I have to thank the UK for sending me a Spectrum 48 back in 85. It started everything for me. And yeah, I had the CD32 with SX1 expansion. Post order from the uk, pre internet times. Good video.
You've produced many great videos over the years, Dan, but without doubt this is the best by far. I always thought David Pleasance was a true gent, and this interview only confirms that. An absolute legend. It makes you wonder what could have been.
Absolutely amazing interview! Didn't quite know what to expect so it was really surprising and refreshing to hear such a frank and detailed description of the times and the goings on behind the scenes. Clearly the guy even now has passion about the company and the system so it adds even more to the "in hindsight" feeling I have about commodore and the decisions that let to its demise. Top marks Dan, excellent video, even had the disk drive chugging away in the background!
Dan, I am from Spain but I can understand your videos, you speak very slowly and nice to make understand... I love it when ypu speak about the Amiga Commodore. I still have an Amiga 500 and Amiga 1200, but they are in the closet with a lot of original games. I was searching in internet about you because I can't stop watching your videos, you are a video-radio presenter, DJ, ghost writer... wow amazing. Sorry for my mistakes, I hope you can read this!!!
Thanks Dan for a great interview. Your questions drew out deep responses and gave me new insight into those last days. Can't wait for any others that you were able to get.
Great stuff Dan, a really insightful interview. I work in technology demand generation, dealing with similar organisations to the old Commodore, and it's refreshing to listen a guy who obviously knows his stuff and who took a pragmatic approach to moving his business forward. I have no doubt that if his consortium's takeover bid hadn't have been derailed, the Commodore story would have been be a very different one.
That was a great interview! I remember reading his comments in every issue of Amiga Format, and thought he sounded like an awesome guy, and watching this interview proves it. Thanks again
This was the best video I have ever seen and a credit to you Dan ask a simple question and never interrupted the reply once so a huge thank you to you both as this was wonderful and a joy to watch and makes me proud to be part of the Amiga scene ,very best wishes to you both and more of this please, very best wishes Brian.
I took a casual interest in the interview as an A1200 user back in the day (040 add-on) and got sucked into it.. it was very interesting and enlightening. Very honest and direct interview. Good stuff.
Many thanks for this wonderful and insightful interview. We can really learn a lot from chaps like David. He comes across as being accomplished but humble and dare I say it a salesman with a conscience - a rare breed indeed :)
37:25 Wow. 8O Overall, this was something else. Thanks so much for posting this. Hands down the most interesting interview of the old Commodore fame crew. Alongside Haynie's talks. I always thought highly of David Pleasance. Back then I figured he would work it out, had he a decent lineup of current hardware to sell and future hardware to market. Hearing his thoughts first-hand is really interesting!
I love this video for 3 reasons. 1. It's the most enjoyable interview I've seen with DP so far, great job Dan. 2. The fact that the power cable drops out of the monitor when David said the word "polarity" in regards to the unsaleable imported monitors. 3. That you will possibly never use a microphone as a prop ever again, but well done on going the distance Dan! lol
very captivating interview i remember monthly buying all the amiga formats,amiga powers,cu amigas etc and the cover stories were all about David Pleasance and Escom at the time.I had got to the point in mid 90`s where i was buying every new computer console on release from my little independent at the time and as much as i loved my amiga 500 which i was late coming into btw around 1991 my parents bought it me when i was 15 i had just started a part time job and all my money went on new games and then pirated floppies in the end, but i longed for something new from commodore as nothing else out there did it for me such as mega cd etc although i bought one.The 1200 was was around the corner i always wanted one but could never justify due to all the bad takeover news etc.Then i got news of this cd32 which was a 1200 but a game console now this was just what i wanted and couldnt resist regardless of the company collapsing ,so i bought this along with every game that got released and all the bits and bobs so i could eventually turn this into a computer but eventually my heart sank as i saw in magazines of all these games that were in production at the time and yet each month the magazines run have the same demos on each time nothing new. Untiil eventually magazines got closed down,none of these promised games came and i was just left with a few 1200 ports of games with cd sound .Makes me wonder if he would have thought about the consumer after all going back to the commodore plus 4 selling them in the uk to unsuspecting parents should he have bought the Commodore Amiga brand?,I dont know anyway i personally have purchased many more dead consoles over the years until i hit lucky with a playstation but even so im not sure if its my age or what but nothing makes me want to play more than an amiga .....ps sorry about my punctuation i just can never be arsed with it
Super interesting interview Dan. I must admit that I didn't know mr. Pleasance but it's amazing to hear some behind the scenes stuff from such an iconic company.
The amiga’s hardware scene is bigger than it ever was. The amount of stuff you can buy for them today is mind blowing. Ok software wise it’s nowhere near but as an owner of 4 Amigas it’s great to see the passion and creativity of the retro community going stronger than ever.
Absolutely stellar interview---it is a damn shame this fellow got undermined the way he did by folks that certainly didn't have the best interests in the people, the legacy up to then, or any real designs on the future in mind beyond leveraging a few bucks on the sly. You probably have all sort of other videos to come of the stripe considering just how many events there have been of late---but I'd have to reckon this is in the running for being hallmark content for this channel by far.
great interview skills (letting the man talk, as someone below mentioned, without constantly interrupting him :) ) with what seems a real gentleman of business. Thanks David for your contribution to what was so many people's formative years with a Commodore and the path it set them on.
Putting aside all the "ifs" and "what's" and "why's?"... one thing you can say for sure is David pleasance's huge passion and dedication to the Amiga and its success. You could almost sense from the interview the genuine hurt he felt when the company finally went to the wall.
Ah David - thank you for giving this great interview to Dan! Certainly your batman pack gave my parents confidence in buying a product which wasn't just a games machine, but also for productivity and learning, they would not have done so otherwise!. The Amiga gave me my future career certainly! Although young at the time, Commodores direction made no sense and when the Amiga died out lots of unanswered questions. Everything really does come out in the fullness of time. You and Commodore UK came so so close to changing the world we have today, unlucky. Great times and memories.
