[continued from previous message]
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: VLSI design engineer Peter R. Ateshian joined the Atari Semiconductor Group (ASG).
January: Atari commenced production of the 1200XL at its plant at 1215 Borregas, Sunnyvale CA. Additionally, 400 (and 800?) production commenced at Atari-Wong Co. in Hong Kong, while 400/800 production would also continue at 1173 Borregas, Sunnyvale CA.
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. (It would ship fall 1983.)
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. Hoff was "to spearhead development of new home video games and coin-operated arcade games, the
company said." (NYT 2/1/83). Hoff would serve as administrative head of Atari Corporate Research, replacing Atari VP/chief scientist Alan Kay in the role; Kay would now report to Hoff, and Hoff would report directly to Atari CEO Ray Kassar. Steve Mayer, previously Atari corporate VP research and product development, would become corporate SVP research and product development
(still reporting directly to Kassar). (IEEE Spectrum 3/83 p45 for title)
Winter: APX Catalog introduced: 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. Fred Thorlin was APX director; product review: Paul Cubbage.
Winter: Atari shipped the AtariWriter cartridge. 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.
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 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 announced that they were now shipping VisiCalc.
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.
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 engineering Larry Plummer departed
the company.
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 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). Jeffrey Heimbuck, previously Atari (Home Computer) SVP marketing, would become SVP marketing and software engineering (assuming the additional role from Horseman).
Spring: Atari Special Projects, Inc. and Club Med operated eight Atari
computer classrooms in Club Med villages at: Eleuthera in the Bahamas, La Caravelle in French Guadeloupe, Ixtapa in Mexico, Copper Mountain in the Coloado Rockies near Denver, Dom Miguel in Marbella Spain, Chateau Royal in Noumea New Caledonia, Les Almadies in Senegal, and Cherating Malaysia. (Atari Connection p40-41) Linda Gordon was Atari VP Special Projects; Robert A. Kahn was Director, Special Projects.
Spring: APX Catalog introduced: 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.
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 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. (Later:
"1600" or "Shakti")
See:
http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/XL/1600xl/1600xl.html
May 4: Warner Communications Inc. (WCI) established the subsidiary, WCI Labs Inc. The Atari Advanced Development Laboratory at 300 E 42nd St Fl 6/10, New York NY would become the facility of WCI Labs, which would serve both Atari
and WCI. Steve Mayer, previously Atari corporate SVP research and product development, would remain head of the lab as Atari (corporate) SVP engineering and would also serve as president of WCI Labs, as well as senior executive consultant to the office of the president of WCI. Most Atari Advanced Development Group members would remain at WCI Labs as well.
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. (marketing and engineering),
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.; Donald Kingsborough, previously
Atari EVP Consumer Division, would be president of Atari Sales & Distribution Co.; Paul Malloy, previously Atari (Consumer) SVP operations, would be president of Atari Manufacturing Co.
Within the new Atari Products Co.:
Robert D. Cory would become director of business development (computers), replacing Atari (Home Computer) director of business planning and development Peter Rosenthal who departed the company (to DesignWare, Inc.).
Jeffrey Heimbuck, previously Atari (Home Computer) SVP marketing and software engineering, would be SVP domestic and international marketing and engineering (hardware marketing/engineering). Ken Wirt, previously of Atari (Home Computer) marketing, would be VP computer marketing, replacing Mark Lutvak who departed the company. Andrew Soderberg would be promoted to XL computer line product marketing manager. Stephen Race, previously Atari International director of marketing, would remain director of international marketing (now reporting to Heimbuck).
David Stubben remained VP engineering Computer division (now reporting to Heimbuck). Donald Teiser, previously an Atari (Consumer) software development manager, would be director of advanced engineering (new product development, replacing corporate SVP engineering Steve Mayer in the role, reporting to Heimbuck).
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 (engineering/development, assuming the role
from Heimbuck).
Bill Carris, previously Atari (Home Computer) director of software marketing, would join the Atari (Coin-Op) division in marketing. Steve Arnold,
previously of Atari Corporate Research, would be VP software marketing.
Colette Weil, previously Director, Corporate Market and Consumer Research (reporting to (corporate) VP market planning Conrad Jutson), would become Director, Marketing, Home Applications and Children's Software (reporting to Arnold).
Within the new Atari Sales & Distribution Co.: Keith Schaefer, previously
Atari (Home Computer) SVP sales, would remain SVP sales (computer markets).
May: Atari discontinued production of the 400 (both at 1173 Borregas,
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, Sunnyvale CA was idled. 800 production would commence (continue?) at Atari-Wong Co.
(for the short-term).
May: Atari discontinued domestic production of the 1200XL, and Atari's plant
at 1215 Borregas, Sunnyvale CA was idled. 1200XL production would continue by Atari Taiwan Manufacturing Corp.
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 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 and Entertainment System (never shipped) All-In-One-Pak kits. Add-A-Pak kit again promised: Communicator II (July); introduced/previewed: Atari Accountant (formerly The Bookkeeper kit; never shipped under the new name), Home Manager (never shipped), Arcade Champ, BASIC Tutor I. Introduced, announced, or again promised: Donkey Kong Junior (title by Nintendo), Eastern Front (1941)
(version updated for cartridge), Football, Joust (title by Williams Electronics), Ms. Pac-Man (title by Namco), Pengo (title by Sega), Pole Position (title by Namco), Robotron: 2084 (title by Williams Electronics), Soccer (never shipped), Tennis, The Mysteries of Wonderland (Disney; never shipped), Peter Pan's Daring Escape (later: Captain Hook's Revenge; Roklan for Walt Disney Productions; never shipped), Atari Logo, AtariMusic I, AtariMusic II: Major Scales and Keys, TeleLink II (again promised apart from Communicator II kit). Previewed (simulated): Battlezone (title would be shipped by Atari Corporation in 1988), Tempest (never shipped), Xevious (title by Namco; never shipped). (No longer promised: (Star Trux, Superman III.) 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: Club Med Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, expanding on the Atari computer classroom concept established at other Club Med locations, featured an "Atari Village" (including custom hardware and software by 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, 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: APX Catalog introduced: 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; $134.95, or $154.95 installed at Atari Regional Service Centers.
