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Radio Shack VP Jon Shirley, IBM Personal Computers director Philip Estridge, and Apple Computer president A.C. (Mike) Markkula.

October 19: InfoWorld reported that a new home accounting system for the Atari 800 would replace the Atari Accountant. The new system (would ship as: The Bookkeeper) would be designed expressly for the home market, would work with the 810 disk drive, and was to be ready for delivery in the first quarter of 1982. (p37) (The 815 dual disk drive, along with the Atari Accountant series that would have required the 815, and the Atari Word Processor version for the 815, had all been canceled, never shipped.)

October 20: At Atari (Computer), Brian Johnston, previously manager of systems software, had become a product coordinator. Lou R. Tarnay, previously of GTE Sylvania, had joined the company as systems development manager (replacing Johnston in the role). Direct reports to VP software Bruce Irvine included: T.J. Gracon (software product acquisition (ASAP)), Paul E. Liniak (product coordination), Fred Thorlin (product review and research (APX)), J.P. Romanos (product test), John Powers (applications & development systems), Tarnay (systems development), vacant (international). Reports to Thorlin included product review manager Paul Cubbage and APX manager Dale Yocum. Reports to Powers included Ken Balthaser (applications) and Chris Crawford (development support). Reports to Tarnay included Paul Laughton (operating systems supervisor).
https://archive.org/details/AtariHarryStewart

October 20: Atari, Inc. was awarded U.S. patent 4,296,476 for 18 claims by inventors Steven T. Mayer, Jay G. Miner, Douglas G. Neubauer, and Joseph C. Decuir regarding their "Data processing system with programmable graphics generator" (the Atari 400/800 hardware platform).

October 26: As part of the Atari Software Acquisition Program (ASAP), Atari
had opened its first Regional Software Acquisition Center. (InfoWorld 10/26/81 p1) The center was managed by Steven H. Gerber, and was located in the 4,000 square-foot location that also housed the Atari Program Exchange (APX): 155 Moffett Park Dr, Sunnyvale CA

Fall: At Atari (Computer), Keith Schaefer was promoted from National Sales Manager to sales VP (WeeklyTVDigest 1981p.dcclxv) and Don Kurtz (of the Kurtz
& Tarlow agency) would be hired as director of marketing services (see AtariConnection Sum82), together replacing VP sales & marketing Barry Berghorn who departed the company.

Fall: K-Byte, Division of Kay Enterprises Co., released K-Razy Shoot-Out, the first third-party ROM cartridge for the Atari 400/800. (SoftSide Mar82p71)

Fall: In West Germany, Atari Elektronikvertriebs GmbH shipped the Atari
400/800 (PAL versions for PAL B/G).

November 1: New production Atari 810 disk drives would ship with the Revision
C ROM and with DOS II version 2.0S (replacing the original Atari DOS I).
(Antic Oct.82;ConnectionV2n2p1-2)

November: Chemical Bank began testing their prototype Pronto electronic home banking system in about 200 homes in the New York area. Homes were provided Atari computers with prototype client software developed with Atari as part of the project.

November: The Atari 400/800 NTSC versions would now ship with the GTIA chip rather than the earlier CTIA. (Antic Oct.82) (PAL and UK 400/800 units had
only shipped with GTIA.)

November: The Atari 400/800 began shipping with the 400/800 OS Rev.B,
improving peripheral I/O control routines. (Antic Oct.82;ConnectionV2n2p1-2)

November 17-20: Atari consumer products distributor Ingersoll Electronics featured the Atari 400/800 at Compec '81 (Computer Peripheral and Small Computer Systems Exhibition), Grand Hall, Olympia, London.

November 25: Specialty Camps Corp. was established by Herbert Resnick in New York, possibly established specifically for a joint summer computer camp venture with Atari. Linda S. Gordon may have already joined Atari as VP special projects (assistant to the president).

November/December: For the 400/800 Atari shipped the Starter Kits The Communicator, The Entertainer, The Programmer, and The Educator, and shipped: Conversational Italian, Calculator, Atari PILOT (Educators' Package and Home Package). Space Invaders, previously released on cassette, was now re- released on cartridge.

December 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Software Catalog Winter Edition 1981, introducing: Bowler's Database, Family Cash Flow, Weekly Planner, Enhancements to Graph It, Hydraulic Program (HYSYS), Keyboard Organ, Morse Code Tutor, Player Piano, Atlas of Canada, Hickory Dickory, Letterman, Mathematic-Tac-Toe, My First Alphabet, Number Blast, Presidents of the United States, Quiz Master, Stereo 3-D Graphics Package, Attank!, Blackjack Casino, Block 'Em, Caverns of Mars (would be available from APX only briefly before moving to Atari's main product line), Dog Daze, Downhill, Memory Match, Pro Bowling, Reversi II, Solitaire, Source Code for Eastern Front (1941), Space Chase, Atari Program-Text Editor (also released in Atari's main product line
in package with Macro Assembler), Dsembler, Extended fig-FORTH, Insomnia (A Sound Editor), Instedit, Supersort Rev. 3, T: A Text Display Device, Ultimate Renumber Utility, Word Processing Diskette (Text Formatter (FORMS) + Atari Program-Text Editor). APX sales via CompuServe MicroNET had been
discontinued. Dale Yocum was APX Manager.

December?: Steve Gerber, previously manager of the Regional Software Acquisition Center (APX headquarters, Sunnyvale CA) was promoted to Atari (Computer) director of software product acquisition (ASAP) (reporting to VP software Bruce Irvine), replacing T.C. Gracon who departed the company (to co- manage the entertainment and learning center, Computer Capers, with Helen Gracon).

December: Atari's new Corporate Research division, headed by Atari VP/Chief Scientist Alan Kay, established a Games Design Research Group. Chris
Crawford, previously Atari (Computer) Software Development Support Group supervisor, became Manager, Games Design Research Group.

December: Bill Carris, previously manager of technical services, was now Atari (Computer) national sales training manager. (InfoWorld)

December 24: Steven T. Mayer was vice president of research and development of Atari. (NYT)

December 30: Atari said that it would cut the retail price for the 800 home computer (with 16KiB RAM and newly "mass market packaged") to $899 from
$1,080. Other prices were increased: The Entertainer to $110 and The
Educator to $166.

December 31: Steven T. Mayer was vice president of research and development at Atari, Inc. (NYT)

Atari claimed to have sold 300,000 400/800 computers in 1981.
(InfoWord 6/14/82 p.57)

The installed base of Atari 400/800 computers was estimated by Future Computing, Inc. to be just over 100,000. (January 1983)

1982
January 1?: The Atari Computer Division would now be known as the Atari Home Computer Division, and it adopted the advertising slogan, "We've brought the computer age home."

January 6: Atari announced the publication, Atari Special Editions, a catalog of more than 400 products for the Atari computers from 117 vendors.

January 7-10: At the Winter CES in Las Vegas, for the 400 ($399/16K RAM) and 800 ($899/16K RAM) Atari introduced Pac-Man (title by Namco; to ship in May - Analog#6p13), Centipede (June -Analog#6p13), and Caverns of Mars (which had only just been added to the APX product line as of December 1981; it would be the first APX title to be transferred into Atari's main product line), announced The Bookkeeper, The Home Filing Manager, the CX85 Numerical Keypad (price tba), The Bookkeeper Kit (price tba) and The Home Manager kit (price tba), and again promised: Dow Jones Investment Evaluator (never shipped), Personal Financial Management System, Atari Macro Assembler and Program-Text Editor, Atari Microsoft BASIC. Following the 400 packaging theme introduced
in 1981, the 800, 810, and 410 would now ship in silver/full color packaging.