Oh my god this is an amazing video I shared it so many times, thank you Dan Wood and thank you David. In school my first computer was a commodore pet then I bought a Commodore 64 but by the time the Amiga came out Commodores practically dead in North America and it was hard to find their stuff in Canada. The one computer I always wanted but never had it was the Amiga. Fantastic video with some real insight to Commodores most successful division thank you very much guys.
Watching this great interview, with batman completely coincidentally loaded in WinUAE on my desktop in the corner, feeling so happy that I've recently repurchased a batman pack in box. Can't wait!!!! Just like 30 years ago.
This is very insightful - Pleasance is a great guy - he is not just blowing his own trumpet - he Cleary knew what he was doing and Commodore should have appointed him as international MD !
Was awesome to be at the event to meet so many Amigans, In and out of the industry. Was also a pleasure to meet Ravi and yourself Dan! Was a great interview, glad to have been there to see it behind the scenes. So looks like Mic didn't work after all bud?
I was just doing a little research on what Medhi Ali has been up to since Commodore went belly-up..Ironically, he is a partner in some company which finances buy-outs of businesses. There is a line in his bio on the web-site which made me literally LOL : "His principal experience includes serving as the President of Commodore International, where he accomplished a major operational turnaround." So true, Medhi, so true....
It was such an amazing era. We've all stood in Dixons, Rumbelows etc or browsed the pages of the catalogues looking at the machines. It was so exciting. Always wanted an Amiga but had the CPC464 which was great also.
Wow. It's rare to hear anything like this from David P. I always wondered about his take on things and listening to Dave Hanie's side in comparison to this; they more or less match up. It's such a shame what happened. I met Mr. P once at the Novotel in Hammersmith at the mere age of 14 when they were giving away a gold (sprayed and badged up limited edition) Amiga 500+ It was also the same place 'Walker' was debut and Scala was there demonstrating some video toaster stuff .... good times and wild memories
What an absolute gentleman and mountain of wisdom. Yes, it did deliver dreams. When I was a teenager I wanted to be a computer engineer because of the Amiga.
A simply brilliant interview. Pleasance is without a doubt a very talented and experienced businessman and anyone who lays blame on him for involvement in Commodore's demise (and plenty have) need a headcheck. His plans to take the company forward had they raised the funds are unorthodox and would have carried the company in a slightly different direction but make complete sense from a business standpoint, as does the concept of delivering AAA systems under new name. In 1993, AAA was nothing short of completely groundbreaking and revolutionary -- even if it had not made market until 1995, the specs took a steaming dump on even the most decked out and souped up Intel-based systems of the day. I still have the fax that was sent out by Commodore Australia to all of the user groups announcing their closure. Good times.
I guess when your desperate for $$$... your crazy enough to do anything... I mean Escomm didn't exactly last long neither. Money sure talks. but in this case, in the wrong way
Great Interview..Ive just watched Bedroom to Billionaires for the Amiga so this was a nice accompaniment. Fascinating to hear some of the decisions that were made and that the UK was in fact a healthy business.
What a great person David Pleasance seems to be and his plan for the buyout for Commodore made great sense and I believe it would have succeeded. Look at what Microsoft did in the early days, they licensed out DOS to IBM and kept the rights instead of selling it outright which was a great plan. Pity they didn't get to buyout Commodore, things could have been different and they could have been a Global giant in the Tech/Computer field.
love the interview, but felt sad to see that interviews related with Commodore are not done in a Grand public way like a TED interview and be watched by hundred of thousands.
Really revealing interview. Enjoyed it. Thanks. As the commenter below me said, you, very haunting that monitor blew out at precisely the moment that statement was said.
Now there's a blast from the past! I met Dave a number of times when I used to work on Amiga Format - he was a genuinely nice guy who's hands were tied by the idiots in Commodore HQ in the States. Talking of the Batman pack, I remember when the Batman game was in development. Myself and a group of journos got to visit Ocean's offices to get an exclusive preview of the game. Good times :-)
Back in the day, all of us Amiga owners in the US were very frustrated to have a computer that could easily blow the doors off any machine on the market, but nobody had ever heard of it. I hated it when I'd tell someone I had an Amiga and they'd go: "uh... what?" The only thing worse than that was the condescension we got from Mac and PC users, dismissing the Amiga as nothing more than a "game machine", and hearing shit like: "Maybe some day you'll get a 'real' computer". And since there was absolutely ZERO coverage of the Amiga in the media of the day (apart from dedicated magazines), there was nothing to change their minds about that. We'd get all excited to see an Amiga ad on TV, but then never saw another one, wondering why Commodore seemed adverse to ANY kind of marketing or advertising?! We'd be dismayed by watching Commodore make one stupid mistake after another, chasing markets that had no use for the machine, and coming out with products that nobody asked for, while watching software developers abandon the Amiga one by one. When I first got an Amiga, it felt like that computer was from the frickin' future! And we thought it would BE the future. We all assumed the Amiga would dominate the market once everyone got a load of it, but it's hard for people to get hip to a machine they don't know exists! Back then, we didn't know how popular the Amiga (and Commodore in general), was in the UK and Europe, but being a Commodore user in the US felt like being the red-headed stepchild of the computer world.
Wow that's a sad story, I'm sure after hearing this that David & Co. would have taking care of Commodore and Amiga much much better and the future would have looked different today. Amiga was and still is a amazing machine.
I started a job with a PC reseller in '96 and as I was walking in, a kid from my school was walking out as he'd taken a job with Escom. By the following Monday he was back. Apparently he got a call on the Friday evening to say Escom were going bust and to rescind his notice at work if he could...on to of that, the engineering company I'd come from had an Escom PC which blew the CPU. Last thing I did before leaving was to get it replaced under warranty. If it'd blown a week later, they wouldn't have honoured the warranty and the CPU cost about £250 in those days...