Fred Thorlin was APX director; product review manager: Jack Perron.
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) 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.
Summer: John Peeke-Vout, previously of Atari International (U.K.) Inc. (I/O #2p11), joined Atari Products Co. as director of external software
development, replacing T.J. Gracon who departed the company.
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: Don Thorson (previously with Atari (Consumer) in marketing from 1977- 1980) would (re-) join Atari as XL computer line product manager, replacing Andrew Soderberg who departed the company (to ViMart).
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 6: The Atari Products Co. division, previously comprised of consumer/computer marketing and engineering, would remain the marketing arm
for home computers and video games, and would now be known as the Atari Products Management division. Atari (Coin-Op) president John Farrand would additionally serve in the new role of (corporate) director of engineering (consumer/computer hardware/software). (InfoWorld 8/6/84 p52 for date; InfoWorld 2/27/84 p104 for Farrand new title/role) New reports to Farrand would include VP engineering Computer division Dave Stubben and director of advanced engineering Donald Teiser. John Cavalier remained president of Atari Products Management, and SVP Jeffrey Heimbuck, previously responsible for domestic and international marketing and engineering, would remain responsible for hardware marketing.
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 Jeffrey Heimbuck in the role; Heimbuck remained Atari Products Management SVP marketing). (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.)
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 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.
September 30: Launch date for one phase of the two-phase "Catch on to Computers" computer literacy program by Atari and General Foods' Post Cereals, where Atari computers, equipment, and educational software would be provided
to schools in exchange for proof-of-purchase seals collected from Post cereal boxes over the 1983-1984 school year.
Fall: APX Catalog introduced: 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.
Fall: Atari shipped the Communicator II kit (with the new 835 modem)
($279.95) and the 1027 printer.
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: Linda Gordon, previously Atari VP special projects, had become
Atari Products Management SVP education, replacing Chris Bowman who had departed the company (to Apple Computer, where he was now manager of education marketing). (InfoWorld 10/3/83 p20)
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 5: As one phase of the two-phase computer literacy program sponsored
by General Foods' Post Cereals and Atari called "Catch on to Computers" a 10- day learning festival opened in New York City, and a similar event opened in San Francisco. Further events in the program were planned in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Denver, Chicago, Washington D.C., Houston, New Orleans, and Atlanta through December 1983.
October 10: Atari announced the appointment of David Ruckert, previously SVP
of entertainment software marketing, as SVP of Atari Products Management, the marketing arm for home computers and video games, replacing division president John Cavalier who departed the company (to Apple Computer). Jeffrey Heimbuck, SVP for the marketing of hardware for video games and computers, had also departed the company (to Koala Technologies Corp.). Fred Simon (previously:
VP software (engineering/development)) was named SVP of computer marketing, responsible for the marketing of computer hardware and software. (Ken Wirt remained VP computer marketing, now reporting to Simon. Steve Arnold remained VP software marketing, reporting to Simon.) Philip Restaino (previously: VP game hardware marketing) was appointed VP of games marketing, in charge of marketing game hardware and game software used on Atari hardware. Simon, Restaino, and SVP of education Linda Gordon would each report to Ruckert. (PR)
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 was actually known as Shakti or 25601 or 1600, a project of Atari Advanced Engineering (never introduced; see Atarimuseum's 1600XL page). Sierra was actually the name of a separate concept computer project, a project of Atari Corporate Research Engineering.
October 13: Koala Technologies Corp. announced that Jeffrey A. Heimbuck, formerly a senior marketing executive at Atari Inc., would become its
president and CEO October 31. (WSJ 10/14 p3)
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 Formula intermediate (by Mind Movers), Secret Formula advanced (by Mind Movers), Screen Maker, Player Maker, Alligator Mix (Arcademic Skill Builders
by DLM), Minus Mission (Arcademic Skill Builders by DLM), Dragon Mix
(Arcademic Skill Builders by DLM), Atari Super PILOT (previously: PILOT II; to ship April '84; never shipped), Phone Home (never shipped), Name Rondo (never shipped), Create a Rondo (never shipped), Instructional Computing
Demonstration (previously released by APX), Music I (Terms & Notations) (by MECC; previously released by APX), Music II (Rhythm & Pitch) (by MECC; previously released by APX), Music III/Scales & Chords (by MECC; previously released by APX), Elementary Biology (by MECC; previously released by APX), Earth Science (by MECC; previously released by APX), Geography (by MECC; previously released by APX), Prefixes (by MECC; previously released by APX), Metric & Problem Solving (by MECC; previously released by APX), The Market Place (by MECC; previously released by APX), Basic Arithmetic (by MECC), Graphing (by MECC), Pre-Reading (by MECC), Counting (by MECC), Expeditions (by MECC), Spelling Bee (by MECC), Word Games (by MECC). Announced: AtariLab Biofeedback, Timekeeper, Lie Detector, and Mechanics modules (all never
[continued in next message]
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)