January 16: The Atari Software Acquisition Program (ASAP) held its first
annual Star Award ceremony at San Francisco's Maxwell's Plum restaurant in Ghiradelli Square. The Star Award and $25,000 grand prize went to Fernando Herrera for his APX title, My First Alphabet. Star Award of Merit winners: Ronald Marcuse & Lynn Marcuse, Sheldon Leemon, Greg Christensen (AC Spr82p12)

January 19-22: Atari featured the 400/800 at the third annual Which Computer? Show, National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England.

January 25: Internal Atari memo by Harry Stewart reflected that the project previously known as "Z800" was now known as: "Sweet-16"
See: https://archive.org/details/AtariHarryStewart

Winter?: Atari shipped Atari Microsoft BASIC and the software development package, Macro Assembler and Program-Text Editor. (Macro Assembler developed for Atari by Sorcim; Program-Text Editor also released via APX)

Winter: Ted Richards' name first appeared as editor of The Atari Connection magazine (replacing Atari (Home Computer) marketing communications manager Sally Bowman in the role).

February?: Many Atari (Home Computer) division operations (including engineering) would be consolidated to two new buildings in San Jose CA: 30 E Plumeria Dr (69,000 sq ft) and 60 E Plumeria Dr (73,000 sq ft). (Previous division headquarters: 1196 Borregas Ave, Sunnyvale CA)

February: New production Atari 810 disk drives would ship in the significantly-revised "810 Analog" design. (Happy Computers ads for date,
e.g., Analog#18p14)

February 18: The new Atari International (U.K.) would replace Ingersoll Electronics as Atari 400/800 distributor in the UK.

March 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Software Catalog Spring Edition 1982, introducing: Family Budget, Diskette Mailing List, Isopleth Map-Making Package, RPN Calculator Simulator, Advanced Musicsystem, Sketchpad, Cubbyholes, Musical Computer--The Music Tutor, Starware, Wordmaker, Block Buster, Atari Pascal Language System (by MT MicroSYSTEMS for Atari), Extended fig-FORTH Rev. 2, GTIA Demonstration Diskette, Instedit (Microsoft BASIC version), Keypad Controller, Speed-O-Disk. APX also introduced the book, De Re Atari. Dale Yocum was APX Manager.

March 12: At Atari (Home Computer) in software, Lou Tarnay remained systems development manager. Reports to Tarnay included telecommunication supervisor (acting) John Curran, operating systems supervisor Paul Laughton, and a vacant software architecture supervisor position. The telecommunication group included Joseph B. Miller III (Joe Miller; formerly of The Authorship
Resource, Inc. (ARI)), Vincent Wu, and Gin Pao Lu. https://archive.org/details/AtariHarryStewart

March 15: Atari had announced Atari Computer Camps, "the first effort by a major home computer manufacturer to fully sponsor summer camps for 10 to 18- year-olds interested in computers." Atari was to conduct eight camp sessions during summer 1982, two in each of four locations: Pennsylvania (East Stroudsburg State College), North Carolina (Asheville School), Wisconsin (Lakeland College) and southern California (University of San Diego). Each session would last four weeks. Day-to-day operation of the camps would be handled by Specialty Camps Corp. Linda Gordon was Atari VP of special projects; Atari (Home Computer) Educational Software Products Manager Robert
A. Kahn was Atari Computer Camps Curriculum Director; Ray Kassar remained
Atari chairman and CEO. (InfoWorld 3/15/82p43; Interface Age 6/82 p26)

March: Steve Mayer, previously Atari VP research and development, would become Atari VP research and product development (assuming consumer product development from Steve Bristow) and would establish and head a new Advanced Development Laboratory at 300 E. 42nd St in New York. (NYT 4/18/82 pF31 job
ad) The Atari (Consumer) Industrial Design group would be shifted to Atari corporate research and product development. Industrial designer Roy Nishi would be promoted to industrial design manager, reporting to Mayer.

March: Atari Star Raiders for the 400/800 was awarded Computer Game of the
Year by Electronic Games magazine. (EG 3/82 p49)

March 19-21: At the 7th West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco, Atari's held their second annual invitational hospitality suite for Atari computer users' group officers and their guests, where Atari introduced APX Atari
Pascal Language System. About 80 persons attended, on behalf of 15 of the 200 total groups registered with Atari Users' Group Support. At Atari (Home Computer), Don Kurtz was director of marketing services; Earl Rice was manager of the users' group support program. (AtariConnection v2n2p1) Also at the Faire, Percom introduced the RFD40-S1 and RFD40-A1 floppy disk drives (the first alternatives to the Atari 810), announced the RFD44-S1 and RFD44-A1, and promised four higher-capacity (80 track) drives (never introduced).

March 26: Atari established the subsidiary, Atari Special Projects, Inc., for their Atari Computer Camps venture with Specialty Camps Corp.

April 7: Date of first draft of the Atari Sweet-16 Home Computer Product Specifications document. Specific computer models planned: "1000" (16KiB; later: "1200"; never shipped) and "1000X" (64KiB; later: "1200X"; would ship as: 1200XL)
See: http://www.landley.net/history/mirror/atari/museum/sweet16.html

April: Atari shipped Caverns of Mars (on disk). (Video Take-Out 4/82)

April: Bob Fournier was Atari (Home Computer) entertainment product manager.

April: Thomas M. McDonough joined Atari as SVP of sales and marketing in Atari's home computer division (NYT 12/19/82 for date), replacing director of marketing services Don Kurtz who departed the company (remaining with the
Kurtz & Tarlow agency).

April: First issue of Antic, The Atari Resource magazine, published by James Capparell.

April 16: "The Electronic and Computer Technician Vocational Education Incentive Grants Act" hearing before the Subcommittee on Elementary,
Secondary, and Vocational Education of the Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives, included testimony by Atari corporate VP research and product development Steven Mayer.

April/May: Atari shipped, then promptly pulled from the market for further development, Personal Financial Management System. (see Analog #9p118, plus C017535revC)

Spring?: Dale Yocum, previously APX Manager (reporting to Fred Thorlin),
became Atari (Corporate) research engineering manager. Atari (Home Computer) director of product review and research (including APX) Fred Thorlin would additionally become APX general manager (replacing Yocum in the role).

May 1: Through Atari Special Projects, Inc., Atari began supplying both equipment and instructor training for the Club Mediterranee computer classroom at Club Med Ixtapa in Mexico (replacing Computer Camp of Santa Barbara CA, which had the role since the classroom opened in November 1981). (Atari did not take on the other existing Club Med computer classroom at Club Med Kamarina, Sicily, which had opened in May 1981.) A second Atari computer classroom was planned for Club Med Eleuthera, the Bahamas. (InfoWorld 7/12/82 p14-16)

May: As part of the Atari Software Acquisition Program (ASAP), Atari opened
its second Regional Software Acquisition Center, managed by Jerry Connelly,
at: 57 John F Kennedy St, Cambridge MA. Bruce Irvine remained Atari (Home Computer) VP software. While plans for additional ASAP centers were not announced, Atari was considering opening a "satellite facility" in New York City in the near future. (InfoWorld 5/24/82 p9)

May 25: Paul Cubbage remained Atari (Home Computer) Manager, Product Review.

May/June?: Brenda Laurel, previously Atari (Home Computer) Manager, Software Strategy and Marketing, transferred to the Systems Research Group of the Atari Corporate Research division (at the Atari Sunnyvale Research Laboratory).
Bill Carris, previously Atari (Home Computer) training director, would become Atari (Home Computer) director of software marketing (replacing Laurel in the role).

