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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, 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 Corporate Research (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 VP of research and development at Atari (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: 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 (cartridge). (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 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 Steven Mayer, Atari VP research and product development.

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

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 Research Engineering Group manager, Atari Corporate Research (new position at the Atari Sunnyvale Research Laboratory). 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: Engineer Rich Pasco, previously a researcher at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), joined Atari (Home Computer) as Manager of VLSI Development.

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, Atari Corporate Research (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 (title by Otto & Kamm), 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
The Communicator II kit only) and introduced 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;
Personal Financial Management System + The Home Filing Manager). 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)  Steve Mayer, VP research and product development, Atari Corporate Research, as well as Atari (Home Computer) VP research and development, 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).

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: Atari Corporate Research 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?: Industrial designer Regan L. Cheng transferred from Atari (Consumer) to the Home Computer division (where he would report to 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.

August 30: Atari had announced their Advanced Development Laboratory in New York City. 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. Opened in September 1981, the Atari NY Lab had
been established and was headed by Steven T. Mayer, VP research and product development, Atari Corporate Research. Atari employed 30 at the site. (InfoWorld 9/13/82 p9)

Summer/Fall: Atari shipped The Bookkeeper Kit and My First Alphabet.

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 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

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 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)). Direct reports to Tarnay included Paul Laughton (systems products), John
Curran (communications products), Ken Balthaser (entertainment and education products), Joseph B. Miller (advanced development). Reports to Laughton included Scott Scheiman (operating systems development) and Jim Cox (advanced consumer product development). Reports to Balthaser included Clyde Grossman (entertainment product development) and Vincent H. Wu (amusement product development).
https://archive.org/details/AtariHarryStewart

December 13: At the Plaza Hotel in New York City Atari introduced the 1200XL home computer ("well under $1,000"; to eventually replace the 800), 1010 program recorder ($99), 1020 printer/plotter ($299), and 1025 printer ($549), and again promised The Communicator II kit (with 835 modem) and The Home Manager kit (The Home Filing Manager + Family Finances). The Programmer kit was updated to include the new Inside Atari BASIC book (instead of Atari BASIC (Wiley Self-Teaching Guide)), and the Entertainer kit was updated to include Pac-Man (instead of Missile Command). The 800 would now ship with 48KiB RAM standard, and the 400 computer, 410 program recorder, 810 disk drive, 830 modem, and 850 interface module were to remain available as well. For 400/800/1200XL Atari introduced VisiCalc (by Software Arts for VisiCorp; previously released by Personal Software, the earlier name for VisiCorp), Galaxian (title by Namco), and Defender (title by Williams Electronics), again promised Atari Speed Reading (to ship imminently), Juggles' House (January), Juggles' Rainbow (January), and TeleLink II (again promised apart from The Communicator II kit), and announced: E.T. Phone Home! (March), Qix (title by Taito; February), Dig Dug (title by Namco; April), AtariWriter (earlier: Word- Wise, see ANALOG #9p17; March), Family Finances (enhanced combination of the two APX titles, Family Cash Flow and Family Budget; replacement for the canceled Personal Financial Management System; March), Timewise (RLM Micro Systems for Atari; based on Weekly Planner from APX; March), Eastern Front (1941) (updated version on cartridge; previous version released by APX), Star Trux (never shipped), Superman III (never shipped), AtariMusic I (previously: Music Tutor I), Microsoft BASIC II. Atari also announced the Disney Education Series, to consist of 5 programs developed & published by Disney, and distributed by Atari, featuring Mickey Mouse, Peter Pan, and the Cheshire Cat. Keith Schaefer was VP of sales and John Cavalier was Atari president Home Computer Division.

December 14: Date of internal memo from Atari consultant Harry Stewart titled "6402 Floppy Disk Controller Protocol" regarding the built-in disk drive for the "6402" computer under development (would be introduced as: 1450XLD).
See: https://archive.org/details/AtariHarryStewart

December: Atari shipped: Galaxian, Defender, Atari Speed Reading (Learning Multi-Systems, Inc.)

December 19: Atari (Home Computer) SVP of sales and marketing Thomas M. McDonough had departed the company. (NYT 12/19/82)

December/January: First issue of Page 6 magazine, the U.K.'s first Atari computer magazine. Published by Les Ellingham.

Winter 82/83: First issue of I/O, later known as Input/Output, the magazine of the Atari Home Computer Club (Atari International (U.K.)).

Atari sold 400,000 of its 400 and 800 computers in 1982, according to The Yankee Group, a Boston-based computer consulting firm, accounting for 17 percent of all home computer sales. (Washington Post 5/24/1983 pD7)

The worldwide installed base of Atari 400/800 was estimated by Future Computing, Inc. to be about 500,000, with about 425,000 in the U.S. (January 1983).

1983

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