• Atari 8-Bit Computers: Frequently Asked Questions (28/31)

    From Michael Current@21:1/5 to Marc G. Frank on Sat Jul 11 11:02:10 2020
    [continued from previous message]

    January 6-9: At the Winter CES in Las Vegas Atari featured/again promised the 1200XL, and for the 400 ($299), 800 (now $679, was $899) and 1200XL ($899) Atari introduced Mickey in the Great Outdoors by Walt Disney Productions,
    Paint (SuperBoots Software from Capital Children's Museum via Reston), and Donkey Kong (title by Nintendo), and featured or again promised: 1010 program recorder, 1020 printer/plotter, 1025 printer, Juggles' House (to ship imminently), Juggles' Rainbow (to ship imminently), AtariMusic I, AtariWriter, Family Finances, Timewise, VisiCalc, Dig Dug, Eastern Front (1941)
    (cartridge), E.T. Phone Home!, Qix, Star Trux (never shipped), Superman III (never shipped), Microsoft BASIC II, The Home Manager kit, The Communicator II kit. (see 2/1/83 price list) Atari hired two teenagers, Robert Allbritton and John Dickerson (via family connections with Atari CEO Ray Kassar), to help pitch Atari computers at the show.

    For the 2600 Atari introduced the Pro-Line Trak-Ball Controller (CX22), the Pro-Line Joystick (CX60; would ship as CX24), and the Kid's Controller (CX23; earlier: Action Control Base).

    January 7: Date of the internal Atari document, "Atari 600 Home Computer
    Liz: Low Cost Computer Specification, Revision Two". The 600 was projected to be available with either 16KiB RAM or 64KiB RAM. (Would ship as: 600XL and 800XL). https://archive.org/details/AtariA600XLProductStatusMeetingHandout

    January 15: At the 2nd annual Atari Star Award banquet, held at San
    Francisco's St. Francis Hotel, Atari awarded the Atari Star Award and $25,000 Grand Prize to David Buehler for his APX title, Typo Attack. Star Special Award of Merit winners: Douglas Crockford, Harry Koons & Art Prag, Lee Actor. Paul Cubbage, head of the APX Software Review team, represented APX, and Atari (Home Computer) SVP sales Keith Schaefer made the announcement and presented the award. (AC Spr83p10)

    January: Jeffrey A. Heimbuck, previously SVP marketing for wine operations at Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, joined Atari (Home Computer) as SVP marketing (replacing departed SVP sales and marketing Thomas M. McDonough). (LATimes 10/11/83 for date)

    January: Atari published the Atari Computer Educational Software Directory (first edition).

    January?: In West Germany, David Evans joined Atari Elektronikvertriebs GmbH
    as product director. (Software development manager Steve Molyneux would now report to Evans.)

    January: Atari shipped Juggles' House and Juggles' Rainbow.

    January: Atari commenced production of the 1200XL at its plant at 1215
    Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale CA. Additionally, 400 (and 800?) production
    commenced at Atari-Wong Co. in Hong Kong, while 400/800 production would continue at 1173 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale CA. (Brad Saville remained Atari (Home Computer) director of operations.)

    January 18: At the Volvo Masters' tennis championship in New York's Madison Square Garden, Atari's Home Computer Division and the Association of Tennis Professionals unveiled the Atari-ATP Computer Ranking System. Also, the Atari 800 was now the official computer of the ATP.

    January 18-21: Atari featured the 400/800 at the Which Computer? show at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre, England.

    January 19: Atari was working on two new computer models to complement the 1200XL: "LIZ" (would ship as: 600XL) would be less expensive than the 400; "6402" (would be introduced as: 1450XLD) would include built-in disk drive, modem, and voice synthesizer and would be more expensive than the 1200XL.
    See: https://archive.org/details/AtariHarryStewart

    January 28: Atari would commence development work on the "1201" ("6402"
    feature set except disk drive; would be introduced as: 1400XL). See: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/98872-atari-vaxs-being-moved/

    January 20: Logo Computer Systems, Inc. (LCSI) and Atari jointly announced Atari Logo for the 400/800/1200XL.