May/June?: Robert A. Kahn, previously Atari (Home Computer) Educational Software Product Manager, became Atari Director of Special Projects (Atari Computer Camps and Club Med initiatives; reporting to VP special projects
Linda Gordon.) Dr. Sueann Ambron, Ed.D, previously assistant professor of educational psychology at Stanford University, joined Atari (Home Computer) as Product Marketing Manager for educational software (replacing Kahn in the role).

June 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Product Catalog
Summer Edition 1982, introducing: Bowler's Database Rev. 2, Data Base/Report System, Family Vehicle Expense, Recipe Search 'n Save, Calculator (moved from Atari's main product line), Astrology, Blackjack Tutor Rev. 1.1, Going to the Dogs, Algicalc, Elementary Biology (by MECC), Frogmaster, Instructional Computing Demonstration (by MECC), Metric and Problem Solving (by MECC), Music I--Terms & Notation (by MECC), Polycalc, Three R Math System, Block 'Em Rev.
2, Castle Rev. 1.1, Checker King, Galahad and the Holy Grail, Jax-O, Jukebox #1, The Midas Touch, Pushover, Rabbotz, Salmon Run, Seven Card Stud, BLIS Rev. 1.1, Cosmatic Atari Development Package, Insomnia (A Sound Editor) Rev. 1.1, Instedit Rev. 1.1, Microsoft BASIC Cross-Reference Utility, Player Generator, Utility Diskette II. Fred Thorlin was APX general manager; product review: Paul Cubbage.

June 6-9: At the Summer CES in Chicago, for the 400 ($349/16K RAM; previously: $399) and 800 ($899/16K RAM), Atari introduced Atari Speed Reading (by
Learning Multi-Systems), announced Music Tutor I (would ship as: AtariMusic
I), Juggles' Rainbow (by The Learning Co.), Juggles' House (by The Learning Co.), and TeleLink II (never shipped as a standalone release; would ship as part of Communicator II kit only) and introduced/announced The Bookkeeper Kit ($249.95; Bookkeeper program plus CX85 Numerical Keypad), The Communicator II Kit (price tba; new 835 modem with TeleLink II), The Home Manager Kit (price tba). The APX title, My First Alphabet would be re-released as part of
Atari's standard product line. Again promised: The Bookkeeper (standalone program), The Home Filing Manager, Personal Financial Management System (PFMS now to ship winter 1983), Centipede. Atari also introduced the Electronic Retail Information Center (ERIC; an Atari 800 home computer linked to a videodisc player) for retailers. Keith Schaefer was VP of sales for Atari's Home Computer division.

June: Atari shipped Pac-Man (Roklan). (Video Take-Out 4/82)

June: Atari president Home Computer Division Roger Badertscher resigned from company. (NYT 8/25/82) Atari corporate VP research and product development Steve Mayer would serve as acting president of the division.

June: Stephen M. Race (Stephen Race), previously a consultant for Arthur D. Little Inc., would join Atari International as director of international marketing, replacing Jeff Burton who departed the company (to Electronic
Arts).

June 28: Engineer John Skruch joined Atari (Home Computer) in software
product engineering (manufacturing).

Month?: John Hagel III, previously of The Sequoia Group (founder and CEO), joined Atari (Home Computer) as VP strategic planning.

July 14: In what was believed to be the largest single order for home
computers by a school system, Dade County, Fla., had placed an order for 426 Atari 800 Home Computers and peripherals. "This order brings the total number of Atari Home Computers in use in Dade County schools to approximately 650," said Thomas McDonough, SVP of sales and marketing for Atari's Home Computer Division.

July: The Atari Corporate Research unit established the Atari Cambridge Research Laboratory at Five Cambridge Center, 8th floor, Cambridge MA. The lab's Director would be Cynthia Solomon, previously VP, Research & Development/Founder of Logo Computer Systems, Inc.

July: Chris Horseman, previously of Thorn EMI (and independent developer as Centaursoft), joined Atari (Home Computer) as VP software engineering, replacing Bruce Irvine who departed the company. (Irvine and former Atari president Home Computer Division Roger Badertscher would co-found Mindset Corporation on 9/27/82.) John Powers, previously applications & development systems manager, would (again) become director of software development.

July: Atari shipped Centipede. (Video Take-Out 4/82)

July?: Dave Stubben, previously Atari (Coin-Op) director of electrical engineering, became Atari (Home Computer) VP engineering, replacing Gene Rosen who departed the company.

July?: At Atari (Home Computer), Kevin McKinsey, previously manager Industrial Design and Graphics, would remain manager of industrial design (reporting to
VP engineering Dave Stubben). John Fox Haag would become manager of publications and packaging design (assuming the role from McKinsey), reporting to SVP of sales and marketing Thomas M. McDonough.

July?: Atari industrial designer Regan L. Cheng transferred from the
Consumer division to the Home Computer division (where he would report to industrial design manager Kevin McKinsey).

July 26: InfoWorld estimated between 250,000 and 300,000 Atari 400/800 computers had been sold to date.

Summer: First year of Atari Computer Camps, held at 3 locations: "Camp Atari-- San Diego" at the University of San Diego (CA), "Camp Atari--Ashville" at the Asheville School (Asheville, NC), and "Camp Atari--East Stroudsburg" at East Stroudsburg State College (PA). (Camp was canceled at the fourth announced site, "Camp Atari--Sheboygan" at Lakeland College in Sheboygan WI.)

Summer: At Atari (Home Computer): Chris Bowman, previously national manager of educational sales, had become education marketing manager. Jim Paige was national education sales manager (having replaced Bowman in the role). Jeff Schwamberger (formerly of The Authorship Resource, Inc. (ARI)) was Manager of the Software Standards Group. (Atari Connection Summer82 p23)

Summer: The Atari Home Computer Division's Software Development Support Group had been renamed to: Atari I/O. (AtariConnection Sum82p2)

August 11: Approximately 1,370 Atari Home Computers and peripherals, valued at more than $3 million, had been ordered by the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) under a competitive Request for Proposal, it was announced by Thomas M. McDonough, SVP of sales and marketing for Atari's Home Computer Division.

August: Industrial designer Tom Palecki, previously of Xerox, joined Atari (Home Computer). (He would report to industrial design manager Kevin McKinsey.)

August 15-October 15: "Taste The Thrill Of Atari At McDonald's" promotion. 50 grand prize deluxe packages would each include a 5200, an 800 with
peripherals, and a Centipede coin-operated game.

August 24: John C. Cavalier was named Atari president Home Computer Division (replacing the departed Roger Badertscher). Cavalier was previously VP and general manager of American Can's Dixie and Dixie/Marathon unit, makers of consumer paper products.

August 29-December 31: "Atari Announces Discount Fares to the Computer Age. Save up to $60" promotion. For the purchase of an Atari 400, Atari offered a rebate of $10 for each purchase of up to six additional Atari computer products.

September 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Software Catalog Fall Edition 1982, introducing: Family Cash Flow Rev. 2, Message Display Program, Stock Management, Text Analyst, Calculus Demon, Counter, Easygrader, Flags of Europe, Math*UFO, Spelling Genie, Word Search Generator, Cribbage,
Dog Daze Rev. 1.1, Mankala, Snark Hunt, Dunion's Debugging Tool (DDT), FORTH Turtle Graphics Plus, fun-FORTH, Keypad Controller Rev. 2, Mantis Boot Tape Development System, Mapmaker. Fred Thorlin was APX general manager; product review: Paul Cubbage.

