On The Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore
Brian Bagnall
$29.95 (USD) Buy it for less at Amazon.com
On The Edge is a well written and entertaining history of the early personal computer years as told by the engineers that created it. The book presents what is arguably an accurate view of the creation and marketing of the first home computers and the interrelationships between the early companies including Apple, Commodore, Atari, Radio Shack and Timex Sinclair. The book is Commodore-centric and the historical account is therefore presented from the point of view of the various engineers that worked on chip designs and system designs for the 6502 processor and for the various Commodore computers.
It is said that history is written by the victors. In the long term, IBM and Apple were the victors, but in the early computer years that was not the case. This book provides that refreshing perspective that is often lost in the hype surrounding Apple and the ubiquitous success of IBM PC type machines. Most people probably have no idea that the processor that was used in all early Apple computers was designed by MOS Technology a subsidiary of Commodore. Most also don’t know that the chip designers that worked on the sound and video for Commodore 64 went on to become multimillionaires founding their own company for IBM video cards and also providing advanced chips for the Apple IIGS.
Commodore became a billion dollar multinational and then vanished within three years of hitting that mark because of dysfunctional management and tunnel vision at the very top of the company. This is all described in vivid detail by the people who lived through the chaos. The book reads like a thriller because you almost feel like you are there as the events unfold.
This book should be read by anyone who was there for those early years and did some programming on a PET, VIC-20 or C64. It should also be read by all business majors and especially by entrepreneurs. It shows you how you can build a great enterprise and just as easily destroy it.
I recommend this book highly.
