When I was a kid, I somehow ended up with a copy of the 1989 edition of The Secret Guide to Computers, by Russ Walter. While it was already outdated by the time

When I was a kid, I somehow ended up with a copy of the 1989 edition of The Secret Guide to Computers, by Russ Walter. While it was already outdated by the time I got it (this would be around 1995 or 1996), I found it an absolutely fascinating resource for a number of reasons. One, it was my introduction to programming, and the tutorials in the book really opened my eyes. Two, it was filled with a wealth of information about the home computer era, which was something that I never really got to experience firsthand: my family had Macs when I was little (I was born in '84, and my parents got a Mac Plus in '86, starting my love affair with computers), and we eventually switched to PCs in the mid 90s. All I knew firsthand about the era was from the Apple II models at school. Reading this book introduced me to a whole new history featuring companies I knew next to nothing about, such as Commodore, Atari, and Tandy. Anyway, a few stories about Commodore's history were imprinted on me thanks to this book, and I'm going to repeat them here from memory. One: The PET's launch was filled with problems. Commodore originally wanted a guaranteed retail channel, so when they first started developing the PET, they approached Tandy about a partnership where Commodore would make the computer and Tandy would sell it. Tandy politely declined Commodore's offer... because Commodore sold them on the idea making of a home computer so well that Tandy decided they should both make and sell their own computer, cutting Commodore out of the loop and resulting in the TRS-80. The PET's development was filled with delays, and by the time it actually launched, the TRS-80 has beaten it to market. It was already obsolete by the time it came out, and then IIRC they had problems introducing the floppy drive as well, with its launch plagued by delays and mechanical problems. When Commodore began work on the VIC-20, they weren't so much following up a successful product with a next generation as they were desperately trying to make up for the PET's problems. Two: With the VIC, Commodore found out that naming a computer was harder than it looks, especially when you're trying for an international launch. They originally wanted to name it the Vixen to promote it as sleek and sexy, but the name ended up being too sexy for the European market since "Vixen" is pronounced like Wichsen, which is German for "masturbation". So they shortened it to Vic. Unfortunately, they discovered that a German would pronounce it like Fick, which means "fuck". Ultimately, they decided to go with different names for different markets: they named it VIC-20 in the US and VC-20 (short for "VolksComputer") in Europe. On a similar note, the medicine company Vicks had the same problem, so they chose to spell their name as Wicks in Germany.