September 3-5: Atari exhibited in the Technology Exposition at the 'US' Festival held at Glen Helen Regional Park, CA. (SoftSide #36p14-16)

September 8: Chemical Bank announced it would provide the first major home banking and information system commercially available in the country, called Pronto. Pronto would initially require an Atari home computer system, but programs would be developed for most major personal computers on the market.

September 10-12: Atari featured the 400/800 at the 5th Personal Computer World (PCW) show at the Barbican, London.

September: At Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, the 80 freshmen in Science and in Systems Planning were required to purchase an Atari 800. (SoftSide #43p26)

September: Atari opened a new Advanced Development Laboratory in New York
City, headed by Atari corporate VP research and product development Steven T. Mayer, at: 300 E 42nd St Fl 6/10, New York NY. Dedicated to the exploration
of microprocessor-based products in electronic publishing and transactional services for home computers, the lab would be responsible for development of advanced products for Atari, and also function as a focus for joint research projects with other subsidiaries of Warner Communications Inc. Advanced Development Group personnel would eventually include: Sanford A. Driskin, manager of hardware engineering Gregg Squires (previously of Racal Vikonics), Robert (Bob) Card, Steven Ray, Joel Moskowitz, Philippe des Rioux, Glenn
Boles, Risa Rosenberg.

September 17: Date of the internal Atari document, "Atari 600 Home Computer Liz: Low Cost Computer Specification" https://archive.org/details/AtariA600XLProductStatusMeetingHandout

September 22-October 1: At the SICOB (Salon international d'Informatique, telematique, Communication, Organisation du bureau et Bureautique) show in Paris, P.E.C.F. Atari launched the 400 and 800 in France.

September 29: Date of a late draft of the internal Atari document, "Sweet-16 Product Specification". Specific computer models indicated: "1200" (16KiB; earlier: "1000"; never shipped) and "1200X" (64KiB; earlier:
"1000X"; would ship as: 1200XL), with both models now sharing the same case design. Plans now called for manufacture of only the "1200X". http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/1200xl/1200xl.html

September 29: Atari had announced it had formed Atari Semiconductor Group (ASG), to be responsible for all the company's semiconductor design, development and test operations. (NYT) Gary J. Summers, most recently an independent consultant for several firms including Atari since 1981, and
before that head of Commodore Semiconductor Group (CSG, the former MOS Technology) had written the business plan for the new division, and had joined Atari as VP and General Manager ASG. Carl Nielsen would remain director of
LSI design and test, ASG.

October 11: Atari had announced plans to produce home computers in Hong Kong and Taiwan, beginning January 1983. Production would take place at facilities already producing games for Atari. Atari-Wong, the company's joint venture in Hong Kong, would enlarge employment from 700 to 1000. Atari said computers produced in the Far East would be marketed there, while the U.S. market would be served from its home facilities in Silicon Valley. (Electronics News 11-Oct-82)

October: Atari announced that as of October 22, new 800 computer systems would be sold with two "free" 16KiB RAM modules for a total of 48KiB, for the unchanged list price of $899. The new 800 systems would no longer ship with Atari BASIC, the BASIC Reference Manual, nor the Atari BASIC (Wiley Self- Teaching Guide) book. Keith Schaefer remained VP sales for the home computer division.

October: At Atari International (U.K.) Inc., Atari established a Software Development Centre for a new Software Development Group, headed by director John Peeke-Vout who would be supported by development manager Jon Norledge and the group's administrator, Frances Conolly. (I/O #4 p4)

November: Atari began producing new 810 disk drives with the "center flip
door" drive mechanism by Tandon, instead of the "push button, sliding door" mechanism by MPI used in the original design. (Antic May 83) Technical documentation would refer to the new design as the "810T Analog".

November: Engineer Rich Pasco, previously a researcher at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), joined Atari Semiconductor Group (ASG) as Manager of VLSI Development. (Carl Nielsen, previously director of LSI design and test, was promoted to VP design and test.)

November 15: Atari announced they had obtained an exclusive worldwide license for the development, manufacture and distribution of Nintendo's "Donkey Kong" and "Donkey Kong Junior" video games for Atari's Home Computer. John Cavalier remained Atari president Home Computer Division; Keith Schaefer remained Atari Home Computer Division VP sales.

November 16-19: Atari featured the 400/800 at Compec '82, Olympia hall,
London.

November 18-20: At the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) show in Chicago, Atari introduced the Atari Coin Executive coin accounting system
(ACE; never shipped), which incorporated an Atari 800.

November/December?: Atari Computer Camps literature for 1983 ((c)1982) mentioned: Atari VP/Chief Scientist Alan Kay, Atari Computer Camps Executive Director and VP Special Projects Linda Gordon, Atari Software Consultant Wayne Harvey, Atari Educational Consultant Patricia Tubbs, Atari Computer Camps Executive Director Dan Schliftman, Atari Computer Camps Camp Administration Coordinator Illeen Berg, Atari Computer Camps Executive Director Mike Sparber, Atari Business Manager Robin Bernheim, Special Projects Director Robert Kahn, Atari Computer Camps Personnel and Camper Records Director Flip Shulman, and Computer Camps Site Selection and Facility Director Tony "Big T" Sparber.

December 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Product Catalog Winter Edition 1982-83, introducing: FOG Index, Real Estate Cash Flow
Analysis, Text Analyst Rev. 2, Astrology Rev. 1.1, Earth Science (by MECC), Easygrader Rev. 1.1, Geography (by MECC), I'm Different!, The Magic Melody
Box, The Market Place (by MECC), Monkey Up a Tree, Music II--Rhythm & Pitch
(by MECC), Music III--Scales & Chords (by MECC), Prefixes (by MECC), Typo Attack, Air-Raid!, Game Show, Gridiron Glory, Melt-Down, Phobos, Pushky, Quarxon, Rabbotz Rev. 1.1, Yahtman, BASIC/XA, Deep Blue C Compiler, Deep Blue Secrets, Disk Fixer/Load 'n Go, Diskmenu, Music Player. Product review: Paul Cubbage. Fred Thorlin, previously Atari (Home Computer) director of product review and research, was now APX Director (previously: APX General Manager). APX operations had been moved from 155 Moffett Park Dr, Sunnyvale CA to 3281 Scott Blvd, Santa Clara CA. John Peeke-Vout of Atari International (U.K.)
Inc. and Steve Gerber of Atari (Home Computer) would essentially swap positions. Gerber, previously Atari (Home Computer) director of software acquisition (ASAP), became director of the Software Development Group of the Software Development Centre at Atari International (U.K.) Inc. (replacing Peeke-Vout in the role). Peeke-Vout, previously director of the Software Development Group of the Software Development Centre at Atari International (U.K.) Inc., became Atari (Home Computer) director of external software development (replacing Gerber in the role). The two Atari Software
Acquisition Program (ASAP) Regional Software Acquisition Centers (at the
former APX headquarters and at 57 John F Kennedy St, Cambridge MA) would be shut down.

December 1?: Sherwin Gooch, previously Associate Director, Center for Music Research, Florida State University, joined the Atari (Home Computer) communications products group (reporting to manager John Curran).

December 2: At Atari (Home Computer), Lou Tarnay was director of software development (reporting to VP software engineering Chris Horseman, and having replaced John Powers who departed the company (to Convergent Technologies)).

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become Atari (Computer) manager of applications software development
(replacing Yocum in the role).

April 3-5: Also at the West Coast Computer Faire, Optimized Systems Software (OSS) introduced BASIC A+, CP/A (would ship as: OS/A+), and EASMD (enhanced, disk-based versions of Atari BASIC, Atari DOS 2.0S and Atari Assembler Editor, respectively).