Fascinating insight, thanks! :) David seems to have been one of the few people in Commodore's management that had their head screwed on the right way, but even so, hearing him talk about quick-buck licensing deals makes my stomach go queasy. Isn't this the key reason we hate all these post-bankruptcy upstarts cashing in on the notoriety and cachet of the Commodore brand? The recent Commodore smartphone being the perfect example. I doubt diluting Commodore's hard-won reputation would have helped their long-term prospects. I'd also take issue with his comment about the A600 being inferior to the A500. For someone looking to buy an entry level Amiga who didn't already own one and didn't care about losing the keypad, it was the obvious choice. The A500 was enormous and came with that clunky TV modulator, and by this point miniaturization had progressed sufficiently enough to allow these 'flaws' to be fixed. You could argue that Commodore should have been looking forwards, not back, at this point, though I believe they already had that angle covered. While the A600 didn't advance the technology in any way, people who wanted the model that *did*, and had the extra cash to spend, could buy the A1200. There's nothing wrong with extending the life of a product while there's still a market for it. Consider the revamped VW Beetle and camper van, or the Mini for recent examples.
The A600 was more expensive to produce than the A500 and you gained nothing. That was his big issue. Had they been able to do it cheaper than the 500 then it would've been a winner as he could've sold it at a cheaper price.
Great interview (how interviews should be done ie: the interviewer simply asking questions and not interrupting every couple of minutes with his "opinions" on things)... :-) As for the the actual content, well the content was nothing new or surprising but mainly left me feeling with once again with no surprise that it just reinforced my long held beliefs that no matter who it was that worked for Commodore/ Amiga on the business side were the type of people whom if you were sitting in their company in pub you wouldn't leave your wallet on the table with them when you went to the loo and that includes Mr Pleasance... :-/ I know that's gonna get the "fanboys" of former Commodore/ Amiga salesmen and business execs renting and raving (gawd knows why anyone would be a "fanboy"/ "hero worshiper" of a businessman though) but unless you are just a "Fanboy" of such people then it'll probably have gone completely and conveniently past your blinkered eyes the hypocrisy of what was actually said in that interview... Right from the start all was revealed regarding the actual hypocrisy of what was said later in the interview about certain people in the whole sordid story of Commodore/ Amiga having no "business ethics". Mr Pleasance sat there finding it all quite amusing how he took £20 million and more of some guys money by selling him the Plus4 which he basically admits himself was a dead donkey... where's the "business ethics" in that which Mr Pleasance accused all others in this sad saga of the complete shady and incompetent dealings that ALL involved in the business side of this sad story share !!! No I aint some gullible little muppet whom thinks that running a business big or small is all a bed of roses and everyone involved plays fair and does so with such good honest ethics, course they don't... to be really successful in any business you have to be the type of person with a ruthless streak, tread all over others on your way up, not be adverse to telling a few porky pies and dissing you competition rivals (all the while of course with a big smile on your face and remembering to come across as the "the good guy" and "Mr Nice")... Thing is though... When you actually get plonked down in front of camera to "give your side of the story" you'd think with all those years of experience of smoke & mirrors and stretching of the truth (ie: Salestalk) that you'd have the brains to NOT start off an interview where you criticise others shady "business ethics" by revealing your own lack of "business ethics" with such obvious glee... guess you can blame that on the old overinflated ego eh... ;-) Gawd... 30 years on and still they take pride in being a part of the downfall of what was the greatest home computer the world has even seen... :-/ There was I time long ago when I might have actually cared about all this... happily these days I don't and just find all these hypocrites and bullshitters a sort of "train wreck TV" that you can't help but watching just to see & hear what the next amazing Walter Mitty tale they can come up with and best of all watching in amazement and bemusement that those telling it can actually say it with a straight face... Only Amiga eh !!!
MadFranko008 I remember windows 95 coming out and then the Playstation was there in the same year. So even if David had tried his best the cards were already stacked against Commodore big time. The world keeps turning Atari and Sega both fell from grace and from a much higher position. My experience was that I needed a pc for university and they had IBM machines which ran windows, I had to sell my Amiga 500 and 1200 to get a 286 dx 66. And after I had rented out a Playstation from blockbusters there was no way back. Just about every student had a Playstation and Sony actually made sure games were not totally awful. (most of the time) It was interesting to hear what happened, and really unfair it was how Escom sold the Amiga user out, but I think that the massive losses at Commodore and the speed of technological change had already done the damage. Losing to Escom probably just saved David from chasing his tail down the plughole.
Enjoyed that thanks! I never owned an Amiga (practically lived around a friend's house one summer holidays though to play Civilisation on his Amiga 500 all day every day for weeks).... Keep meaning to get one though to see what I really missed out on (I was a PC fan from the start) - shame we don't have thrift shops in the UK, so have to rely on eBay...
+Steve Cooper There are Retro gaming shops scattered about the country but they almost never have anything computer related. It's all consoles... I did see a 48K spectrum for sale in one in Norwich once. But yeah, Ebay is best.
What an astonishing bloke. If only they'd listened to him, then Commodore would still be with us and giving Apple, Dell and Microsoft a run for their money. A true legend. Somebody please make him Sir David.
Wise words. Selling dreams indeed. I remember that concept very well from those times., and did a little work for them packs writing guides. Nice interview, shame the venue was noisy but you grab interviews when and how you can. CBM America had no plan. Yes.
