Rise and Fall of the Commodore 64

In the annals of computer technology, the case of Commodore International, Incorporated is a most curious case. On the corporate side, there was a lot of strange and even ridiculous melodrama that ultimately lead to the company's downfall. Technology-wise though, Commodore computers were long-time market leaders that beat every rival in popularity, and have left an indelible imprint on the industry, recognizable even today.

The '80s were the Decade of Commodore, what with its best-selling C-64 culminating in the advanced Amiga series. However, corporate mismanagement so crippled the company that despite its leadership status in the industry within a few more years it was being chopped up and sold to pay off creditors. For most people coming of age during the 1980s, the C-64 was their introduction to the world of computers and information technology. Data was at first stored on cassette tapes, then 5.25-inch floppy disks soon thereafter. By the time of the Amiga 500's debut in 1987, 3.5-inch diskettes were becoming the norm. Thus the technology almost literally grew up with the kids who nowadays still gather in users' groups to remember the machines fondly.

The C-64 was a 17 million-unit bestseller because Commodore hit upon the strategy of selling its products through common consumer retail outlets and not just specialty computer shops. It could also be plugged directly into ordinary television sets without any special hardware or modification. And it had the largest software library of any personal computing system of its time, with well over 10,000 titles available that spanned any variety of application types and genres. Demo software was also first popularized through the C-64, which made home computing mainstream. The system eventually wound up selling 30 million units, making it the best selling personal computer in history, outselling similar machines by IBM, Apple, and Atari - all household names today.

The C-64 was also one of the world's first gaming consoles with the ability to play games on cartridges that were inserted into the machine, much the same as its successors, especially the classic Nintendo Entertainment System. The C-64 was also one of the first systems to allow online gaming - something that is wildly popular today and almost mandatory for big titles. Neverwinter Nights also became the world's first MMORPG - Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game - becoming a very early ancestor of famous titles like World of Warcraft.

The later Amiga series saw a history almost as stellar, though by this time corporate intrigues back at headquarters doomed whatever innovation engineers at Commodore Business Machines, its research and development arm, could cook up. This is why the C-64 and the Amiga 500 continue to inspire to this day, with emulators and software available on platforms as varied as Nintendo's Virtual Console and Apple's App Store.