In 1989 the STE models would add stereo sound and more display colours.Ī large amount of the ST’s success can be attributed to business software developers, who very quickly recognised the computers potential for productivity applications, including WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) word processing and desktop publishing. Strong office sales in Europe prompted Atari to release a “business” version of the ST, called the Mega, and a laser printer that connected to the Mega directly. In 1986, Atari released versions of the ST that had built-in floppy drives. The ST would save Atari – close to bankruptcy by the time of its launch – and go on to commercial success, sharing the home computer market with the Commodore Amiga for a number of years.
No, Apple was afraid of GEM becoming widely available on the PC, which was beginning to approach the Macintosh in terms of hardware capabilities, and could become a serious threat if combined with decent graphical operating system.ĭigital Research ended up agreeing to change many elements of GEM on the PC in order to satisfy Apple (and Microsoft would be made wary not to borrow too much from the Macintosh for their Windows software), but the Atari version would remain untouched, allowing Atari to continue to unofficially market the ST as a “budget Macintosh”. It had icons that represented disk drives (represented as drawers from filing cabinets), applications (although not customisable as they were on the Macintosh), documents and the Trash (a particularly egregious theft from Apple’s Finder.) GEM had a menu at the top of the screen, a “Desk” menu extremely similar to the Macintosh’s “Apple” menu – it’s no surprise Apple was unimpressed with GEM.Īpple sued Digital Research, but not because they were concerned about competition from Atari – the ST appealed to a much different market than the Macintosh. Like the Macintosh, the ST used a mouse for much of its user interaction. Tramiel wanted to give his new computer a user-interface layer similar to the Macintosh, but for a much lower price, and GEM fit the bill nicely, especially since Digital Research had no interest in 68000-based computers, it being fully focussed on the Intel 80286.
Tramiel licensed GEM (short for Graphics Environment Manager) from Digital Research, who had initially developed it for their CP/M operating system and later ported it to MS-DOS.
While the Atari ST’s specifications were impressive, what really stole the show was its operating system, GEM. In the end, neither amounted to much, and Atari announced the 520ST at the 1985 Winter Consumer Electronics Show. Meanwhile, Atari and Commodore were suing and counter-suing each other: Commodore alleged Tramiel had stolen the technology behind the ST, and Tramiel moved to prevent Commodore from acquiring the Amiga, which had been originally promised to Atari. It also came standard with MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) ports for controlling synthesisers, making it attractive to musicians. Like the Commodore 64, the ST could be plugged into a television for casual video-gaming, but additionally it could use a colour or monochrome monitor – the latter of which featuring a higher resolution than the Macintosh, an appeal to those in the then-emerging world of desktop publishing. Based on the same Motorola 68000 processor used in the Apple Macintosh, the Atari ST (the ST apparently standing for “sixteen/thirty-two” although some have speculated it stood for “Sam Tramiel” after Jack’s son), was designed to be attractive to a wide variety of computer users. Surviving on its remaining video-game inventory, the new company went to work developing Tramiel’s new 16-bit computer. Tramiel renamed Tramel Technology to Atari Corporation, shut down most of Atari’s offices, liquidated its existing stock and fired its staff, replacing them with former Commodore employees. Tramiel saw an opportunity to leverage Atari’s manufacturing infrastructure and made a deal to acquire the division in exchange for stock in his new company. So, in early 1984 he formed a new company, Tramel Technology (spelt without an ‘i’ to encourage people to spell his name correctly), and lured a number of Commodore engineers to jump ship and come work for him.Ītari had not been doing well, and Atari’s owner, Warner Communications, was looking to shed what it saw was “dead weight” in the form of Atari’s consumer products division.
Tramiel knew that a 16-bit computer was next on the horizon for Commodore, and he wanted to beat them to the punch. After Commodore Founder Jack Tramiel was forced out by his board, he decided, after a brief hiatus, to get revenge.