Neil Harris: Commodore, Atari, GEnie

Neil Harris started at Commodore as a member of the VIC-20 launch team, then continued to be a writer, programmer, and product manager there. He moved to Atari, where he was from 1984 to 1988. There he was hardware products manager, director of communications, and director of publications. He worked on Atari Explorer magazine, and wrote a bit for other publications including Compute!'s First Book of Atari and STart magazine. He later moved on to the GEnie online service.

This interview took place on March 31, 2016. In it, we discuss Bill Louden, whom I previously interviewed.

Teaser quotes:

"The Ataris were really good computers. ... The view inside of Commodore was that the Ataris, especially the 800, was over-engineered."

"Every person in Silicon Valley either had a close family member or a close friend who had been laid off by Jack [Tramiel]. ... You know, we were not the golden children. We were not Apple."

Color Wheel for the Atari: http://www.atariarchives.org/c1ba/page085.php

Atari Base BBS article: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v5n10/ataribulletinboard.html

ST:1999 article in STart magazine: http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv3n7/st1999.html