Commodore UK Boss David Pleasance Interview 2015
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- čas přidán 10. 08. 2015
- A fascinating, in-depth chat with the former (and final) managing director of Commodore UK, David Pleasance. David gives the inside story of the glory days and the demise of Commodore, and how he tried to save the Amiga.
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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.
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
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 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.
This should be required viewing in business management courses. Unbelievable amount of knowledge in a short interview. Well done Dan!
What a fantastic interview. One of the best I have watched.
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.
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
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.
Brilliant interview, thanks very much.
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
Interviewed like a true pro! Outstanding work Dan!
One of the most interesting interviews i have seen thank you
An excellent interview. Thanks for sharing it with us!
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
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.
Thanks Dan and David, great interview.
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.
i cant believe I missed this event. I live near Peterborough. Bloody heck!
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.
Hey Dan, great interview. Loved the inside look provided. Keep up the great videos.
What a great guy and thanks Dan for the awesome interview.
Would love to meet him some day!
Absolutely fantastic interview!
Fantastic interview!!! Really appreciate this vid!
This was awesome! Thank you!
Thanks for posting this Dan. Always enjoy watching your channel. Keep it up!
I'm hooked..
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.
awesome video/ interview thanks Dan.
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.
great event, great to meet you Dan! fantastic interview!
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.
Not sure how i stumbled on this, but really excellent and fascinating interview. Hats off. Thank you.
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.
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.
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.
thoroughly enjoyed the video Dan!
Great interview with Mr Pleasance,love hearing more about the back story of commodore.
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
thanks for posting
enjoyed the interview
brilliant video mate, loved it!
Very interesting interview. Thank you.
Great interview loved it - Thanks and what could of been
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
Great interview Dan! Interesting to get the low down on what happened back then, and straight from David himself too.
Great stuff!
What an interesting interview and what a lovely, down to earth fella.
Excellent Dan bloody excellent my friend !
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.
Fantastic video, thanks for posting :)
Great interview, cleared up a lot of questions that I had
David Pleasance did such a good job marketing the A500, I still want one today!!!
great interview - thanks
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.
What a great interview.
What a great video. Very straight forward and intelligent fella is young David.
amazing interview, !
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.
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
Great interview!
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.
Great interview, very insightful.
Amazing interview
Great interview.
Great story and great Interview!
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
Nice interview Dan.
Very intresting interview,Thank,s
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.
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...
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.
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 !
Great interview, Dan. You should do more like it.
Great interview, more please! Couldn't make Peterborough so thanks for covering the event. x86 / ARM Amiga now! etc ;)
Really nice interview, such a great man. Commodore 4 Ever! :-)
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 :-)
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.
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 :/
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.
Great interview - thanks Dan. Planning any other such interviews soon?
Very interesting interview
Awesome interview. Thanks for the dreams :)
Thanks for sharing ;)
Cheers!
bloody great vid thanks!!!!!!!
+Radiant Silver Labs agreed, been a long time since i sat n watched almost a full hour video
Dan, I love your Vids!
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.
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.
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 +Dan Wood (kookytech.net) Great info/interview! You rock mate \m/
Thanks for posting! Interesting stuff. Understandably, David doesn't look like his photo in the old Amiga Format magazine any more... ;)
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.
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!
I remember his face and Kelly Sumner in Amiga Format! All that news of the buyout, but before the internet you had to wait until next months Amiga Format for further news! What a shame it didn't work out, Amiga infinity! Would see to see the case design or prototype.
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.
My favourite demo running in the background 👍 there’s an otamatone rendition of that tune out there.
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.
Yes I was one of those poor sods who ended up with a Plus/4. But I loved it. I later got a C64 a few years after and only recently found out that the Plus/4 was more powerful.
Please bring the AMIGA Back!!
Simply fantastic interview Dan, thanks for this. Are you up at Play Manchester in October?
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.