    January 31: Atari announced the appointment of Dr. Marcian E. Hoff, Jr. (Ted Hoff), with Intel since 1968 and previously Intel manager of applications research, as VP of research and development, a newly created position to lead research efforts at Atari's three divisions: home computers, home video games and coin-operated games. Hoff would report directly to Atari's chairman, Raymond E. Kassar. (NYT 2/1/83; WSJ 2/1/83)

    Winter?: At Atari (Home Computer), Leslie Wolf, with the company since June 1981, and Mark McCrackin, would both be educational product managers,
    replacing Sueann Ambron who departed the company (to Human Engineered Software (HesWare)).

    February 1: Atari assumed exclusive distribution rights to the Cynex Game Mate 2 cordless joystick controller, to be available from Atari as the Atari Remote Control Wireless Joysticks (CX42) package beginning March 1.

    February 7: Atari had announced that they were now shipping VisiCalc.

    February 9: A.J. Sekel (Andy Sekel), previously of Pizza Hut, had joined Atari (Home Computer) as manager of press relations (NYT), having replaced
    J. Peter Nelson who had departed the company.

    February: Atari launched "Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow," an assembly program for junior and senior high schools in the U.S., offering both entertainment and computer education using films, slides, music, and a live host to explore the role of computers in society. (VGU 1/83 for date)

    February: Atari shipped: Qix (VGU)

    February 22: Atari announced that manufacturing for its Home Computer Division and its Consumer Products Group would be consolidated mainly in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where Atari already manufactured consumer electronics products, and announced 1,700 layoffs. Atari said that 600 workers in its home video game operation were laid off effective immediately, and that another 1,100 in the home computer division would lose their jobs over the next four months. "Manufacturing for home computers and video games will come to a virtual halt here in the United States by July," Atari said.

    February/March: Atari VP research and development Ted Hoff established a (corporate) Advanced Engineering group for new product development. Donald Teiser, previously an Atari (Consumer) software development manager, would be director of advanced engineering (reporting to Hoff). Advanced Engineering would eventually include: Jim Tittsler (project Shakti/25601/1600)

    March 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Product Catalog Spring Edition 1983, introducing: Atspeller, Typit, Fingerspelling, Escape to Equatus, Math Mission, My Spelling Easel, Teasers by Tobbs, Three R Math Classroom Kit, Catterpiggle, Diggerbonk, Getaway!, Impact, Microsailing, Chameleon CRT Terminal Emulator (New Version), Hex-A-Bug. Fred Thorlin was
    APX director; product review manager: Paul Cubbage.

    March 7: Atari (Home Computer) software development director Lou Tarnay, systems products manager Paul Laughton, and product coordinator Brian Johnston had departed the company to Fox Video Games. Jim Romanos was now internal development director (replacing the departed Tarnay). Direct reports to Romanos: Ken Balthaser (applications), John Curran (system and telecommunications), Douglas A. Chorey (software support). Reports to Balthaser: Clyde Grossman (entertainment applications), Jim Cox (advanced home applications). Reports to Curran: Scott Scheiman (systems), Sherwin Gooch (telecommunications, replacing Curran in the role). Technical staff reporting to Romanos: Joe Miller, G. Riker, Lane Winner. https://archive.org/details/AtariHarryStewart

    March 8: Kamalu Bruns was Atari (Home Computer) software support group
    manager. Direct reports to Bruns: Fred A. Terzian (support section manager), Jack Quinn (test department manager). Reports to Quinn: test supervisors
    Carla Furr, Lisa Reinbold
    https://archive.org/details/AtariHarryStewart

    March 8: Penril Corp., a Rockville-based electronics firm, had won a $4
    million contract to provide low-cost communications modems to Atari. Penril was expected to ship roughly 100,000 modems (Atari 1030) by the middle of
    1984, with delivery beginning July 1983. (Washington Post 3/8)

    March 8-April 4: Atari featured the 400/800 at the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition, Earls Court, London.