April 23-24: An Atari Seminar for developers. The Atari Software Development Support Group included: Chris Crawford (graphics), Lane Winner (BASIC, cassette), Mike Ekberg (OS, DOS), Kathleen Armstrong (Kathleen Pitta), Jim Cox (graphics & utilities), Gus Makreas (assembly language), John Eckstrom
(Pascal)

Spring: First issue of The Atari Connection, the glossy magazine published by Atari (Computer) in support of the 400/800.

Spring: Fred Thorlin, previously Atari (Computer) director of software product acquisition (ASAP/APX), became director of product review and research (new position, remaining responsible for APX; still reporting to VP software Bruce Irvine). Paul V. Cubbage, previously of The Wollongong Group, would join
Atari (Computer) as product review manager (reporting to Thorlin). T.J.
Gracon (Tom Gracon) joined Atari (Computer) as director of software product acquisition (ASAP) (replacing Thorlin in the role; reporting to Irvine).

May 1: Atari's suggested retail price for the 400 with 16KiB RAM, now to be marketed as The Basic Computer, was reduced to $399 (previously: $630). The 8KiB RAM version of the 400 would no longer be offered. (The 800 Personal Computer System (with 16KiB RAM) retail price remained $1,080.)

May 1-August 31: Atari offered a free CX853 16K RAM Module ($99.95) with purchase of an Atari 800 personal computer; offered the 825 printer at $800 instead of $1000; and offered the 850 interface at $170 instead of $220

May 4-7: At the National Computer Conference in Chicago, Atari announced that the 8KiB Atari 400 was being discontinued and that the price on the 16KiB version was being reduced to $399 (was $630); also, the Atari BASIC
cartridge and Atari BASIC (Wiley Self-Teaching Guide) book would no longer be included with the now "mass market packaged" 400. Other price reductions: CX852 8KiB RAM module now $49.95 (was $124.95), CX853 16KiB RAM module now $99.95 (was $199.95), 820 printer now $299.95 (was $449.95). Atari
also introduced: Personal Financial Management System (PFMS; $74.95), Dow
Jones Investment Evaluator ($99.95; never shipped), Atari Microsoft BASIC ($89.95), Program-Text Editor (would ship as a standalone title via APX), Sorcim Macro Assembler (the latter two titles would ship together as: Macro Assembler and Program-Text Editor). Also introduced: Conversational Italian (EMI / Longman). Additionally, new production units of TeleLink I would include one hour of time on each of: Dow Jones Information Service, The
Source, CompuServe (previously: CompuServe only).

May: Jon D. Ebbs joined Atari, where we would be VP of Consumer Product Service. By January 1982, in support of both Atari Consumer and Atari
Computer division products, the unit would establish a new national network of Atari Factory Authorized Service Centers ("Atari Service Factory Authorized Network"). The new network would replace Control Data Service Centers for Atari computer repairs.

June 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Software Catalog Summer Edition 1981, introducing: Newspaper Route Management Program, The Computerized Card File, Text Formatter (FORMS), Lemonade, Mugwump, Avalanche, Outlaw/Howitzer, Preschool Games, Roman Checkers, Space Trek, Castle, Wizard's Gold, Sleazy Adventure, Alien Egg, Chinese Puzzle, Sultan's Palace, Anthill, Centurion, Tact Trek, Comedy Diskette, Graphics/Sound Demonstration, FIG FORTH (this version never shipped), Sound Editor, BASIC Program Compressor (MASHER), BASIC Cross-Reference Utility (XREF), BASIC Renumber Utility (RENUM), Disk Fixer (FIX), Variable Changer, Character Set Editor, Extended WSFN, Supersort. APX also introduced several hardware products: DE-9S with DE51218 Shell (controller plug), 5-pin DIN connector, 13-pin I/O plug, 13-pin I/O socket, DA-15P with DA110963-2 Shell (850 printer plug), DE-9P with DE110963-1 Shell (850 serial plug), 2716 EPROM cartridge. APX location: 155 Moffett Park Dr., Sunnyvale CA

Month?: Mark A. Lutvak, previously product program general manager at Memorex, joined Atari (Computer) as product manager, marketing, replacing Stephen Davis who departed the company (to Corvus Systems Inc.).

Month?: Engineer Ajay Chopra, previously of Burroughs Corporation, joined
Atari (Computer).

Month?: In West Germany, Steve Molyneux, previously of American Express Military Banking, joined Atari Elektronikvertriebs GmbH as computer software development manager. He was recruited by Atari International marketing
manager for computer software Nancy Garrison.

Month?: The Atari Software Development Support Group released De Re Atari. Atari made the book available to registered developers.

Summer?: Dr. Ted M. Kahn, Ph.D., previously Atari educational marketing consultant, joined Atari to establish and head the Atari Institute for Educational Action Research, which began awarding major grants of Atari home computer products, cash stipends, and/or consulting services to selected individuals and non-profit institutions or organizations interested in developing new educational uses for computers in schools, community programs, or in the home. More than $250,000 would be awarded in the program's first year.

Summer?: Barry Berghorn, previously of Memorex, joined Atari (Computer) as sales & marketing VP, replacing Rigdon Currie who departed the company. (WeeklyDigest 1981p.dxxx/530)

Summer?: J. Peter Nelson joined Atari (Computer) as public relations manager.

Summer: Atari sold the rights to their Talk & Teach series of educational software titles, plus the Educational System Master Cartridge, back to the developer, Dorsett Educational Systems.

Summer: By mid-1981 Atari had sold over 50,000 400/800 computers to date. (InfoWorld 9/14/1981)

Summer: Atari shipped: Atari 810 Master Diskette II (DOS II version 2.0S developed by SMI/Atari), Conversational Spanish, Conversational French, Conversational German, An Invitation to Programming 2, An Invitation to Programming 3, SCRAM (A Nuclear Power Plant Simulation), Missile Command, Asteroids, Atari Word Processor, plus TeleLink I new "large box" version with one hour of time on each of: Dow Jones Information Service, The Source, CompuServe

August 1: In the UK, Atari consumer products distributor Ingersoll Electronics shipped the Atari 400/800 computers (new UK versions for PAL I; 345 pounds / 645 pounds incl. VAT; both with 16KiB RAM).

August: James Alan Cook (Jamie Cook) joined Atari as VP and Counsel of Atari's Computer division.

August 26: Date of the internal Atari document "Z800 Product Specification, Revision 1" reflecting early work that would lead to the release of the
1200XL computer.
See: http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/1200xl/1200xl.html

September 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Software Catalog Fall Edition 1981, introducing: Data Management System, Financial Asset Management System, Decision Maker, Banner Generator, Personal Fitness Program (previously announced for Atari's main 400/800 product line), Blackjack Tutor, Mapware, Video Math Flashcards, Dice Poker, 747 Landing Simulator, Eastern Front (1941), CodeCracker, Domination, Terry, Bumper Pool, Reversi, Minotaur, Lookahead, Babel, Wizard's Revenge, Chameleon CRT Terminal Emulator, Diskette Librarian, Disk Fixer (FIX) Rev. 2, BASIC Utility for Renumbering Programs (BURP), BASIC Utility Diskette, Screen Dump Utility, Load 'n Go, BLIS, Developer's Diskette. APX also announced their full software product line for sale via download from CompuServe MicroNET. One hardware product was modified: DE-9S with DE110963-1 Shell (controller plug).

