love their work because they getto keep what they write about.  Regardless, the few magazines willing tocover Atari products were more often turned away because of a lack ofprogrammable cartridges or any number of other indecisive barriers.In-store signs and posters were sometimes created, but many retail chainscharge premiums to manufacturers that want to display them. Some directmail campaigns were implemented, but Atari often could not afford to keepthose things being advertised on schedule. Therefore, the advertisementswere published and distributed, but the product was not available. Clearly, Jack's experience with the world beating a path to the door of acompany making a better mousetrap no longer applied. The world hadrevolved a few times beneath him and he never noticed. The tactics used tosuccessfully sell Commodore computers were simply antiquated notions fromthe past.  Meanwhile, Sony launches the PlayStation with over $500 millionin marketing funds. Today, the PlayStation is considered the mostsuccessful next-generation gaming machine throughout the world. Sonybought the market. Tramiel's Atari never learned how to do that. Actually,they never could afford it anyway. After the 1990's got underway, Europe as well as the rest of the world,discovered that IBM-compatible computers were becoming more powerful andmore affordable. The world always did want computers at home just like inthe office and companies like Dell and Gateway exemplified the industry'strend toward home-based office computers. As a result, companies likeCommodore, Atari and Next couldn't compete any longer. While the dedicateduser base of each of them felt abandoned by these companies having toleave the computer market, the inevitable prevailed. Commodore jumpedship, Next changed business goals completely and Atari invested what theyhad left in the Jaguar game system. Even today, Apple is kicking andscreaming. As good as Apple was at creating a huge niche for themselves,they focused more heavily on education. When kids grow up and get jobs,they want business machines. IBM was always the business standard. When one examines the history of Atari, an appreciation can grow for howmany businesses and people were a part of the game over the years. ChuckE. Cheese Pizza was started by Atari's founder, Mr. Nolan Bushnell. AppleComputer was born in a garage by ex-Atari employees. Activision wasfounded by Ace Atari programmers. The list goes on and on. But for some pathetic reason Atari's final days came and went with notribute, no fanfare and no dignified farewells. Why? Where did all thetalent go? Where are all the archives? Where are the vaults? Where are theunpublished games and where are the originals of those that were? Why hasno company stepped forward to adopt the remaining attributes Atari has tooffer? Where are the creditors?  What has happened to all the propertiesand sites? Where are the databases, warranty cards, promotional items,notes on meetings, unanswered mail? Who owns P.O. Box 61657? Who goes towork in Atari's old offices? Where do consumers have their systems fixed?Who is publishing new games? Who still sells Atari products? Why are therestill a lot of people talking about Atari on-line? I'm an ex-Atari employee and proud to have been. I'm still an Ataridevotee and proud to be. To me, these are questions which all deserve ananswer, but who will ask them? The best people to ask these questions are those who have exposure to thepublic. If you believe Atari left us without saying goodbye, contactDateline at dateline@nbc.com. If you REALLY believe, then send thisarticle to 10 of your friends in e-mail. AND if YOU REALLY, REALLYbelieve, mail a few to newspapers or other news programs. A letter in yourown words would be great! I'd spend money for a thorough retrospect on Atari. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't it at least be nice to say "Goodbye"?--Don Thomas   75300.1267@compuserve.com   209/239-3898Permission is granted to freely reprint this article in it's entiretyprovided the author is duly credited. 

[Keatah]

The article states, "The kids wanted what they saw on TV during the day! They wanted what their friends had! They wanted what the magazines were raving about!"

 

You know.. kids don't watch infomercials. And the adults that do weren't interested in yet another game console. Advertise on Saturday Morning Cartoons, then you'd get the kids asking for it!

 

I always like to say a good product will sell itself, but apparently not in this case. ho hum..

 

---

 

The article also says, "When kids grow up and get jobs, they want business machines. IBM was always the business standard."

 

This was (and still is) the exact reason why I got into IBM compatibles. Not because of games, though I was pleasantly surprised with early ID, Apogee, and 3D Realms stuff, but because I wanted and needed something that would work for engineering school and later employment.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Keatah

[pacman000]

Thank you Keatah, for finding the right version.

[Flojomojo]

Thank you Keatah, for finding the right version.

 

Amen to that. Who was that guy, anyway? There's some other colorful stuff here, one level up http://www2.hawaii.edu/~gkomatsu/Text/

[Rick Dangerous]

TL;DR

[jaybird3rd]

TL;DR

More like L;BSR (long, but should read), although having it broken into paragraphs definitely makes it easier. Reading it at the original source on ICWhen.com (via the Wayback Machine) is even better.