    March 10: Direct reports to Atari (Home Computer) VP software engineering
    Chris Horseman included Jim Romanos (director internal development), Paul Liniak (director software conversion), Kamalu Bruns (manager support group). Reports to Liniak included Vincent Wu (development manager). https://archive.org/details/AtariHarryStewart

    March: Atari (Home Computer) director of finance Bill Kaiser departed the company (to Electronic Arts).

    March: Atari shipped the 1200XL, suggested retail price $899. (Kassar in
    Across The Board, 6/83 p26 for month)

    March?: Atari shipped Timewise.

    March 18-20: At the 8th Annual West Coast Computer Faire at the Brooks Convention Hall and Civic Center in San Francisco, Atari featured Dig Dug,
    E.T. Phone Home!, Qix, and AtariWriter, and introduced Atari Logo (Brian Silverman of LCSI for Atari). Atari announced a $50 rebate, starting April
    15, for the purchase of a 400 computer, and hinted that the 400 was soon to be replaced by a new model ("LIZ"; presumptive name: 600XL).

    March 25-27: Atari featured the Atari Coin Executive (ACE) at the Amusement Operators Expo '83 (AOE '83) at the O'Hare Exposition Center in Chicago.

    March 26: Jack Perron had become Acting Manager, Product Review, APX,
    replacing Paul Cubbage who departed the company (to Mindset).

    March/April: Atari established an Advanced Games Group (games for coin
    arcades, home computers, and home video game systems), to be headed by VP advanced games Chris Horseman (previously: Home Computer Division VP software engineering). The unit would eventually include: Jim Morris, Robert
    Weatherby, Michael Gurganus, Jack Ritter, Dave Menconi, Steve Englehart, Aric Wilmunder, Dan Oliver, Rita Pless. Jeffrey Heimbuck, previously Atari (Home Computer) SVP marketing, would become SVP marketing and software engineering (assuming the additional role from Horseman), and Peter Rosenthal, previously Atari (Home Computer) VP business planning, would become Atari (Home Computer) VP product development and business planning (assuming the additional role
    from Horseman).

    Winter/Spring?: Peter R. Ateshian joined Atari (Home Computer) as a VLSI
    design engineer.

    April 11: Bill Carris was Atari (Home Computer) director of software
    marketing. (InfoWorld 4/11/83 p64)

    April: Atari commenced 1200XL production by Atari Taiwan Manufacturing Corp. 1200XL production would also continue at the 1215 Borregas Ave. plant in Sunnyvale.

    April?: In the Netherlands at Atari International (Benelux) B.V., Han Van
    Egdom joined the company as product manager home computers

    April 15: Start date for several Atari computer rebate offers: $50 for the purchase of a 400, or $100 for the purchase of an 800 or 1200XL. (newspaper ads)

    April 26: Atari was expected to announce shortly that it would lay off between 500 and 800 employees in consolidating its Home Computer Division with the Consumer Electronics Division. (Washington Post 4/26)

    April 28: Date of the first draft of the internal Atari document, "Atari 25601 Hardware Technical Specifications," reflecting early work on a new home computer that would be both Atari 1200XL and IBM PC compatible.
    (previously: "Shakti"; later: "1600")
    See: http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/XL/1600xl/1600xl.html

    Spring: Atari shipped: The Home Manager kit, Mickey in the Great Outdoors
    (Walt Disney Telecommunication & Non-Theatrical Company), Eastern Front (1941) (cartridge), Paint, Microsoft BASIC II, Family Finances, AtariWriter. AtariWriter was programmed by William V. Robinson (author of DataSoft's Text Wizard) with Mark Rieley for DataSoft, in fulfillment of the 300-page "AtariWriter Internal Design Specification" developed by Gary Furr, a product manager at Atari.

