The Commodore 64 was an 8-bit home computer released by Commodore International in August, 1982, and during it’s lifetime (between 1982 and 1994), sales totaled close to 17 million units, making it the best-selling single personal computer model of all time. Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles were developed for the Commodore 64 including development tools, office applications, and games.
The C64 made an impressive debut at the 1982 Winter Consumer Electronics Show, as recalled by Production Engineer David A. Ziembicki: All we saw at our booth were Atari people with their mouths dropping open, saying, 'How can you do that for $595?'
The term personal computer was a common term in the early 80’s and was used as early as 1972 to characterize Xerox PARC's Alto. During this era of microcomputer innovation, the market was dominated by the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC), the Commodore 64, the Atari 8-bit family, the Apple II, Tandy Corporation's TRS-80s, and various CP/M machines.
Although the history of the Commodore is rich, the histories of the people and the companies that developed these early personal computers are also critical to the personal productivity tools and business solutions we often take for granted in our daily lives.
Join us for a well-deserved celebration of this historic demonstration that spawned a tremendous market for home, small business, distributed and networked technology uses. These technology advances provided a foundation for many companies and technologies driving the Internet, wireless, social networking and other innovative technologies underway.
We thank our panelists in advance for providing recollections and perspectives from their early experiences and welcome their stories from a time that produced the foundation of our current technological society.
Computer History Museum
1401 N. Shoreline Boulevard
Mountain View,
CA,
94043
