Quote:

Bit of a problem then that the C128/C64 were almost entirely seen as games computers by the late 80s. Which was one of Commodore's main problems - not knowing it's market. It lived off some early successes for years, spent next to nothing on R&D, and didn't know how to compete even if they could. By the 90s they were beyond all recovery.

If I can steer things back on point, the much-maligned Mehdi Ali came to Commodore when it was already a basket-case heading for oblivion. He gleefully asset-stripped it of course, but was not responsible for its downfall (although traditionally Commodore fanboys, as fanboys do, like to look for easy answers that don't impinge on the rose-tinted views of their heroes).

Ben Hermans, on the other hand, came to a platform that was commercially almost dead, but had a thriving retro community. Within six years, his divisive tactics had pretty much turned the tens of thousands of people into dozens. It goes beyond even failed business plans - he couldn't have done much more damage if he had a secret grudge and had intentionally squandered a fortune in trying to destroy it.