    Spring: There were now eight Atari computer classrooms in Club Med villages: Eleuthera in the Bahamas; La Caravelle in French Guadeloupe; Ixtapa in Mexico; Copper Mountain in the Colorado Rockies near Denver; Dom Miguel in Marbella, Spain; Chateau Royal in Noumea, New Caledonia; Les Almadies, Senegal; and Cherating, Malaysia. (Atari Connection Spr83 p40-41) Linda Gordon was Atari
    VP Special Projects; Robert A. Kahn was Director, Special Projects.

    May 4: Warner Communications Inc. (WCI) established the subsidiary, WCI Labs Inc. The Atari Advanced Development Laboratory (Atari NY Lab) at 300 E. 42nd St. Fl 6/10, New York NY, home of the Atari Advanced Development Group, would become the facility of WCI Labs, which would serve both Atari and WCI. Steve Mayer would no longer serve as Atari (Home Computer) VP research and development, but would continue as VP research and product development, Atari Corporate Research, and would additionally serve as president of WCI Labs and senior executive consultant to the office of the president of WCI.

    May 8: Atari had announced that Dr. Alfred L. Moye, formerly the U.S. Dept. of Higher Education's Deputy Assistant Secretary during the Carter
    administration, had joined the company as national educational sales manager (ArcadeExpress v1n20), replacing Jim Paige who departed the company.

    May: Atari commenced consolidation of its Consumer and Home Computer divisions into three new divisions: Atari Products Co. (domestic and international marketing and engineering, assuming international marketing from the Atari International division), Atari Sales & Distribution Co., and Atari Manufacturing Co. (NYT 6/2pD5, WSJ 6/2p20) John Cavalier, previously Atari president Home Computer Division, would be president of Atari Products Co.

    Within the new Atari Products Co.:

    Jeffrey Heimbuck, previously Atari (Home Computer) SVP marketing and software engineering, would be SVP domestic and international marketing and
    engineering. Don Thorson (previously with Atari (Consumer) in marketing from 1977-1980) would return to the company as director of computer (hardware) marketing, replacing Mark Lutvak who departed the company. Robert D. Cory, previously of the Boston Consulting Group (and before that, the Standard Research Institute), would become director of business development (computers) (replacing Peter Rosenthal in the role). Stephen Race, previously Atari International director of marketing, would remain director of international marketing (now reporting to Heimbuck).

    Dave Stubben, previously Atari (Home Computer) VP engineering, would be VP Engineering (reporting to Heimbuck). Engineer John De Santis, previously of Atari (Home Computer), would be director of engineering. Atari (Home
    Computer) director of engineering Larry Plummer departed the company (to Convergent Technologies).

    Fred Simon, previously of Walt Disney Productions (PR 10/10/83) (VP of the software division of Walt Disney Telecommunications and Non-Theatrical Company), would be VP software (replacing Heimbuck as head of software engineering and Rosenthal as head of product development). Colette Weil, previously Director, Corporate Market and Consumer Research (reporting to VP market planning Conrad Jutson), would become Director, Marketing, Home Applications and Children's Software. Bill Carris, previously Atari (Home Computer) director of software marketing, would join the Atari (Coin-Op) division in marketing. Peter Rosenthal, previously Atari (Home Computer) VP product development and business planning, departed the company (to
    DesignWare, Inc.).

    Within the new Atari Sales & Distribution Co.: Keith Schaefer, previously
    Atari (Home Computer) SVP sales, would be EVP.

    Within the new Atari Manufacturing Co.: Brad Saville, previously Atari (Home Computer) director of operations, would remain director of operations (home computers).

    May: Atari discontinued production of the 400 (both at 1173 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale CA and at Atari-Wong Co. in Hong Kong). Atari also discontinued domestic production of the 800, and Atari's plant at 1173 Borregas Ave. would be repurposed. 800 production would commence (continue?) at Atari-Wong Co. (for the short-term).