September 1: New production Atari 810 disk drives would contain an External Data Separator Board. (810 Field Service Manual p.1-9)

September 1-October 31: Atari offered a free Atari Word Processor with the purchase of an Atari 800, 810 disk drive and two additional 16K RAM Memory Modules.

September 3-7: Atari computer distributor Adveico launched the Atari 400/800 (new PAL versions for PAL B/G; L. 985.000 / L. 1.990.000) in Italy at SIM- Hi.Fi in Milan. (MCmicrocomputer #1 back page; #2 p19-20 for prices)

September 10-12: Atari distributor Ingersoll Electronics introduced the Atari 400/800 at The 4th Personal Computer World Show at the Cunard Hotel, Hammersmith, London.

September 18-23: At SMAU in Milan, Atari computer distributor Adveico
continued the launch of the Atari 400/800 in Italy. (MCmicrocomputer #1 back page)

October: Dr. Alan Kay, previously a Xerox Fellow at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), joined Atari in the new position of VP/Chief Scientist (InfoWorld 5/21/84 for date) (replacement for the departed Al Alcorn). Kay would establish and head a new Atari Corporate Research division. The
existing Warner Communications L.A. Lab R&D unit (QUBE cable television system development) located at 3701 Oak Street, Burbank, CA ("Fantasy Trailer" on the Warner Bros. Ranch), would be shifted to the new Atari Corporate Research Division. Engineer Steven J. Davis would remain director of the Atari L.A. Lab, now as Atari director of advanced research (reporting to Kay). Steve Mayer, previously senior engineer at Atari's Cyan Engineering, would become corporate VP research and development (reporting to Kay).

October: Brenda Laurel, previously Atari (Computer) software product manager, would be promoted to manager, software strategy and marketing, replacing Tandy Trower who departed the company (to Microsoft).

October 15-18: The Northeast Computer Show (NCS) at the Hynes Auditorium, Boston MA was attended by 50,000. For the 400/800 Atari featured Missile Command, Asteroids, the Atari Word Processor, Personal Financial Management System, States & Capitals, Conversational Italian, Conversational French, Conversational Spanish. Atari (Computer) director of business planning and development Peter Rosenthal was a featured panelist at the show, alongside Microsoft president William H. Gates (Bill Gates), Commodore president H.E. James Finke, Radio Shack VP Jon Shirley, IBM Personal Computers director
Philip Estridge, and Apple Computer president A.C. (Mike) Markkula.

October 19: InfoWorld reported that a new home accounting system for the Atari 800 would replace the Atari Accountant. The new system (would ship as: The Bookkeeper) would be designed expressly for the home market, would work with the 810 disk drive, and was to be ready for delivery in the first quarter of 1982. (p37) (The 815 dual disk drive, along with the Atari Accountant series that would have required the 815, and the Atari Word Processor version for the 815, had all been canceled, never shipped.)

October 20: At Atari (Computer), Brian Johnston, previously manager of systems software, had become a product coordinator. Lou R. Tarnay, previously of GTE Sylvania, had joined the company as systems development manager (replacing Johnston in the role). Direct reports to VP software Bruce Irvine included: T.J. Gracon (software product acquisition (ASAP)), Paul E. Liniak (product coordination), Fred Thorlin (product review and research (APX)), J.P. Romanos (product test), John Powers (applications & development systems), Tarnay (systems development), vacant (international). Reports to Thorlin included product review manager Paul Cubbage and APX manager Dale Yocum. Reports to Powers included Ken Balthaser (applications) and Chris Crawford (development support). Reports to Tarnay included Paul Laughton (operating systems supervisor).
https://archive.org/details/AtariHarryStewart

October 20: Atari, Inc. was awarded U.S. patent 4,296,476 for 18 claims by inventors Steven T. Mayer, Jay G. Miner, Douglas G. Neubauer, and Joseph C. Decuir regarding their "Data processing system with programmable graphics generator" (the Atari 400/800 hardware platform).

October 26: As part of the Atari Software Acquisition Program (ASAP), Atari
had opened its first Regional Software Acquisition Center. (InfoWorld 10/26/81 p1) The center was managed by Steven H. Gerber, and was located in the location that also housed the Atari Program Exchange (APX): 155 Moffett Park Dr., Sunnyvale CA

Fall: At Atari (Computer), Keith Schaefer was promoted from National Sales Manager to sales VP (WeeklyTVDigest 1981p.dcclxv) and Don Kurtz (of the Kurtz
& Tarlow agency) would be hired as director of marketing services (see AtariConnection Sum82), together replacing VP sales & marketing Barry Berghorn who departed the company.

Fall: K-Byte, Division of Kay Enterprises Co., released K-Razy Shoot-Out, the first third-party ROM cartridge for the Atari 400/800. (SoftSide Mar82p71)

Fall: In West Germany, Atari Elektronikvertriebs GmbH shipped the Atari
400/800 (PAL versions for PAL B/G).

November 1: New production Atari 810 disk drives would ship with the Revision
C ROM and with DOS II version 2.0S (replacing the original Atari DOS I).
(Antic Oct.82;ConnectionV2n2p1-2)

November: Chemical Bank began testing their prototype Pronto electronic home banking system in about 200 homes in the New York area. Homes were provided Atari computers with prototype client software developed with Atari as part of the project.

November: The Atari 400/800 NTSC versions would now ship with the GTIA chip rather than the earlier CTIA. (Antic Oct.82) (PAL and UK 400/800 units had
only shipped with GTIA.)

November: The Atari 400/800 began shipping with the 400/800 OS Rev.B,
improving peripheral I/O control routines. (Antic Oct.82;ConnectionV2n2p1-2)

November 17-20: Atari consumer products distributor Ingersoll Electronics featured the Atari 400/800 at Compec '81 (Computer Peripheral and Small Computer Systems Exhibition), Grand Hall, Olympia, London.

November 25: Specialty Camps Corp. was established by Herbert Resnick in New York, possibly established specifically for a joint summer computer camp venture with Atari. Linda S. Gordon may have already joined Atari as VP special projects (assistant to the president).

November/December: For the 400/800 Atari shipped the Starter Kits The Communicator, The Entertainer, The Programmer, and The Educator, and shipped: Conversational Italian, Calculator, Atari PILOT (Educators' Package and Home Package). Space Invaders, previously released on cassette, was now re- released on cartridge.

December 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Software Catalog Winter Edition 1981, introducing: Bowler's Database, Family Cash Flow, Weekly Planner, Enhancements to Graph It, Hydraulic Program (HYSYS), Keyboard Organ, Morse Code Tutor, Player Piano, Atlas of Canada, Hickory Dickory, Letterman, Mathematic-Tac-Toe, My First Alphabet, Number Blast, Presidents of the United States, Quiz Master, Stereo 3-D Graphics Package, Attank!, Blackjack Casino, Block 'Em, Caverns of Mars (would be available from APX only briefly before moving to Atari's main product line), Dog Daze, Downhill, Memory Match, Pro Bowling, Reversi II, Solitaire, Source Code for Eastern Front (1941), Space Chase, Atari Program-Text Editor (also released in Atari's main product line
in package with Macro Assembler), Dsembler, Extended fig-FORTH, Insomnia (A Sound Editor), Instedit, Supersort Rev. 3, T: A Text Display Device, Ultimate Renumber Utility, Word Processing Diskette (Text Formatter (FORMS) + Atari Program-Text Editor). APX sales via CompuServe MicroNET had been
discontinued. Dale Yocum was APX Manager.