Big thanks for this video! I got a lot of answers to things I have been wondering about. One thing that still intrigues me is what would have happened if Thomas Rattigan was allowed to work as CEO in Commodore? He basically saved the Company and put it on right track during the short time in the helm. Could he have continued in strengthening the Company and Amiga?
getting my first amiga 1200 when I was about 11 years old was one of the best times of my life! something so special about inserting floppy disks and loading up amiga exclusive games was a special feeling.I even swapped my brand new 1200 for my mates 600 because I wanted to play games like lotus 3 and first samurai! It really was a special time.I still have a A600 in my atic but I have the emulator on my pc and I have recently spent many evennings playing amiga classics rather than playing the latest titles on my high end gaming rig!
Thanks for interview, found that really interesting. I was hoping Commodore would survive and the Amiga would compete but looking back now I don't think it would have. The best thing Commodore did was buy the Amiga but in 1994 the technology was barely improved from 1985. With the right hardware the CD32 could have completed with PlayStation, the Amiga had so many great games companies, they would have made a great start. Wipeout could have been on the cd32 had it been new hardware. I never understood the A600, surely the A500 must have been cheaper to produce after all those years, a A500 slim might have made more sense. instead of licencing toasters which would cheapen the brand, they should have licensed the OS to be used in set top boxes etc. From what David said the Amiga was going to become a PC clone, if that happened I feel it would lose its appeal unless the OS was improved.
Thanks for the Great videos.. I have to upgraded to Amiga Forever 2016..... I have now got the Amiga bug back... Pity my mum threw away my Amiga 1200T with 060 blazzard card in 200 ;-(
+Paul Bennett I disagree in the stongest terms. The corperate backslapping knocks me sick and is exactly an example of the bullshit this asshole did when he should have been promoting and upgrading the amiga range. Lost count of the number of times he was in mags talking stupid bullshit about how he was gonna save the amiga brand and smiling his ass off when the the amiga was slowly dying due to this idiots incompitence. now we know what he was doing when he claimed to be working. Medhi ali was stupid but DP is just a complete wanker that killed the brand. and lied to his customers over and over. I was 12 years old when this idiot was there and *I* could have told you then how to fix the business and my opinion hasnt changed. Im not smart, hes an idiot who preached to his customer base instead of listening to them.
+Kreig I assume you know what happened? David pleasance was attempting to buy amiga and escom(or whoever it was) did a backhanded deal and well... we know the rest
yeah i watched it and i heard his bs. i also know that he sat on his hands largly and did nothing. the amiga wasnt dated when he tried to buy it. It was massivly outdated. because he did nothing for development for YEARS. hes a wanker boxshifter that should never have been put in charge of a technology company. listen to his idea for the brand (YEARS after he took charge) licence it, market it. Where is AGA-2? nope never existed until 2 years after it was relavent. even then its a pipe dream because no specs were ever released. i hate this guy. corprate fat cat. Amiga was an awesome dream by talented guys, this guy is a saleman boxshifting idiot. This guy would have just dragged out the amiga 1200s painful,painful death. like escom. except we would have hate amiga like we hate sega now. because cd32-miditv.
+Kreig The only difference between his idea for amiga nd sega nowadays is amiga (uk or otherwise) were never wise enough to fully back a mascot for a largly game machine. We dont get to see zool whored out to iphone devs like sonic. lol Gremlin were 1% smarter than commode uk.... go figure. :D
at least we can both agree, we are both passionate about the Amiga .Who knows , maybe someone will pull it back out of the bag. There are certainly enough enthusiasts about.
Just love this interview and David seems the perfect guy to give a happy ending to Commodore's journey. What i've just heard from this interview was absolutely ridiculous i am so sad for the amount of stupidity that was going on at the time on the US headquarters and the blood sucking people who just didn't give a crap about the bussiness and what it stood for. How can a guy like Petro still be around after all that stupidity? Thank's a lot Dan for this testemony. I'm anxious to see other interviews with more Commodore guys.
I have to thank the UK for sending me a Spectrum 48 back in 85. It started everything for me. And yeah, I had the CD32 with SX1 expansion. Post order from the uk, pre internet times. Good video.
You've produced many great videos over the years, Dan, but without doubt this is the best by far.
I always thought David Pleasance was a true gent, and this interview only confirms that. An absolute legend. It makes you wonder what could have been.
Absolutely amazing interview! Didn't quite know what to expect so it was really surprising and refreshing to hear such a frank and detailed description of the times and the goings on behind the scenes. Clearly the guy even now has passion about the company and the system so it adds even more to the "in hindsight" feeling I have about commodore and the decisions that let to its demise. Top marks Dan, excellent video, even had the disk drive chugging away in the background!
Dan, I am from Spain but I can understand your videos, you speak very slowly and nice to make understand... I love it when ypu speak about the Amiga Commodore. I still have an Amiga 500 and Amiga 1200, but they are in the closet with a lot of original games. I was searching in internet about you because I can't stop watching your videos, you are a video-radio presenter, DJ, ghost writer... wow amazing. Sorry for my mistakes, I hope you can read this!!!
This should be required viewing in business management courses. Unbelievable amount of knowledge in a short interview. Well done Dan!
Thanks Dan for a great interview. Your questions drew out deep responses and gave me new insight into those last days. Can't wait for any others that you were able to get.
What a fantastic interview. One of the best I have watched.
David Pleasance is my grandpa, his son Marcel Pleasance is my dad
Your grandpa did some great things, talk to him about it, you're a lucky grandson :) He sold dreams to kids like me! Ciao!
@@vix_in_japan Great user name,you're a fan of said game i assume?.
freaky
met your granddad at zzap64 event a couple of weeks ago
Brilliant interview, thanks very much.
Great stuff Dan, a really insightful interview. I work in technology demand generation, dealing with similar organisations to the old Commodore, and it's refreshing to listen a guy who obviously knows his stuff and who took a pragmatic approach to moving his business forward. I have no doubt that if his consortium's takeover bid hadn't have been derailed, the Commodore story would have been be a very different one.
That was a great interview!