    May: Atari discontinued domestic production of the 1200XL. 1200XL production would continue by Atari Taiwan Manufacturing Corp. (ATMC).

    May?: Production of the 1050 disk drive commenced in Singapore by Atari-PCI Enterprises Pte. Ltd.

    May: Atari shipped: E.T. Phone Home! (VGU)

    May 15-20: At the Twenty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Australian College of Education held in Sydney Australia, Atari International marketing manager for computer software Nancy Garrison revealed that the 1200XL would not be
    released in Australia. Rather, a new range of more power machines was to be debut at the CES in the US the following month. (SydneyMorningHerald 5/30/83)

    May 20: Atari launched Atari International (Italy) Inc. with a press
    conference held at the Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan. The new subsidiary would replace Italian Atari computer distributor Adveico.

    June 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Product Catalog
    Summer Edition 1983, introducing: Home Inventory, Home Loan Analysis,
    Strategic Financial Ratio Analysis, Drawit, Piano Tuner, Video Kaleidoscope, Circuit Lab, Morsecode Master, Punctuation Put-on, Three R Math Home System, Wordgo, The Bean Machine, Bootleg, Can't Quit, Dandy, Ennumereight, Smasher. APX also introduced the 48K RAM Expansion Kit (for the 400 computer, 8KiB or 16KiB versions). Fred Thorlin was APX director; product review manager: Jack Perron.

    June 5-8: At the Summer CES in Chicago Atari introduced the 600XL home
    computer ($199; to ship in July; to replace the 400), the 800XL home computer (price to be announced; to ship in August), the 1400XL home computer (price to be announced; to ship in September; to replace the 1200XL; never shipped), and the 1450XLD home computer (price to be announced; to ship in October; never shipped) with DOS III (later: DOS 3). Introduced: 1050 disk drive with DOS III, 1027 printer, 1030 modem with ModemLink, Touch Tablet (CX77) with
    graphics tablet cassette program (would ship as: AtariArtist on cartridge), Trak-Ball controller (CX80), Remote Control Wireless Joysticks (Cynex; CX42), CP/M Module with CP/M 2.2 (never shipped). Again promised: 1010 program recorder, 1020 printer/plotter, 1025 printer. Previewed: Expansion Box
    (later: 1090 XL Expansion System; never shipped), Light Pen (CX75), Super Controller (home computer and international name for CX60 Pro-Line Joystick; would ship as CX24). Atari introduced the Writing System (would ship as: AtariWriter System) and announced the Programming System (never shipped) and Entertainment System (never shipped) All-In-One-Pak kits. Add-A-Pak kit again promised: The Communicator II (July); introduced/previewed: Atari Accountant (formerly The Bookkeeper kit; never shipped under the new name), Arcade Champ, BASIC Tutor I. Software introduced: Tennis, Soccer (never shipped), Football, Pole Position (title by Namco), Joust (title by Williams Electronics), Donkey Kong Junior (title by Nintendo), Ms. Pac-Man (title by Namco), Pengo (title by Sega), Robotron: 2084 (title by Williams Electronics), AtariMusic II: Major Scales and Keys. Announced/previewed: The Mysteries of Wonderland (Disney; never shipped), Peter Pan's Daring Escape (Roklan for Walt Disney Productions; never shipped). Announced/simulated: Battlezone (title would be shipped by Atari Corporation in 1988), Tempest (never shipped), Xevious (title by Namco; never shipped). Again promised: AtariMusic I, TeleLink II (again promised apart from The Communicator II kit), Superman III, Atari Logo. (No longer promised: Star Trux.) Atari also introduced Alan Alda as spokesperson for Atari computers, in an arrangement to extend for the next 5 years.

