ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN AUGUST 1985 CORCOMP CURSOR
ALIVE and KICKIN'
by Chuck Humphries - Navarone Industries
| Several years ago Texas Instruments (TI) developed
a home computer called the 99/4A. It didn’t have all of the bells and whistles
of something like the Macintosh or IBM-AT however, at one point you could
buy fifty 99/4As for the same price as one Macintosh. Consequently, TI
sold quite a few of them (over 2.5 million in the United States alone.)
TI, as you probably know, is a very large, diversified corporation with
many divisions and a wide range of products and services. Because of competition
and continued loss of revenue, TI was forced, in early 1983, to abandon
its interests in the home computer market and to act as though the 99/4A
had never existed. This left the 99/4A without a parent company for support
- an orphan computer This is where my story begins!
This was such an abrupt occurence that no one had any idea what would happen to the 99/4A and its over 2 million users. The obvious possibilities were that 99/4As would become dust collectors in users’ closets or flea market specials for a dollar However, because the machines were very reliable and the market penetration was so widespread, the 99/4A survived its infancy and is coming of age in 1985. Since TI did not encourage third party development of products for the 99/4A, the transition was not an easy one for its users or developers. Large companies like AtariSoft and Imagic continued to develop new products for a short time, but few of the smaller companies were able to survive the landslide effect of unsold TI •products being dumped at below cost prices. As the dust settled over the next 8 to 10 months, a second generation of TI developer began to emerge. CorComp gained recognition as a quality manufacturer of advanced expansion products for the 99/4A. Navarone Industries, who had weathered the storm with products like Console Writer the Cartridge Expander and Disk Fixer is still a major force in the development of new products for the TI. Another exciting, and unprecedented event taking place in the TI community is a progam developed by Navarone whereby user groups can participate as a major contributor in the development of new products. This program allows TI users an opportunity to let developers know, first hand, what they want developed for their machine. They even get to see new products before they are released and can offer suggestions for enhancements and improved design. Some clubs have even initiated their own development projects that, when completed, will distribute their finished product through Navarone. The Tl-99/4A is definitely alive and kickin’ and coming out of the closet. There’s a groundswell of support for the computer that promises to make it an exciting and productive tool for years to come. So, if you have one sitting in your closet you might strongly consider dusting it of f and putting it to work. Just a modest investment today will return you years of enjoyment and satisfaction and it just may turn out to be the comptuer that you’ve always wanted. 99/4A owners began developing a network of dedicated user groups, sharing ideas at monthly meetings and passing the word around that the TI was still alive and growing. The number of user groups grew to over 300 with some metropolitan clubs reporting memberships of over 2,000. As the word spread, international users were brought into the network. With such a revival taking place in the TI community, against what would seem to be incredible odds, you would think that computer magazines would be having a hayday with news stories, editorials, product reviews, and advertising. However, every major publication that had supported the 99/4A abandoned it almost as abruptly as TI had done with little notification or reason. As new developers emerged so did new magazines. MICROpendium and Mini-Mag 99 along with the numerous newsletters generated by local user groups have become the communication medium for the 99/4A. The TI-99/4A user base is one of the largest and most dedicated of any computer today, and their numbers are continuing to grow. People are awakening to the fact that the $50 computer they bought a few years ago is more expandable and powerful than ever before. Not only have the users pooled their efforts, but some developers have been working together to provide better, more compatible products for the 99/4A. CorComp and Navarone have, for some time, been developing companion hardware and software products that make the best use of both products’ capabilities. NAVARONE PRODUCTS
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