I remember reading his comments in every issue of Amiga Format, and thought he sounded like an awesome guy, and watching this interview proves it.
Thanks again
One of the most interesting interviews i have seen thank you
This was the best video I have ever seen and a credit to you Dan ask a simple question and never interrupted the reply once so a huge thank you to you both as this was wonderful and a joy to watch and makes me proud to be part of the Amiga scene ,very best wishes to you both and more of this please, very best wishes Brian.
I took a casual interest in the interview as an A1200 user back in the day (040 add-on) and got sucked into it.. it was very interesting and enlightening. Very honest and direct interview. Good stuff.
Many thanks for this wonderful and insightful interview.
We can really learn a lot from chaps like David. He comes across as being accomplished but humble and dare I say it a salesman with a conscience - a rare breed indeed :)
***** Absolutely, he's a top guy and very open and honest.
Interviewed like a true pro! Outstanding work Dan!
37:25 Wow. 8O
Overall, this was something else. Thanks so much for posting this. Hands down the most interesting interview of the old Commodore fame crew. Alongside Haynie's talks.
I always thought highly of David Pleasance. Back then I figured he would work it out, had he a decent lineup of current hardware to sell and future hardware to market. Hearing his thoughts first-hand is really interesting!
Defiantly a keeper.
nice video Dan , David is a mine of information and a nice guy too :-) greta to see you both at the show and in Amsterdam too
What a great guy and thanks Dan for the awesome interview.
Would love to meet him some day!
An excellent interview. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Not sure how i stumbled on this, but really excellent and fascinating interview. Hats off. Thank you.
I love this video for 3 reasons.
1. It's the most enjoyable interview I've seen with DP so far, great job Dan.
2. The fact that the power cable drops out of the monitor when David said the word "polarity" in regards to the unsaleable imported monitors.
3. That you will possibly never use a microphone as a prop ever again, but well done on going the distance Dan! lol
very captivating interview i remember monthly buying all the amiga formats,amiga powers,cu amigas etc and the cover stories were all about David Pleasance and Escom at the time.I had got to the point in mid 90`s where i was buying every new computer console on release from my little independent at the time and as much as i loved my amiga 500 which i was late coming into btw around 1991 my parents bought it me when i was 15 i had just started a part time job and all my money went on new games and then pirated floppies in the end, but i longed for something new from commodore as nothing else out there did it for me such as mega cd etc although i bought one.The 1200 was was around the corner i always wanted one but could never justify due to all the bad takeover news etc.Then i got news of this cd32 which was a 1200 but a game console now this was just what i wanted and couldnt resist regardless of the company collapsing ,so i bought this along with every game that got released and all the bits and bobs so i could eventually turn this into a computer but eventually my heart sank as i saw in magazines of all these games that were in production at the time and yet each month the magazines run have the same demos on each time nothing new. Untiil eventually magazines got closed down,none of these promised games came and i was just left with a few 1200 ports of games with cd sound .Makes me wonder if he would have thought about the consumer after all going back to the commodore plus 4 selling them in the uk to unsuspecting parents should he have bought the Commodore Amiga brand?,I dont know anyway i personally have purchased many more dead consoles over the years until i hit lucky with a playstation but even so im not sure if its my age or what but nothing makes me want to play more than an amiga .....ps sorry about my punctuation i just can never be arsed with it
Super interesting interview Dan. I must admit that I didn't know mr. Pleasance but it's amazing to hear some behind the scenes stuff from such an iconic company.
Hey Dan, great interview. Loved the inside look provided. Keep up the great videos.
The amiga’s hardware scene is bigger than it ever was. The amount of stuff you can buy for them today is mind blowing. Ok software wise it’s nowhere near but as an owner of 4 Amigas it’s great to see the passion and creativity of the retro community going stronger than ever.
Absolutely stellar interview---it is a damn shame this fellow got undermined the way he did by folks that certainly didn't have the best interests in the people, the legacy up to then, or any real designs on the future in mind beyond leveraging a few bucks on the sly. You probably have all sort of other videos to come of the stripe considering just how many events there have been of late---but I'd have to reckon this is in the running for being hallmark content for this channel by far.
great interview skills (letting the man talk, as someone below mentioned, without constantly interrupting him :) ) with what seems a real gentleman of business. Thanks David for your contribution to what was so many people's formative years with a Commodore and the path it set them on.
Putting aside all the "ifs" and "what's" and "why's?"... one thing you can say for sure is David pleasance's huge passion and dedication to the Amiga and its success. You could almost sense from the interview the genuine hurt he felt when the company finally went to the wall.
Great interview with Mr Pleasance,love hearing more about the back story of commodore.
Ah David - thank you for giving this great interview to Dan! Certainly your batman pack gave my parents confidence in buying a product which wasn't just a games machine, but also for productivity and learning, they would not have done so otherwise!. The Amiga gave me my future career certainly! Although young at the time, Commodores direction made no sense and when the Amiga died out lots of unanswered questions. Everything really does come out in the fullness of time. You and Commodore UK came so so close to changing the world we have today, unlucky. Great times and memories.
What an interesting interview and what a lovely, down to earth fella.
Great interview Dan! Interesting to get the low down on what happened back then, and straight from David himself too.
Great stuff!
Thanks for posting this Dan. Always enjoy watching your channel. Keep it up!
I'm hooked..
Oh my god this is an amazing video I shared it so many times, thank you Dan Wood and thank you David. In school my first computer was a commodore pet then I bought a Commodore 64 but by the time the Amiga came out Commodores practically dead in North America and it was hard to find their stuff in Canada. The one computer I always wanted but never had it was the Amiga. Fantastic video with some real insight to Commodores most successful division thank you very much guys.
David Pleasance did such a good job marketing the A500, I still want one today!!!
