steve@kontron.UUCP (Steve McIntosh) (06/24/85)
Transhipped from CompuServe
[72376,2026]
JTRAML.TXT 19-Jun-85 10910 269
Keywords: JACK_TRAMIEL INTERVIEW C.L.A.U.G. CES ST
This is an exclusive interview given by Jack Tramiel, chairman of
ATARI CORP., to Jeff Williams of the Chicagoland ATARI Users Group.
C.L.A.U.G. was the users group assisting ATARI at the recent CES.
Jack was eager to talk with Jeff knowing that this information
would be passed along to other users. (reformatted to 40 col. by
the sysop for easy reading online. the actual text is unedited.)
[ re-formatted to 80 columns for retransmission ]
JACK TRAMIEL INTERVIEW
By Jeffrey J. Williams
Atari asked the Chicagoland Atari User Group (CL.A.U.G.) to help assist
them with their exhibit at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in
Chicago. As one of the volunteers participating in the show, I asked
Jack Tramiel for an interview that would appear in the newsletters of
the various user groups I belong to (as well as any other groups that
pick it up and choose to print it). He was most eager to talk to Atari
users so he made time in a very busy day to talk with me. During the
interview, I was somewhat nervous and sometimes had trouble following my
notes, but Jack was very cordial and tried hard to put me at ease. We
talked about CES, the ST series, the CD (compact disk) ROM device shown
at CES, and Atari's relationship with user groups.
JJW: Atari announced that they would not be attending Summer CES. What
prompted you to change your mind?
Tramiel: The CES show, the way we had to display it was too expensive
to bring our booth, to refurbish the booth. It would have cost about
$500,000 and I felt it wasn't worth it to spend that kind of money, that
I could attract the people to come to a suite in Chicago during that
time and to pay much less. When we were offered the present space, we
took it because it cost much less. It was strictly economics. We are
here to produce computers for the best price, for the best value, not to
show off.
JJW: At this show, you are displaying not only the 520ST package, but
also a 260STD with 256K RAM, operating system on ROM, and a built-in
3.5" disk drive. What prompted you to include the 260STD in your
planned product line?
Tramiel: We feel that there are different buyers in this
marketplace...people who like to buy from K-Mart and people who like to
buy from specialty stores, so we went ahead and designed two different
kind of machines. There is the total system like the 520 which will be
sold to specialty stores and a system like the 260 where the mass
merchandiser, if he wants to, can buy it. It was strictly to be able to
produce the volume and to satisfy our customers.
JJW: The 520ST will initially have its operating system laoded from
disk into RAM. Do you hope to put it on ROM at some future point?
Tramiel: The 520 will be on disk only (NOTE: Atari has since announced
that the Operating System WILL be available on ROM for the 520ST.
Anyone purchasing the 520ST prior to the ROM availability will receive
the Operating System on ROM. -JJW). We will definitely have new
machines constantly. Our aim is to continuously improve the product
line. We intend to show at Comdex this year an even higher graphic
machine.
JJW: Would that be the 32-bit machine?
Tramiel: No. We intend to keep the ST as the basic machine. What we
will do is we intend to have an expansion box. In that expansion box we
intend to put quite a few boards. One of those boards will be a 32-bit
board. Not a machine, but just a board. It will turn the ST, which you
own today, into a 32-bit machine if you want to.
JJW: That is exciting. Do you have any problems with me publishing
this?
Tramiel: No, go ahead...if I did I wouldn't have told you. You are the
first one to be hearing this because to me, people like yourself being
part of a club, you are my boss. You are the end user. You are the
people that I am working to produce a product for.
JJW: Speaking collectivly for other users, we appreciate it (NOTE: I
subsequently asked Leonard Tramiel what processor will be mounted on the
board. He said Atari is not ready to announce that information). You
are showing an early prototype of CD ROM here that seems to be
generating quite a bit of interest and excitement amongst the people who
have seen it. Earlier today I was walking around the CES looking at
other displays and it seemed I could always hear "Atari" wherever I
went. I couldn't key in on exactly what they were all saying, but that
word always catches my ear. You currently have a 20-volume encyclopedia
stored on a 5" compact disk and the retrieval rate is astounding. What
other applications do you see for the CD ROM?
Tramiel: There are many. They can be used for a law library of any
state of the United States. You could have the whole Library of
Congress with every book that's been published in the last 200 years. A
lot of hospital information which is all public information for doctors.
Instead of having to go into a data base in Minneapolis, he can have it
right on his desk. There are hundreds and hundreds of public domain
applications that could be put on that ROM.
JJW: So you see it for use initially perhaps as a professional
reference device as well as an institutional reference device like for
schools and colleges.
