As someone who was an adult when the Commodore came out (it was the first computer I bought), I can say firsthand there were several reasons it was successful:

As someone who was an adult when the Commodore came out (it was the first computer I bought), I can say firsthand there were several reasons it was successful: it was extremely cheap, there was a lot of software available, and there were few alternatives that you could just plug and play. Back then nobody talked about ‘8-bit’ they way they do today—it was just a computer, and you could even buy one at Toys r Us. I think I paid $399 for mine, an unheard of cheap price back then, even cheaper than Radio Shack’s Trash 80s.