Watching this great interview, with batman completely coincidentally loaded in WinUAE on my desktop in the corner, feeling so happy that I've recently repurchased a batman pack in box. Can't wait!!!! Just like 30 years ago.
Thanks Dan and David, great interview.
This is very insightful - Pleasance is a great guy - he is not just blowing his own trumpet - he Cleary knew what he was doing and Commodore should have appointed him as international MD !
Was awesome to be at the event to meet so many Amigans, In and out of the industry. Was also a pleasure to meet Ravi and yourself Dan!
Was a great interview, glad to have been there to see it behind the scenes. So looks like Mic didn't work after all bud?
AdamOutdoors You too mate, nah someone had been dicking on with the levels it seems :/
Fantastic interview!!! Really appreciate this vid!
I was just doing a little research on what Medhi Ali has been up to since Commodore went belly-up..Ironically, he is a partner in some company which finances buy-outs of businesses.
There is a line in his bio on the web-site which made me literally LOL :
"His principal experience includes serving as the President of Commodore International, where he accomplished a major operational turnaround."
So true, Medhi, so true....
Yeah I've seen that before, that's certainly one way of putting it lol
At least he is honest :D
great event, great to meet you Dan! fantastic interview!
It was such an amazing era. We've all stood in Dixons, Rumbelows etc or browsed the pages of the catalogues looking at the machines. It was so exciting. Always wanted an Amiga but had the CPC464 which was great also.
Wow. It's rare to hear anything like this from David P.
I always wondered about his take on things and listening to Dave Hanie's side in comparison to this; they more or less match up. It's such a shame what happened.
I met Mr. P once at the Novotel in Hammersmith at the mere age of 14 when they were giving away a gold (sprayed and badged up limited edition) Amiga 500+
It was also the same place 'Walker' was debut and Scala was there demonstrating some video toaster stuff .... good times and wild memories
Absolutely fantastic interview!
This was awesome! Thank you!
Simply fantastic interview Dan, thanks for this. Are you up at Play Manchester in October?
What an absolute gentleman and mountain of wisdom. Yes, it did deliver dreams. When I was a teenager I wanted to be a computer engineer because of the Amiga.
A simply brilliant interview. Pleasance is without a doubt a very talented and experienced businessman and anyone who lays blame on him for involvement in Commodore's demise (and plenty have) need a headcheck. His plans to take the company forward had they raised the funds are unorthodox and would have carried the company in a slightly different direction but make complete sense from a business standpoint, as does the concept of delivering AAA systems under new name. In 1993, AAA was nothing short of completely groundbreaking and revolutionary -- even if it had not made market until 1995, the specs took a steaming dump on even the most decked out and souped up Intel-based systems of the day.
I still have the fax that was sent out by Commodore Australia to all of the user groups announcing their closure. Good times.
38:56 Ironic what he just said and the monitor appear to die :) am sure I heard it spark.
Steven Whiting Haha yes it got unplugged, it was almost midnight, we were getting kicked out of the room
+Steven Whiting Yes I laughed so Hard at this. Really think it was purposeful because of the timing. That was hilarious.
Yes i thought it went then too and thats what they sound like when they go. and what timing too, spooky
Excellent Dan bloody excellent my friend !
thoroughly enjoyed the video Dan!
Great interview Dan. Thank you! Had no idea David try to buy the company. If only he'd have been able to we'd probably still be using Amigas today.
I guess when your desperate for $$$... your crazy enough to do anything... I mean Escomm didn't exactly last long neither.
Money sure talks. but in this case, in the wrong way
@@Tech-geeky Such a shame David didn't get the company. Things would have been very different.
i cant believe I missed this event. I live near Peterborough. Bloody heck!
Great Interview..Ive just watched Bedroom to Billionaires for the Amiga so this was a nice accompaniment. Fascinating to hear some of the decisions that were made and that the UK was in fact a healthy business.
thanks for posting
enjoyed the interview
Great interview, more please! Couldn't make Peterborough so thanks for covering the event. x86 / ARM Amiga now! etc ;)
awesome video/ interview thanks Dan.
What a great video. Very straight forward and intelligent fella is young David.
What a great person David Pleasance seems to be and his plan for the buyout for Commodore made great sense and I believe it would have succeeded. Look at what Microsoft did in the early days, they licensed out DOS to IBM and kept the rights instead of selling it outright which was a great plan. Pity they didn't get to buyout Commodore, things could have been different and they could have been a Global giant in the Tech/Computer field.
love the interview, but felt sad to see that interviews related with Commodore are not done in a Grand public way like a TED interview and be watched by hundred of thousands.
Really revealing interview. Enjoyed it. Thanks. As the commenter below me said, you, very haunting that monitor blew out at precisely the moment that statement was said.
Great interview loved it - Thanks and what could of been
Now there's a blast from the past! I met Dave a number of times when I used to work on Amiga Format - he was a genuinely nice guy who's hands were tied by the idiots in Commodore HQ in the States.
Talking of the Batman pack, I remember when the Batman game was in development. Myself and a group of journos got to visit Ocean's offices to get an exclusive preview of the game. Good times :-)
Very interesting interview. Thank you.
Great interview - thanks Dan. Planning any other such interviews soon?
What a great interview.
Thanks +Dan Wood (kookytech.net) Great info/interview! You rock mate \m/
brilliant video mate, loved it!
I have a Signed Photo Of him and Another guy back from the 80s Lol.. So Nice to see him around again.. I will have to scan and post it here lol..;-)
Thanks for posting! Interesting stuff. Understandably, David doesn't look like his photo in the old Amiga Format magazine any more... ;)
Great interview, cleared up a lot of questions that I had
great interview - thanks
Back in the day, all of us Amiga owners in the US were very frustrated to have a computer that could easily blow the doors off any machine on the market, but nobody had ever heard of it.