December?: Steve Gerber, previously manager of the Regional Software Acquisition Center (APX headquarters, Sunnyvale CA) was promoted to Atari (Computer) director of software product acquisition (ASAP) (reporting to VP software Bruce Irvine), replacing T.C. Gracon who departed the company (to co- manage the entertainment and learning center, Computer Capers, with Helen Gracon).

December: Atari's new Corporate Research division, headed by Atari VP/Chief Scientist Alan Kay, established a Games Design Research Group. Chris
Crawford, previously Atari (Computer) Software Development Support Group supervisor, became Manager, Games Design Research Group.

December: Bill Carris, previously manager of technical services, was now Atari (Computer) national sales training manager. (InfoWorld)

December: Steven T. Mayer was Atari VP of research and development. (NYT 12/24/81 pD2; NYT 12/31/81 pD2)

December 30: Atari said that it would cut the retail price for the 800 home computer (with 16KiB RAM and newly "mass market packaged") to $899 from
$1,080. Other prices were increased: The Entertainer to $110 and The
Educator to $166.

Atari claimed to have sold 300,000 400/800 computers in 1981.
(InfoWord 6/14/82 p.57)

The installed base of Atari 400/800 computers was estimated by Future Computing, Inc. to be just over 100,000. (January 1983)

1982
January 1?: The Atari Computer Division would now be known as the Atari Home Computer Division, and it adopted the advertising slogan, "We've brought the computer age home."

January 6: Atari announced the publication, Atari Special Editions, a catalog of more than 400 products for the Atari computers from 117 vendors.

January 7-10: At the Winter CES in Las Vegas, for the 400 ($399/16K RAM) and 800 ($899/16K RAM) Atari introduced Pac-Man (title by Namco; to ship in May - Analog#6p13), Centipede (June -Analog#6p13), and Caverns of Mars (which had only just been added to the APX product line as of December 1981; it would be the first APX title to be transferred into Atari's main product line), announced The Bookkeeper, The Home Filing Manager, the CX85 Numerical Keypad (price tba), The Bookkeeper Kit (price tba) and The Home Manager kit (price tba), and again promised: Dow Jones Investment Evaluator (never shipped), Personal Financial Management System, Atari Macro Assembler and Program-Text Editor, Atari Microsoft BASIC. Following the 400 packaging theme introduced
in 1981, the 800, 810, and 410 would now ship in silver/full color packaging.

January 16: The Atari Software Acquisition Program (ASAP) held its first
annual Star Award ceremony at San Francisco's Maxwell's Plum restaurant in Ghiradelli Square. The Star Award and $25,000 grand prize went to Fernando Herrera for his APX title, My First Alphabet. Star Award of Merit winners: Ronald Marcuse & Lynn Marcuse, Sheldon Leemon, Greg Christensen (AC Spr82p12)

January 19-22: Atari featured the 400/800 at the third annual Which Computer? Show, National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England.

January 25: Internal Atari memo by Harry Stewart reflected that the project previously known as "Z800" was now known as: "Sweet-16"
See: https://archive.org/details/AtariHarryStewart

Winter?: Atari shipped Atari Microsoft BASIC and the software development package, Macro Assembler and Program-Text Editor. (Macro Assembler developed for Atari by Sorcim; Program-Text Editor also released via APX)

Winter: Ted Richards' name first appeared as editor of The Atari Connection magazine (replacing Atari (Home Computer) marketing communications manager Sally Bowman in the role).

February?: Many Atari (Home Computer) division operations (including engineering) would be consolidated to two new buildings in San Jose CA: 30 E. Plumeria Dr. and 60 E. Plumeria Dr. (Previous division headquarters: 1196 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale CA)

February: New production Atari 810 disk drives would ship in the significantly-revised "810 Analog" design. (Happy Computers ads for date,
e.g., Analog#18p14)

February 18: The new Atari International (U.K.) would replace Ingersoll Electronics as Atari 400/800 distributor in the UK.

March 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Software Catalog Spring Edition 1982, introducing: Family Budget, Diskette Mailing List, Isopleth Map-Making Package, RPN Calculator Simulator, Advanced Musicsystem, Sketchpad, Cubbyholes, Musical Computer--The Music Tutor, Starware, Wordmaker, Block Buster, Atari Pascal Language System (by MT MicroSYSTEMS for Atari), Extended fig-FORTH Rev. 2, GTIA Demonstration Diskette, Instedit (Microsoft BASIC version), Keypad Controller, Speed-O-Disk. APX also introduced the book, De Re Atari. Dale Yocum was APX Manager.

March 12: At Atari (Home Computer) in software, Lou Tarnay remained systems development manager. Reports to Tarnay included telecommunication supervisor (acting) John Curran, operating systems supervisor Paul Laughton, and a vacant software architecture supervisor position. The telecommunication group included Joseph B. Miller III (Joe Miller; formerly of The Authorship
Resource, Inc. (ARI)), Vincent Wu, and Gin Pao Lu. https://archive.org/details/AtariHarryStewart

March 15: Atari had announced Atari Computer Camps, "the first effort by a major home computer manufacturer to fully sponsor summer camps for 10 to 18- year-olds interested in computers." Atari was to conduct eight camp sessions during summer 1982, two in each of four locations: Pennsylvania (East Stroudsburg State College), North Carolina (Asheville School), Wisconsin (Lakeland College) and southern California (University of San Diego). Each session would last four weeks. Day-to-day operation of the camps would be handled by Specialty Camps Corp. Linda Gordon was Atari VP of special projects; Atari (Home Computer) Educational Software Products Manager Robert
A. Kahn was Atari Computer Camps Curriculum Director; Ray Kassar remained
Atari chairman and CEO. (InfoWorld 3/15/82p43; Interface Age 6/82 p26)

March: Steve Mayer, previously Atari VP research and development, would become Atari VP research and product development (assuming consumer product development from Steve Bristow) and would establish and head a new Advanced Development Laboratory at 300 E. 42nd St. in New York. (NYT 4/18/82 pF31 job ad) The Atari (Consumer) Industrial Design group would be shifted to Atari corporate research and product development. Industrial designer Roy Nishi would be promoted to industrial design manager, reporting to Mayer.

March: Atari Star Raiders for the 400/800 was awarded Computer Game of the
Year by Electronic Games magazine. (EG 3/82 p49)

March 19-21: At the 7th West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco, Atari's held their second annual invitational hospitality suite for Atari computer users' group officers and their guests, where Atari introduced APX Atari
Pascal Language System. About 80 persons attended, on behalf of 15 of the 200 total groups registered with Atari Users' Group Support. At Atari (Home Computer), Don Kurtz was director of marketing services; Earl Rice was manager of the users' group support program. (AtariConnection v2n2p1) Also at the Faire, Percom introduced the RFD40-S1 and RFD40-A1 floppy disk drives (the first alternatives to the Atari 810), announced the RFD44-S1 and RFD44-A1, and promised four higher-capacity (80 track) drives (never introduced).

March 26: Atari established the subsidiary, Atari Special Projects, Inc., for their Atari Computer Camps venture with Specialty Camps Corp.

April 7: Date of first draft of the Atari Sweet-16 Home Computer Product Specifications document. Specific computer models planned: "1000" (16KiB; later: "1200"; never shipped) and "1000X" (64KiB; later: "1200X"; would ship as: 1200XL)
See: http://www.landley.net/history/mirror/atari/museum/sweet16.html

April: Atari shipped Caverns of Mars (on disk). (Video Take-Out 4/82)

April: Bob Fournier was Atari (Home Computer) entertainment product manager.

April: Thomas M. McDonough joined Atari as SVP of sales and marketing in Atari's home computer division (NYT 12/19/82 for date), replacing director of marketing services Don Kurtz who departed the company (remaining with the
Kurtz & Tarlow agency).

