Dragon / Dragonsoft

Kenfig Industrial Estate, Margam, Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, SA 13 

Dragon computers are one of the "nearly" stories of the UK hardware industry. A good design and early success undermined by a parent company in financial difficulties. My aunt brought one on clearance in 1984 because she wanted to get one of these new-fangled computer thingies everyone was going on about, and for a long time that was my only experience of the Dragon range. A bit of a joke. A cautionary tale about what happens when go into Dixons and ask the salesman what computer they recommend and trust them to sell you the latest technology.

Atarisoft

I'd like to go back to the Atari well one more time to talk about the short-lived Atarisoft UK range. I originally planned to make this part of the Atari article but it was just too long. In America, the label was a success, at least at first. Whatever plans Atari UK had for the range were disrupted at the end of July 1984 when Warner Communications sold the consumer division of Atari to Jack Tramiel. Atarisoft UK rapidly stalled and although a few games slip out across the remainder of 1984, its surprisingly difficult to make sense of what happens or why.

Atari Corp (UK) Ltd

Atari House, Railway Terrace, Slough, SL2

Atari was founded in 1972, and it took 10 years for them to cross the Atlantic and set up their UK subsidiary. This was well after Commodore, who arrived in 1969 in their guise as a manufacturer of typewriters, and just before Activision, who set up their UK branch in the autumn of 1983. At least, that's the simple answer. I thought the story of Atari UK was going to be an easy one to write. I was wrong.