    Atari announced AIMS (Atari Instructional Material Service) at the show. A
    few of the AIMS titles (to be released fourth quarter, 1983) included: Math Arcademics (Arcademic Skill Builders by DLM), Atari Sentences, and a multi- program Trigonometry and Algebra course from CONDUIT (University of Iowa). Previewed at the show: AtariLab (previously: ScienceLab) series (by Dickinson College), including AtariLab Starter Set with Temperature Module (September); future modules: Timekeeper, Light, Biofeedback, Mechanics, Lie Detector
    (Analog #13 p36; see also InfoWorld 7/4/83 p13)

    June 6-8: Atari demonstrated the AtariLab series at NECC/5, the National Educational Computing Conference 1983, held at Towson State University, Baltimore MD. (InfoWorld 10/10/83 p28)

    June 9-14: At the 17th International Exhibition of Music, High Fidelity, Video and Consumer Electronics (SIM-HI.FI-IVES '83) in Milan, Atari International (Italy) Inc. introduced the 600XL, 800XL, and 1450XLD to Italy. Estimated pricing: L. 500.000, L. 750.000 - 1 million, and L. 2.9 - 3 million, respectively. Also featured: 1010, 1050, 1020, 1027, CP/M Module, Touch Tablet, Light Pen, Remote Control Wireless Joysticks, Track-Ball, Expansion Box, and much software. (MCmicrocomputer #21 p14-16)

    June 11-Sept 10: Expanding upon the Atari computer classroom concept already offered in at least eight other Club Med locations, "Club Med-Atari Village" was featured at Club Med Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Les Villages 4/83 v3n1) (The Atari Village included custom hardware and software developed at the Atari L.A. Lab).

    June: The total installed base of Atari 400/800/1200XL computers was estimated by Future Computing, Inc. to be about 950,000.

    June?: Atari discontinued production of the 800 (late production units made at Atari-Wong Co. in Hong Kong).

    June: Atari shipped: Dig Dug, Donkey Kong (VGU)

    June 27: Atari opened their first Atari Center, an educational computing concept, at The Oaks Shopping Center in Cupertino, CA. Atari Centers were operated by the Picodyne Corporation (Dean Brown, president) with Atari providing funding and advertising. Alan O'Neill was the contract manager of Atari Centers. Sara Armstrong, director of the Terra Nuova Montessori School in Hayward CA, would be director of the Cupertino Atari Center.

    June/July?: Atari shipped the 1010 program recorder ($99.95), 1020 printer/plotter ($299) and 1025 printer ($549).

    July 2: The second Atari Center opened at the corner of Fifth Ave. and 48th
    St. in Manhattan. Educator Seth Greenberg would be manager of the Manhattan Atari Center.

    July?: AtariEd (previously: AIMS (Atari Instructional Material Service)) published an updated Atari Computer Educational Software Directory. New Atari home computers education titles from Atari were to include: Alien Addition (Arcademic Skill Builders by DLM), AtariLab Starter Set, AtariLab Curriculum Modules (never shipped), AtariLab Light Module (would be shipped by Atari, Corp. in 1985), Atari Logo in the Classroom: A Teacher's Manual (book by Donna Bearden, would be published by Reston in 1984), Atari/PLATO (would be shipped by Atari, Corp. in 1986 as: The Learning Phone), Atari Sentences (never shipped?), CONDUIT Algebra Part I & II (never shipped?), CONDUIT Trig Part I & II (never shipped?), Concentration, Demolition Division (Arcademic Skill Builders by DLM), Denver Pascal (never shipped), Department of Defense Dependent Schools Student Scheduling Program (never shipped), Division Drill (School and Home CourseWare), Geoterms Part I & II (Marc Ed, Inc.; never shipped?), Green Globs & Other Trig Diversions (never shipped?), Math Facts
    and Games (never shipped?), Math Mysteries (never shipped?), Meteor Multiplication (Arcademic Skill Builders by DLM; never shipped?), Peter and
    the Wolf (never shipped?).

    July: Production of the Atari 1200XL computer ended (later units made by Atari Taiwan Manufacturing Corp.).

    Summer?: Atari planned to release 11 new peripherals for Atari XL home computers by the end of the year (including the Expansion Box).