I hated it when I'd tell someone I had an Amiga and they'd go: "uh... what?" The only thing worse than that was the condescension we got from Mac and PC users, dismissing the Amiga as nothing more than a "game machine", and hearing shit like: "Maybe some day you'll get a 'real' computer". And since there was absolutely ZERO coverage of the Amiga in the media of the day (apart from dedicated magazines), there was nothing to change their minds about that.
We'd get all excited to see an Amiga ad on TV, but then never saw another one, wondering why Commodore seemed adverse to ANY kind of marketing or advertising?!
We'd be dismayed by watching Commodore make one stupid mistake after another, chasing markets that had no use for the machine, and coming out with products that nobody asked for, while watching software developers abandon the Amiga one by one.
When I first got an Amiga, it felt like that computer was from the frickin' future! And we thought it would BE the future. We all assumed the Amiga would dominate the market once everyone got a load of it, but it's hard for people to get hip to a machine they don't know exists!
Back then, we didn't know how popular the Amiga (and Commodore in general), was in the UK and Europe, but being a Commodore user in the US felt like being the red-headed stepchild of the computer world.
Really nice interview, such a great man. Commodore 4 Ever! :-)
Wow that's a sad story, I'm sure after hearing this that David & Co. would have taking care of Commodore and Amiga much much better and the future would have looked different today. Amiga was and still is a amazing machine.
I started a job with a PC reseller in '96 and as I was walking in, a kid from my school was walking out as he'd taken a job with Escom. By the following Monday he was back. Apparently he got a call on the Friday evening to say Escom were going bust and to rescind his notice at work if he could...on to of that, the engineering company I'd come from had an Escom PC which blew the CPU. Last thing I did before leaving was to get it replaced under warranty. If it'd blown a week later, they wouldn't have honoured the warranty and the CPU cost about £250 in those days...
Fascinating insight, thanks! :)
David seems to have been one of the few people in Commodore's management that had their head screwed on the right way, but even so, hearing him talk about quick-buck licensing deals makes my stomach go queasy. Isn't this the key reason we hate all these post-bankruptcy upstarts cashing in on the notoriety and cachet of the Commodore brand? The recent Commodore smartphone being the perfect example. I doubt diluting Commodore's hard-won reputation would have helped their long-term prospects.
I'd also take issue with his comment about the A600 being inferior to the A500. For someone looking to buy an entry level Amiga who didn't already own one and didn't care about losing the keypad, it was the obvious choice. The A500 was enormous and came with that clunky TV modulator, and by this point miniaturization had progressed sufficiently enough to allow these 'flaws' to be fixed.
You could argue that Commodore should have been looking forwards, not back, at this point, though I believe they already had that angle covered. While the A600 didn't advance the technology in any way, people who wanted the model that *did*, and had the extra cash to spend, could buy the A1200. There's nothing wrong with extending the life of a product while there's still a market for it. Consider the revamped VW Beetle and camper van, or the Mini for recent examples.
The A600 was more expensive to produce than the A500 and you gained nothing. That was his big issue. Had they been able to do it cheaper than the 500 then it would've been a winner as he could've sold it at a cheaper price.
Great interview (how interviews should be done ie: the interviewer simply asking questions and not interrupting every couple of minutes with his "opinions" on things)... :-)
As for the the actual content, well the content was nothing new or surprising but mainly left me feeling with once again with no surprise that it just reinforced my long held beliefs that no matter who it was that worked for Commodore/ Amiga on the business side were the type of people whom if you were sitting in their company in pub you wouldn't leave your wallet on the table with them when you went to the loo and that includes Mr Pleasance... :-/
I know that's gonna get the "fanboys" of former Commodore/ Amiga salesmen and business execs renting and raving (gawd knows why anyone would be a "fanboy"/ "hero worshiper" of a businessman though) but unless you are just a "Fanboy" of such people then it'll probably have gone completely and conveniently past your blinkered eyes the hypocrisy of what was actually said in that interview...
Right from the start all was revealed regarding the actual hypocrisy of what was said later in the interview about certain people in the whole sordid story of Commodore/ Amiga having no "business ethics". Mr Pleasance sat there finding it all quite amusing how he took £20 million and more of some guys money by selling him the Plus4 which he basically admits himself was a dead donkey... where's the "business ethics" in that which Mr Pleasance accused all others in this sad saga of the complete shady and incompetent dealings that ALL involved in the business side of this sad story share !!!
No I aint some gullible little muppet whom thinks that running a business big or small is all a bed of roses and everyone involved plays fair and does so with such good honest ethics, course they don't... to be really successful in any business you have to be the type of person with a ruthless streak, tread all over others on your way up, not be adverse to telling a few porky pies and dissing you competition rivals (all the while of course with a big smile on your face and remembering to come across as the "the good guy" and "Mr Nice")...
Thing is though... When you actually get plonked down in front of camera to "give your side of the story" you'd think with all those years of experience of smoke & mirrors and stretching of the truth (ie: Salestalk) that you'd have the brains to NOT start off an interview where you criticise others shady "business ethics" by revealing your own lack of "business ethics" with such obvious glee... guess you can blame that on the old overinflated ego eh... ;-)
Gawd... 30 years on and still they take pride in being a part of the downfall of what was the greatest home computer the world has even seen... :-/
There was I time long ago when I might have actually cared about all this... happily these days I don't and just find all these hypocrites and bullshitters a sort of "train wreck TV" that you can't help but watching just to see & hear what the next amazing Walter Mitty tale they can come up with and best of all watching in amazement and bemusement that those telling it can actually say it with a straight face... Only Amiga eh !!!
MadFranko008 I remember windows 95 coming out and then the Playstation was there in the same year. So even if David had tried his best the cards were already stacked against Commodore big time.
The world keeps turning Atari and Sega both fell from grace and from a much higher position.
