Very cool! I had an MC-10 when I was a little kid. It was my first computer, and I didn't know anyone else who had one. I didn't have the book with this Arctic Adventure program, but I had another book with an adventure game you could type in. [1] I stayed up past my bedtime and spent significant time typing it in. However, after typing in much of the program, I encountered my very first "out of memory" error. I was astonished that 4KB of RAM wouldn't be enough, and that I was going to need a better computer!
I clearly had the wrong book for that computer. ;)
As the article alludes, the MC-10 was intended to fight super-cheap computers that many thought the industry was moving to, specifically the ZX81 AKA Timex-Sinclair 1000.
Two things happened:
* Americans had more money to spend than Britons, and weren't interested in TS1000 even with 2K of RAM compared to ZX81's 1K.
* Commodore. Specifically, Jack Tramiel so aggressively lowered VIC-20's price—forcing others to follow—that by the time MC-10 hit the market, VIC-20 was already at $99. So was TI 99/4A, preempting TI's own 99/2 import fighter.
Commodore even ended up preempting itself, with (after Tramiel's departure) Commodore 16 ending up selling for more than VIC-20 with zero software.
I clearly had the wrong book for that computer. ;)
[1] https://www.retroprogrammez.fr/listings/aventure/cia/
Two things happened:
* Americans had more money to spend than Britons, and weren't interested in TS1000 even with 2K of RAM compared to ZX81's 1K.
* Commodore. Specifically, Jack Tramiel so aggressively lowered VIC-20's price—forcing others to follow—that by the time MC-10 hit the market, VIC-20 was already at $99. So was TI 99/4A, preempting TI's own 99/2 import fighter.
Commodore even ended up preempting itself, with (after Tramiel's departure) Commodore 16 ending up selling for more than VIC-20 with zero software.