+Allan Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 https://rumble.com/vclpib-1985-winter-consumer-electronics-show-part-2.html I stumbled across this. 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbaeza Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 (edited) Link says I am not able to find a 404 or something... Nevermind, link works Ok now. Regards, Luis. Edited January 16, 2021 by lbaeza Clarification Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted January 16, 2021 Author Share Posted January 16, 2021 Odd. If you go to Rumble.com and search for "1985 Winter Consumer Electronics Show, part 2!" you will find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 Never heard of Infinity. Did the software get released or demoed (outside this event) even? Sounded like a really cool package, especially for $50, 1/3rd the price of the $150 Mac software. Odd though - I never ran across a 4MHz Mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almerian Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 Infinity is mentioned in this single post topic https://atariage.com/forums/topic/195232-infinity-by-matrix-software/ Which links to this interesting article: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-03-08-8501130835-story.html 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 (edited) Wow, I would have instantly bought Infinity with my 130XE when I bought it in '85, but I never heard of or seen it ever...I'd still like it today. I'm surprised this stayed unknown and apparently lost for so long! Great find in this video @allen. I read the article linked through the thread linked above. I really wonder what happened...it looks like they had the software ready, but I've never heard of it or Matrix Software...or GAROFALO. A mystery that I'd like solved...well just finding the 8-bit Infinity software would be enough for me. Edited January 16, 2021 by Gunstar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 The demo that was shown at the CES is "out there" at least. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 (edited) Was not just a demo, this was completed but never made it out of Atari. Some beta's were circulated to get reaction and see if there would be any feedback on what to change if anything, without having it pirated or leaked. As per usual, marketing and the powers that be d*cked around til nothing happened. Let's not forget the ST was in the wings, and somebody had a worry... Edited January 16, 2021 by _The Doctor__ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 I didn't say it was never completed, just stating that what appears in the video is a demo and that very piece of software exists (though not sure it has been dumped yet). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari_Ace Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 Unsurprisingly, there was some skepticism about the product at the time. Here's an excerpt from the Atari Scuttlebits column by Bob Kelly (Current Notes, June 1985, page 7): 5. Matrix Software: The Infinity integrated software series has received significant attention - notably from Antic and CompuServe. Let me quote from the April issue of Antic: “The undisputable star of Atari’s new software is Infinity, a second-generation integrated program that’s more powerful than Lotus 1-2-3. Yet it will sell at only $49.95 for XEs and about $70 for the STs... Admittedly, all this is a bit hard to believe about software that can operate with as little as 64K memory. A developer of the program told Antic that Infinity was able to pack in so many advanced features by “optimizing” the assembly language compilation.” This article, as well as several others, left the impression that the software was ready to go and introduction awaited only the hardware. I decided to call Matrix Software and ask them directly about their product. I tried to find the telephone number. Ma Bell’s directory assistance informed me that there was no listing for Matrix Software in Cambridge, Mass. I was stunned (OK, maybe just surprised). I had the impression that Matrix Software was a well established outfit. Other people were contacted. Some sources stated that the Infinity Series may end up being vaporware. Others assured me that Infinity does exist but the progress reported on it’s integrated software package has been exaggerated. It is difficult to evaluate the situation given the information I have at hand. However, I can respond to Antic and its misleading report by saying, “Yes, it is hard to believe since I can’t find the place these guys optimize their infinities at”. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted January 16, 2021 Author Share Posted January 16, 2021 I wonder if any of the living Atari Corp. employees remember any more details of this software and company? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted January 17, 2021 Share Posted January 17, 2021 Vincent Garofalo is the guy in the video: https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ma/042855273 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted January 17, 2021 Share Posted January 17, 2021 Infinity needed 128k, the 64k versions weren't exactly ready for prime time, possible solutions leveraging XE cart banking still left little room to do all things 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 I didn't realize this at the time, but there is a third video from the same account on Rumble that shows more of the Infinity software. https://rumble.com/vclpsv-1985-winter-consumer-electronics-show-part-3.html I was laughing watching it because of what they called the different modules of the program. Warning. Don't be sipping your favorite beverage when you see it. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 at around 13:00 or so you see it in action, he demonstrated using a 65XE utilizing quick smaller texts and examples... on the 130XE it handles larger files and more open apps... multitasking did work but I don't recall if it was preemptive (don't think so). I wonder if this all sits one of those large washing machine drives of Curt's. Some needs to track down the calibration packs to get those suckers back up and running. If the community could do it, I'd wish for a Curt V memorial Atari museum. I know he helped the vintage fairs and museums out, but I think the man deserves to be recognized for all he did with one in his name. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Spancho Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 13 hours ago, Allan said: I didn't realize this at the time, but there is a third video from the same account on Rumble that shows more of the Infinity software. https://rumble.com/vclpsv-1985-winter-consumer-electronics-show-part-3.html I was laughing watching it because of what they called the different modules of the program. Warning. Don't be sipping your favorite beverage when you see it. Now I know where Steve Jobs got the idea for the “i” in iPod, iPhone, iMac etc. He saw iWord, iCalc, iGraph, iComm and iFile:-) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 4 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said: at around 13:00 or so you see it in action, he demonstrated using a 65XE utilizing quick smaller texts and examples... on the 130XE it handles larger files and more open apps... multitasking did work but I don't recall if it was preemptive (don't think so). I wonder if this all sits one of those large washing machine drives of Curt's. Some needs to track down the calibration packs to get those suckers back up and running. If the community could do it, I'd wish for a Curt V memorial Atari museum. I know he helped the vintage fairs and museums out, but I think the man deserves to be recognized for all he did with one in his name. I don't think so. I think Atari Corp. had moved away from using them by that time. I think Curt had one un-released program that Atari was possible going to release from another company and it was just saved on 5 1/4 disks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 (edited) demo disks were distributed at the show also so at least they may show up... Edited January 10, 2022 by _The Doctor__ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Olivia Wong, vice president of research and development. 24 years old in 1985 Fatima Mahdi, vice president of marketing, is 22 in 1985 Vincent Garofalo, 25 in 1985... 19 or so more employees... and a parent company who Vincents dad held a high position in... So are we talking about Vincent or dad, as reporting isn't always the best when we read... Matrix Software`s parent company being Matrix-Systems Group. Garofalo worked there as a programmer and consultant. In a couple of years Garofalo became president, and when he had an idea to sell software to the public, he spun off Matrix Software and ran that, too. lots of chances to find folks that may have something... they seemed very proud of their work and it's crazy to think it's not hanging out somewhere... 10 months of work and they hand delivered stuff along with back ups. we have the interim and the show as well as demo software that was distributed and the follow up. I just have to believe it's going to turn up either by research and contact or another oh crap look what I found or had stored all of these years. Fertile ground to toil around in any case. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkindig Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 (edited) CALL FOR SOFTWARE! I just listened to James Copland and his interview on the recently digitized Computer Cafe radio show (https://archive.org/details/the-famous-computer-cafe-1985-02-08_James_Copland). He talked about the Infinity integrated suite of software. That led me to the 2 videos linked in this thread from CES Winter 1985 (https://rumble.com/vclpib-1985-winter-consumer-electronics-show-part-2.html, https://rumble.com/vclpsv-1985-winter-consumer-electronics-show-part-3.html) that have extensive discussions and demos of the Infinity software. After seeing these demos and hearing about the software, I'd really love to see if we can find anyone who might have it. Supposedly, there were demo disks of it from the CES show. I know the software was never officially released (and no one knows why), but someone who was involved with its creation surely is still around and could possibly have a version of it lying around. This was an amazing piece of integrated (word processing, spreadsheet, graphics, database, telecommunications) software that ran on a 64K computer and allowed 4 documents open at once (more on a 130XE or ST)! I checked all the software CD compendiums I have (Pool Disks 1 & 2, Atari Everything CD, Atari Forever CD, Archive.org TOSEC) and couldn't find it there. Did anyone attend that show and possibly pick up a demo disk? Edited June 25 by rkindig 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 On 1/17/2021 at 9:57 PM, Allan said: I didn't realize this at the time, but there is a third video from the same account on Rumble that shows more of the Infinity software. https://rumble.com/vclpsv-1985-winter-consumer-electronics-show-part-3.html I was laughing watching it because of what they called the different modules of the program. Warning. Don't be sipping your favorite beverage when you see it. I was also laughing at all the BS that Sig Hartman from Atari was spitting out, that of course never came to be. Typical Marketing guy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FifthPlayer Posted June 26 Share Posted June 26 Did this Infinity software ever see the light of day on the ST? The sales rep in the video pointed out it was developed for both the 8 and 16-bit families. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkindig Posted June 26 Share Posted June 26 12 hours ago, FifthPlayer said: Did this Infinity software ever see the light of day on the ST? The sales rep in the video pointed out it was developed for both the 8 and 16-bit families. Good question. I have no idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkindig Posted June 26 Share Posted June 26 By the way, in the video they were hyping the 130ST (that's right, ST!) and 520ST. I find it hilarious that they ever thought 128K was enough for the 68000 machines. (I know, I know, the first Macs had just 128K, but that was ridiculous too). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DjayBee Posted June 26 Share Posted June 26 As hilarious as a 400 with 4K or an 800 with 8K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.