 

I still have that essay squirreled away in my archives, along with most of the other old ICWhen.com content. It was an interesting computing and video game history research project; it's too bad that Don Thomas stopped updating it around 2001. I find his 1996 "chapter" to be especially bittersweet reading: Thomas chronicles the rise of the Internet that summer, with new companies and new products sprouting up all over, while at the same time Atari is slowly dying on the vine, downsizing and laying off and eventually "reverse-merging" with JTS. Those of us who were Atari fans at the time knew that it was the end of an era. Sad times indeed.

[+Sauron]

 

Amen to that. Who was that guy, anyway? There's some other colorful stuff here, one level up http://www2.hawaii.edu/~gkomatsu/Text/

 

Don Thomas was a former Atari employee during the Tramiel era, who originally ended up at Atari through his employment at Federated when Atari acquired them. He later worked for Sony and VM Labs, and I believe he's been retired for a while. I used to trade emails with him back when he ran the ICWhen site. He was a very nice guy and obviously loved Atari.

[BassGuitari]

I always like to say a good product will sell itself, but apparently not in this case. ho hum..

It will, but people have to know about it first.

[+MacRorie]

 

Amen to that. Who was that guy, anyway? There's some other colorful stuff here, one level up http://www2.hawaii.edu/~gkomatsu/Text/

 

 

He was Atari's VP of Marketing (he may have focused on the Portfolio, because I think that is how I initially came into contact with him when I wrote Atari a letter looking for suppliers of accessories) during the Jaguar era.

 

I actually bought my Jaguar directly from him (via Atari). He offered pre-orders to everyone who wanted one. Then Atari took all of the units they promised him and shipped them to stores because they were short on retail units. After having paid 6 months in advance for my Jaguar, I had to wait two+ weeks after launch to actually get it. Not his fault at all. He lived in a town next to mine and he would give me head's up on stuff when Atari was selling things (To this day I still have the Atari Computer binders he sold me for $1 each. ) He would hand out Atari patches like they were water. Eventually, he told me that Atari was liquidating the retail jaguar kiosks if I wanted one. I am pretty sure it was $200 (maybe even less) and I had to drive to Sunnyvale Warehouse to pick it up.

 

Was a VERY nice guy and definitely a HUGE Atari supporter. I lost track of him as I moved away. I once went to his house to pick up a bunch of stuff. Was supposed to give him some money (not much) for it and when I got there, there was a huge box of stuff on his porch with a note on it saying he had to leave early but to keep it all and use the money to buy more Atari stuff. He was the type of person that made Atari what it was. You didn't just buy the machines, you adopted a point of view. I kind of feel like that is the legacy we keep going when we keep using Atari and making new things for it.

 

Anyhoo, my .0000002 worth.

[Flojomojo]

That's awesome!

I wonder if the Lynx stuff I got at the "end of days" was handled by him? I have one of those Atari binders, too. I keep my GBA games in it, sorted with baseball card holders.

[pacman000]

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-299-john-skruch-atarisoft

 

An interview with John Skrunch, mentioned in the essay as one of the few Atari employees JTS kept on.

[Major Havoc 2049]

 

 

He was Atari's VP of Marketing (he may have focused on the Portfolio, because I think that is how I initially came into contact with him when I wrote Atari a letter looking for suppliers of accessories) during the Jaguar era.

 

I actually bought my Jaguar directly from him (via Atari). He offered pre-orders to everyone who wanted one. Then Atari took all of the units they promised him and shipped them to stores because they were short on retail units. After having paid 6 months in advance for my Jaguar, I had to wait two+ weeks after launch to actually get it. Not his fault at all. He lived in a town next to mine and he would give me head's up on stuff when Atari was selling things (To this day I still have the Atari Computer binders he sold me for $1 each. ) He would hand out Atari patches like they were water. Eventually, he told me that Atari was liquidating the retail jaguar kiosks if I wanted one. I am pretty sure it was $200 (maybe even less) and I had to drive to Sunnyvale Warehouse to pick it up.

 

Was a VERY nice guy and definitely a HUGE Atari supporter. I lost track of him as I moved away. I once went to his house to pick up a bunch of stuff. Was supposed to give him some money (not much) for it and when I got there, there was a huge box of stuff on his porch with a note on it saying he had to leave early but to keep it all and use the money to buy more Atari stuff. He was the type of person that made Atari what it was. You didn't just buy the machines, you adopted a point of view. I kind of feel like that is the legacy we keep going when we keep using Atari and making new things for it.

 

Anyhoo, my .0000002 worth.

I remember the Don Thomas sales near the very end when Atari was working out of an old bank. Oh how I wish I would have bought one of those Jaguar kiosks. I bought several of the $1 Atari XL computer binders, along with several Jaguar and Lynx games. I also bought one of the large Atari Jaguar store banners.