    Summer: Second year of Atari Computer Camps, held at 7 locations: Camp Atari- New England (Jerome Singer, director) at the Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Greenfield MA; Camp Atari-Poconos (Robert Werner, director) at East
    Stroudsburg State College in PA; Camp Atari-Chesapeake (Leonard Fagen, director) at the Oldfields School in Glencoe MD; Camp Atari-Smokey Mountains (Jeffrey Wolfe, director) at the University of North Carolina at Asheville; Camp Atari-Midwest (William Merriman, director; Laurie D. Edwards, director)
    at the Shattuck School in Faribault MN; Camp Atari-Old West (Marlene and Don Applebaum, directors) at the Athenian School in Danville CA; Camp Atari- Pacific (Marianne and William Kravitz, directors) at the University of San Diego in CA.

    August 5: Date of revision of the internal Atari document, "Atari 25601 Hardware Technical Specifications," a new home computer that would be both Atari 1200XL and IBM PC compatible. (previously: "Shakti"; later: "1600")
    See: http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/XL/1600xl/1600xl.html

    August 8: Linda Gordon remained Atari VP special projects. (InfoWorld 8/8/83)

    August: Atari shipped the 1050 disk drive, with DOS II version 2.0S. (Page 6
    #6 p5)

    August: Atari Products Co. product marketing manager for the 600XL and 800XL personal computers Andrew Soderberg departed the company (to ViMart). (Don Thorson remained director of computer marketing.)

    August: Sherwin Gooch, previously Atari Products Co. manager, Telecommunications Products Group, became Atari Products Co. manager, Applications Software and Telecommunications Products Group, assuming the role of Ken Balthaser who departed the company (to Mindset).

    September 1?: Atari released the Atari Program Exchange (APX) Product Catalog Fall Edition 1983, introducing: Atspeller Rev. 2, AtariWriter Printer Drivers, Color Alignment Generator, Advanced Fingerspelling, Excalibur, Musical Pilot, Puzzler, Ringmaster, Spelling Genie Rev. 2.0, Ion Roadway, Kangaroo (GCC;
    title by Sun Electronics), Moon Marauder, Saratoga, Space War, Cartoonist, Eastern Front (1941) Scenario Editor, Eastern Front Scenarios 1942/1943/1944, Mathlib for Deep Blue C. Fred Thorlin was APX director; product review manager: Jack Perron.

    September 6: James Morgan arrived at Atari as chairman and CEO (replacing the departed Ray Kassar). (InfoWorld 8/1/83 p3)

    Atari Products Co. VP Engineering Dave Stubben would now report to Atari (Coin-Op) president John Farrand (previously: to Heimbuck). (InfoWorld 8/6/84 p52 for date; InfoWorld 2/27/84 p104 for Farrand new title/role)  The Atari International division would reassume responsiblity for international
    marketing from the former Atari Products Co. division.

    September 12: Atari International had named: Christopher P. Deering
    (previously of Gillette Europe, based in London (see RCA/Columbia PR 4/5/85)) as VP marketing (Marketing and Product Management) (replacing former Atari Products Co. SVP international marketing and engineering Jeffrey Heimbuck in the role). (WSJ p48) Also at Atari International: Stephen Race remained director of international marketing, now reporting to Deering. (Nancy
    Garrison remained Atari International marketing manager for computer software and AtariSoft; Anton "Tony" Bruehl remained president of Atari International.)

    September: Atari National Educational Sales Manager Alfred Moye would additionally become director of the Atari Institute for Education Research, replacing Ted Kahn who departed the company (to Picodyne).

    September: In the Netherlands, W.L. (Wilfried) de Graaf joined Atari International (Benelux) B.V. as sales manager (home computers).

    September 17-25: Atari International (U.K.) Inc. launched the XL home computer product line (600XL, 800XL, 1010, 1050, 1025, 1020, 1027, Touch Tablet, Trak- Ball, Super Controller, Memory Module (1064); previewed: CP/M Module,
    Expansion Box) and software line in the UK, and introduced The Lone Raider, at the Great Home Entertainment Spectacular, Olympia, London.