Tramiel: Exactly. And I am hoping that this is one service that we can
sell to remote areas in other countries where people could have a whole
library, like 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue.
JJW: It really brings to the present the concept of sitting down at a
computer and being able to call up a wealth of information, something I
thought was still years away.
Tramiel: Exactly. That's the whole idea, we are trying to bring it
forward. I am trying to take away the "black box" image, that it is
"not available"...it IS available.
JJW: Tell me about peripherals for the eight-bit line.
Tramiel: We will be expanding our drive capacity. We will have a 3.5"
disk drive with a half-megabyte and one megabyte in the future. We have
a number of different printers, including a daisy wheel printer. The
whole idea as far as the eight-bit line is concerned is to keep that
product alive and expand it. As far as beginners, as far as education,
as far as people who don't have much money, the eight-bit line is a
fantastic product. We will continue producing it and expanding it. I'm
hoping in 1986 or even the end of this year to have a 256K eight-bit
machine with a built-in drive.
JJW: 5 1/4"?
Tramiel: No, 3.5". We want to keep all those products alive and build
on the software.
JJW: Perhaps you've just done it for me, but could you describe your
vision of the ideal Atari personal computer. If you could just point at
the table and it would be there, what would it be like?
Tramiel: It would not be on the table. My ideal Atari computer of the
future is to have a television with a remote keyboard to be your
computer.
JJW: I've respected your work both at Commodore and especially now with
Atari. I've read the book "The Home Computer Wars" which I took to be
the Jack Tramiel success story, rather than being the Commodore story or
the Michael Tomczyk story. I got out of it a greater admiration and
respect for you. Have you read it and what do you think about it?
Tramiel: I did read part of it because he is an associate and a friend
of mine. He asked me to read it and give him comments beforehand. I
did not want to give him any comments and I did not give him any
comments. It's the way he interpretted the way I have operated and
there are many paragraphs that are not correct, but that's the way
people write.
JJW: Would you say he captured the flavor of Jack Tramiel?
Tramiel: I would say about 80% he did.
JJW: Could you run down the expected availablity dates and prices for
the current planned line of Atari products?
Tramiel: The 520ST system (512K RAM, half-megabyte 3.5" disk drive, &
high resolution monochrome monitor) will be sold in July retails for
$799. The 260ST will be available in October or end of September and
we'll have 2 machines...one will be $395 without the drive and $495 with
the drive.
JJW: What about the other monitors that will be available for the ST's?
Tramiel: In case you would like to have a color monitor, for $200 more
you will be able to get the color monitor instead of the monochrome. So
for the black & white, it is $799, with the medium-res color monitor it
is $999.
JJW: And the color monitors will be available in July also?
Tramiel: Yes.
JJW: James Copeland (Vice President of Marketing) in a staff meeting I
attended the day before the opening of CES, said that Atari has some
plans and directions that Atari would like us, the user groups, to take
with Atari distributors and mass merchants for which Atari is prepared
to help support those user groups. Could you elaborate on those plans
and what kind of support is planned for cooperative user groups?
Tramiel: I really am not familiar with what exactly he said. I believe
very much in sex. When I mean sex I mean for people to be
involved...that's what I call sex. When I have a question to ask, "Is
this machine good?", "Do people like it?", I like to go directly to the
users and ask them those questions. Like I am trying to offer you the
520ST first...to find out what is going on. If a retailer needs help,
we don't want to go out and hire some models, but to find a way how to
give this money to your club so that you can really help each other and
at the same time to try to help that retailer to sell the product. And
as you know who he is selling to, you will get that many more members
and we will pay you for that effort so you can use that money for
improving your club. That is what I was trying to tell Jamie (James
Copeland) and now he is trying to go forward on it.
JJW: I was asking David (David Duberman, Atari's User Group
Coordinator) about the same thing. He said that the plans are not
really defined just yet.
Tramiel: I am giving you what the aim is. The aim is that you people
in the next 2 or 3 years, with the computers coming out, can help the
people that do not know computing by bringing them to the users groups.
JJW: I agree. I was in a store about a month ago where a man just
bought an 800XL, 1027, 1050, AtariWriter, etc. While the sale was being
written up, I introduced myself and asked if he knew anyone that could
help him with any questions or problems he might have in getting his
system up and running. He said no, so I gave him my name and number and
told him about a couple of the user groups I belong to and invited him
to attend our meetings. I don't want to take up much more of your time,
in concluding this interview...do you have a message that you would like
to convey to the Atari users that will be reading this interview?
Tramiel: The message I have for them is a very simple one. I
appreciate all the patience they have had over the years. Now we are
here, we are producing the best products and I hope they will be as
proud of us as we are of them.
JJW: Thank you.