April: First issue of Antic, The Atari Resource magazine, published by James Capparell.

April 16: "The Electronic and Computer Technician Vocational Education Incentive Grants Act" hearing before the Subcommittee on Elementary,
Secondary, and Vocational Education of the Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives, included testimony by Atari corporate VP research and product development Steven Mayer.

April/May: Atari shipped, then promptly pulled from the market for further development, Personal Financial Management System. (see Analog #9p118, plus C017535revC)

Spring?: Dale Yocum, previously APX Manager (reporting to Fred Thorlin),
became Atari (Corporate) research engineering manager. Atari (Home Computer) director of product review and research (including APX) Fred Thorlin would additionally become APX general manager (replacing Yocum in the role).

May 1: Through Atari Special Projects, Inc., Atari began supplying both equipment and instructor training for the Club Mediterranee computer classroom at Club Med Ixtapa in Mexico (replacing Computer Camp of Santa Barbara CA, which had the role since the classroom opened in November 1981). (Atari did not take on the other existing Club Med computer classroom at Club Med Kamarina, Sicily, which had opened in May 1981.) A second Atari computer classroom was planned for Club Med Eleuthera, the Bahamas. (InfoWorld 7/12/82 p14-16)

May: As part of the Atari Software Acquisition Program (ASAP), Atari opened
its second Regional Software Acquisition Center, managed by Jerry Connelly,
at: 57 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge MA. Bruce Irvine remained Atari (Home Computer) VP software. While plans for additional ASAP centers were not announced, Atari was considering opening a "satellite facility" in New York City in the near future. (InfoWorld 5/24/82 p9)

May 25: Paul Cubbage remained Atari (Home Computer) Manager, Product Review.

May/June?: Brenda Laurel, previously Atari (Home Computer) Manager, Software Strategy and Marketing, transferred to the Systems Research Group of the Atari Corporate Research division (at the Atari Sunnyvale Research Laboratory).
Bill Carris, previously Atari (Home Computer) training director, would become Atari (Home Computer) director of software marketing (replacing Laurel in the role).

May/June?: Robert A. Kahn, previously Atari (Home Computer) Educational Software Product Manager, became Atari Director of Special Projects (Atari Computer Camps and Club Med initiatives; reporting to VP special projects
Linda Gordon.) Dr. Sueann Ambron, Ed.D, previously assistant professor of educational psychology at Stanford University, joined Atari (Home Computer) as Product Marketing Manager for educational software (replacing Kahn in the role).

June 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Product Catalog
Summer Edition 1982, introducing: Bowler's Database Rev. 2, Data Base/Report System, Family Vehicle Expense, Recipe Search 'n Save, Calculator (moved from Atari's main product line), Astrology, Blackjack Tutor Rev. 1.1, Going to the Dogs, Algicalc, Elementary Biology (by MECC), Frogmaster, Instructional Computing Demonstration (by MECC), Metric and Problem Solving (by MECC), Music I--Terms & Notation (by MECC), Polycalc, Three R Math System, Block 'Em Rev.
2, Castle Rev. 1.1, Checker King, Galahad and the Holy Grail, Jax-O, Jukebox #1, The Midas Touch, Pushover, Rabbotz, Salmon Run, Seven Card Stud, BLIS Rev. 1.1, Cosmatic Atari Development Package, Insomnia (A Sound Editor) Rev. 1.1, Instedit Rev. 1.1, Microsoft BASIC Cross-Reference Utility, Player Generator, Utility Diskette II. Fred Thorlin was APX general manager; product review: Paul Cubbage.

June 6-9: At the Summer CES in Chicago, for the 400 ($349/16K RAM; previously: $399) and 800 ($899/16K RAM), Atari introduced Atari Speed Reading (by
Learning Multi-Systems), announced Music Tutor I (would ship as: AtariMusic
I), Juggles' Rainbow (by The Learning Co.), Juggles' House (by The Learning Co.), and TeleLink II (never shipped as a standalone release; would ship as part of Communicator II kit only) and introduced/announced The Bookkeeper Kit ($249.95; Bookkeeper program plus CX85 Numerical Keypad), The Communicator II Kit (price tba; new 835 modem with TeleLink II), The Home Manager Kit (price tba). The APX title, My First Alphabet would be re-released as part of
Atari's standard product line. Again promised: The Bookkeeper (standalone program), The Home Filing Manager, Personal Financial Management System (PFMS now to ship winter 1983), Centipede. Atari also introduced the Electronic Retail Information Center (ERIC; an Atari 800 home computer linked to a videodisc player) for retailers. Keith Schaefer was VP of sales for Atari's Home Computer division.

June: For the 400/800 Atari shipped Pac-Man (Roklan). (Video Take-Out 4/82 and 7/1/82 price list; but also see Electronic Games 9/82 or 10/82 p13 for suggestions of July)

June: Atari president Home Computer Division Roger Badertscher resigned from company. (NYT 8/25/82) Atari corporate VP research and product development Steve Mayer would serve as acting president of the division.

June: Stephen M. Race (Stephen Race), previously a consultant for Arthur D. Little Inc., would join Atari International as director of international marketing, replacing Jeff Burton who departed the company (to Electronic
Arts).

June 28: Engineer John Skruch joined Atari (Home Computer) in software
product engineering (manufacturing).

Month?: John Hagel III, previously of The Sequoia Group (founder and CEO), joined Atari (Home Computer) as VP strategic planning.

July 14: In what was believed to be the largest single order for home
computers by a school system, Dade County (Florida) had placed an order for
426 Atari 800 Home Computers and peripherals. "This order brings the total number of Atari Home Computers in use in Dade County schools to approximately 650," said Thomas McDonough, SVP of sales and marketing for Atari's Home Computer Division.

July: The Atari Corporate Research unit established the Atari Cambridge Research Laboratory at Five Cambridge Center, 8th floor, Cambridge MA. The lab's Director would be Cynthia Solomon, previously VP, Research & Development/Founder of Logo Computer Systems, Inc.

July: Chris Horseman, previously of Thorn EMI (and independent developer as Centaursoft), joined Atari (Home Computer) as VP software engineering, replacing Bruce Irvine who departed the company. (Irvine and former Atari president Home Computer Division Roger Badertscher would co-found Mindset Corporation on 9/27/82.) John Powers, previously applications & development systems manager, would (again) become director of software development.

July: Atari shipped Centipede. (Video Take-Out 4/82)

July?: Dave Stubben, previously Atari (Coin-Op) director of electrical engineering, became Atari (Home Computer) VP engineering, replacing Gene Rosen who departed the company.

July?: At Atari (Home Computer), Kevin McKinsey, previously manager Industrial Design and Graphics, would remain manager of industrial design (reporting to
VP engineering Dave Stubben). John Fox Haag would become manager of publications and packaging design (assuming the role from McKinsey), reporting to SVP of sales and marketing Thomas M. McDonough.

July?: Atari industrial designer Regan L. Cheng transferred from the
Consumer division to the Home Computer division (where he would report to industrial design manager Kevin McKinsey).

July 26: InfoWorld estimated between 250,000 and 300,000 Atari 400/800 computers had been sold to date.

Summer: First year of Atari Computer Camps, held at 3 locations: "Camp Atari-- San Diego" at the University of San Diego (CA), "Camp Atari--Ashville" at the Asheville School (Asheville, NC), and "Camp Atari--East Stroudsburg" at East Stroudsburg State College (PA). (Camp was canceled at the fourth announced

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