My experience was that I needed a pc for university and they had IBM machines which ran windows, I had to sell my Amiga 500 and 1200 to get a 286 dx 66. And after I had rented out a Playstation from blockbusters there was no way back. Just about every student had a Playstation and Sony actually made sure games were not totally awful. (most of the time)
It was interesting to hear what happened, and really unfair it was how Escom sold the Amiga user out, but I think that the massive losses at Commodore and the speed of technological change had already done the damage.
Losing to Escom probably just saved David from chasing his tail down the plughole.
Enjoyed that thanks! I never owned an Amiga (practically lived around a friend's house one summer holidays though to play Civilisation on his Amiga 500 all day every day for weeks).... Keep meaning to get one though to see what I really missed out on (I was a PC fan from the start) - shame we don't have thrift shops in the UK, so have to rely on eBay...
+Steve Cooper There are Retro gaming shops scattered about the country but they almost never have anything computer related. It's all consoles...
I did see a 48K spectrum for sale in one in Norwich once.
But yeah, Ebay is best.
What an astonishing bloke. If only they'd listened to him, then Commodore would still be with us and giving Apple, Dell and Microsoft a run for their money. A true legend. Somebody please make him Sir David.
Wise words. Selling dreams indeed. I remember that concept very well from those times., and did a little work for them packs writing guides. Nice interview, shame the venue was noisy but you grab interviews when and how you can. CBM America had no plan. Yes.
Big thanks for this video! I got a lot of answers to things I have been wondering about. One thing that still intrigues me is what would have happened if Thomas Rattigan was allowed to work as CEO in Commodore? He basically saved the Company and put it on right track during the short time in the helm. Could he have continued in strengthening the Company and Amiga?
getting my first amiga 1200 when I was about 11 years old was one of the best times of my life! something so special about inserting floppy disks and loading up amiga exclusive games was a special feeling.I even swapped my brand new 1200 for my mates 600 because I wanted to play games like lotus 3 and first samurai! It really was a special time.I still have a A600 in my atic but I have the emulator on my pc and I have recently spent many evennings playing amiga classics rather than playing the latest titles on my high end gaming rig!
Great interview.
Thanks for interview, found that really interesting. I was hoping Commodore would survive and the Amiga would compete but looking back now I don't think it would have. The best thing Commodore did was buy the Amiga but in 1994 the technology was barely improved from 1985. With the right hardware the CD32 could have completed with PlayStation, the Amiga had so many great games companies, they would have made a great start. Wipeout could have been on the cd32 had it been new hardware. I never understood the A600, surely the A500 must have been cheaper to produce after all those years, a A500 slim might have made more sense. instead of licencing toasters which would cheapen the brand, they should have licensed the OS to be used in set top boxes etc. From what David said the Amiga was going to become a PC clone, if that happened I feel it would lose its appeal unless the OS was improved.
Thanks for the Great videos.. I have to upgraded to Amiga Forever 2016..... I have now got the Amiga bug back... Pity my mum threw away my Amiga 1200T with 060 blazzard card in 200 ;-(
I feel you. My mom also threw away my Amiga 1200. i had an 68030 accelerator though.
Great interview, Dan. You should do more like it.
Please bring the AMIGA Back!!
amazing interview, !
Great story and great Interview!
What a legend of a man. Shame he and us were cheated of the reboot the Amiga absolutely deserved.:)
+Paul Bennett I disagree in the stongest terms.
The corperate backslapping knocks me sick and is exactly an example of the bullshit this asshole did when he should have been promoting and upgrading the amiga range. Lost count of the number of times he was in mags talking stupid bullshit about how he was gonna save the amiga brand and smiling his ass off when the the amiga was slowly dying due to this idiots incompitence. now we know what he was doing when he claimed to be working. Medhi ali was stupid but DP is just a complete wanker that killed the brand. and lied to his customers over and over.
I was 12 years old when this idiot was there and *I* could have told you then how to fix the business and my opinion hasnt changed. Im not smart, hes an idiot who preached to his customer base instead of listening to them.
+Kreig I assume you know what happened? David pleasance was attempting to buy amiga and escom(or whoever it was) did a backhanded deal and well... we know the rest
yeah i watched it and i heard his bs. i also know that he sat on his hands largly and did nothing. the amiga wasnt dated when he tried to buy it. It was massivly outdated. because he did nothing for development for YEARS. hes a wanker boxshifter that should never have been put in charge of a technology company. listen to his idea for the brand (YEARS after he took charge) licence it, market it. Where is AGA-2? nope never existed until 2 years after it was relavent. even then its a pipe dream because no specs were ever released. i hate this guy. corprate fat cat.
Amiga was an awesome dream by talented guys, this guy is a saleman boxshifting idiot.
This guy would have just dragged out the amiga 1200s painful,painful death. like escom. except we would have hate amiga like we hate sega now. because cd32-miditv.
+Kreig The only difference between his idea for amiga nd sega nowadays is amiga (uk or otherwise) were never wise enough to fully back a mascot for a largly game machine. We dont get to see zool whored out to iphone devs like sonic. lol
Gremlin were 1% smarter than commode uk.... go figure. :D
at least we can both agree, we are both passionate about the Amiga .Who knows , maybe someone will pull it back out of the bag. There are certainly enough enthusiasts about.
Amazing interview
Just love this interview and David seems the perfect guy to give a happy ending to Commodore's journey.
What i've just heard from this interview was absolutely ridiculous i am so sad for the amount of stupidity that was going on at the time on the US headquarters and the blood sucking people who just didn't give a crap about the bussiness and what it stood for.
How can a guy like Petro still be around after all that stupidity?
Thank's a lot Dan for this testemony. I'm anxious to see other interviews with more Commodore guys.
Great interview, very insightful.
Awesome interview. Thanks for the dreams :)
Very intresting interview,Thank,s
Fantastic video, thanks for posting :)
Thanks for sharing ;)
Cheers!