    September 22: Atari, Inc. and General Foods announced a multi-million dollar promotion called Catch-On-To-Computers. Computer tutorials would run in 10 cities nationwide during October, November and December, starting in
    Washington D.C. and San Francisco on Oct. 5th with a 10-day Catch-On-To- Computers Learning Festival. On subsequent days similar programs would be conducted in Los Angeles; Denver; Chicago; Houston; New Orleans; Atlanta; St. Louis; and Newark, N.J. At each stop on the tour computer training experts would present 80 hours of free tutorials especially designed for Catch-On-To- Computers by the People's Computer Co., a non-profit company. In addition, weekend open houses were scheduled to provide family members and any
    interested individuals the opportunity to operate the computers under supervision. Aside from the classes, Atari and Post Cereals would offer schools and other membership organizations the opportunity to exchange a specified number of Post Cereals proof-of-purchase box tops for a wide range
    of Atari equipment, expansion devices and a wide selection of educational software. The year-long national program would kick off Sept. 30th with a mailing of catalogs to more than 91,000 schools. A simultaneous direct
    mailing to 41 million homes -- approximately half of all U.S. households -- would announce the promotion to consumers and identify the participating Post brands and Atari products. Linda Gordon was SVP of the Atari education group. (PR), replacing Chris Bowman who had departed the company (to Apple Computer, where he would be manager of education marketing). (InfoWorld 10/3/83 p20)

    September 23: The two Atari Center locations both closed at the end of the 90- day trial period for the program.

    September 28-October 2: Atari featured the XL range of home computers (600XL/800XL) and products, including the new Touch Tablet and Light Pen, at the Sixth Personal Computer World Show (PCW), Barbican Centre, London.

    Fall: Atari shipped the The Communicator II kit (with the new 835 modem) ($279.95), the 1027 printer, and Atari Logo.

    Fall: An Atari TV ad promoted the 400 for $69.95 after $50 Atari rebate, indicating a new/final list price of $119.95 (previously: $299). (http://www.atarimania.com/videos/atari-400-commercial-50-usd-rebate.flv)

    September/October: Atari Products Management Director, Marketing, Home Applications and Children's Software Colette Weil departed the company (to CompuFill Corporation, the subsidiary of McKesson Corporation).)

    October 3-7: In France, at the first ever VidCom-MIJID held at the Palais de
    la Croisette in Cannes, P.E.C.F. Atari previewed the 600XL. (L'Atarien #1)

    October 10: Atari Products Management named Fred Simon (previously: VP software) SVP of computer marketing, responsible for the marketing of computer hardware and software. Steve Arnold, previously director of software development-AtariSoft, would be promoted to VP software marketing (replacing Simon in the role; still reporting to Simon). (Don Thorson remained director of computer marketing, now reporting to Simon.)

    October 12: The Washington Post reported (p.D11) on Atari's plans to introduce an IBM-compatible personal computer at the January 1984 CES, incorrectly
    naming the unannounced computer the Sierra. The project, a computer that
    would be both PC and Atari XL compatible, was actually known as Shakti or
    25601 or 1600.

    October: The Atari Learning Systems division (previously: AtariEd) published Review: A Catalog of Atari Learning Systems. New Atari home computers education titles from Atari were to include: Spelling in Context 1, Spelling
    in Context 2, Spelling in Context 3, Spelling in Context 4, Spelling in
    Context 5, Spelling in Context 6, Spelling in Context 7, Spelling in Context
    8, U.S. Geography check marc (by Marc Ed, Inc.), U.S. Geography high marc (by Marc Ed, Inc.), Atari Pascal (Version 2.0) (previously: Denver Pascal; to ship Jan. '84; never shipped), Secret Formula elementary (by Mind Movers), Secret

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