Compute Gazette - Commodore Computers

The Summer Consumer Electronics Show:
A
Smorgasbord
For The
64
Lance Elko, Editor
The feast is on for owners
of the Commodore 64.
The Summer Consumer
Electronics Show (CES)
held this June in Chicago introduced
a spread of new software
and hardware that will delight
(and perhaps bewilder) 64
owners.
This new wealth of choice
is a testament to the growth of a
computer regarded by some industry
experts as a toy. "People
have equated low cost with \'\'jth low
quality," says Neil Harris,
Commodore's new product design
manager. But the success of
the 64 has surprised sed even
Commodore.
What worked against the 64
in its s early days was the lack of
software—not software-not a problem with
some other home computers,
such as the Apple. But the 64
outlived a year of software famine.
By Christmas of 1983, consumers
had a fair r choice of a lot
of average programs and a few
really good ones. As the 64's
16 COMPUTEt's GUlelle Seplombef 1964
16 COMPUTErs Gazelle September 1984
Nearl y 100,000 ea~er peopl'e
Nearly 100,000 eager people
crowded Chicago's s McCor-
McCormick
Place at the Summer
CES to see what's new in
computers and audio and
video electronics. For Commodore
64 owners, there's a
lot of good news. Not so for
VIC owners. Here's a summary
of new products and
trends, and what to look for
in the months ahead.
in the months ahead.
popularity continued to grow
into the new year, more and
popularity continued to grow
into the new year, more and
better software entered the mar­
better software entered the mar
ket. Innovative design and programming,
exploiting all the
64's features, translated into
hotter competition for the con
hotter competition for the consumer's
software dollar. ar. And
this culminated at CES in a colossal
smorgasbord of new
products.
Although 64 owners now
have a bigger and better menu,
the news was not so bright for
VIC-20 owners. Commodore
says it stopped manufacturing
VICs in the Spring, and that
leftover inventories probably
leftover inventories probably
would be sold by Fall. VIC users
will have to be satisfied with
software that's already available,
write their own programs, or
buy another computer. A few
buy another computer. A few
new products were announced
for the VIC at CES, but you
could count them on one hand.
According to one Commodore
could count them on one hand.
representative, VIC sales in the
U.S. had been dropping dramatically,
while the 64 grew to
matically, while the 64 grew to
dominate the low-end market.
Commodore presented two
new computers at CES; CES: the
Commodore Plus/4, originally
Commodore Plus/4, originally
introduced as the Commodore
264 at the January CES, and the
264 at the January CE5, and the
Commodore 16, a scaled-down
version of the Plus/4. Plans for
the 364, also announced in January,
have been shelved.
The Plus/4 is an interesting
The Plus/4 is an interesting
machine and somewhat of a departure
for Commodore. Named
parture for Commodore. Named