The Atari Accountant, the most expensive program for Atari computers
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After nearly four decades of mystery, a copy of The Atari Accountant, also known as the most expensive program for Atari 8-bit computers, was recently located and shared.
The first reference to this accounting software dates back to June 1980, when it was mentioned at the Summer Consumer Electronic Show in Chicago (USA), as reported by Bill Langeon his blog Atari 8-Bit Ads
It was a package aimed at small business owners so that they could take advantage of the benefits of computerized accounting without having to learn computer programming.
The Atari AccountantIt consists of a general accounting master module, with accounts receivable and payable; as well as two other independent modules for inventory recording and complementary functions. Each module was priced at USD 499.95. That is to say,The complete series - which occupied 13 diskettes - was sold for USD 1,499.85
But that's not all: The Atari Accountant required the user to have theAtari 815, a dual-density disk drive, which cost about USD 1200. Although if you wanted to take advantage of all the program's features, you also needed an Atari 850 interface (USD 179) and an Atari 825 printer (another USD 779).
In 1981, Atari promoted the program in some magazines, but for obvious reasons of cost, it was never distributed widely. Publications of the time even announced that The Atari Accountant General Accounting System (CX401) would be replaced in 1982 by another, cheaper package with fewer requirements for the consumer.
Since then, there has been speculation that a few collectors had copies of the program in their original cases. Fortunately, Curt Vendel, founder of the Atari Museum, found a copy while rummaging through the dumpster behind the former Atari headquarters in Sunnyvale, California.
Vendel handed the find over to Kevin Savetz, co-host of the Atari 8-bit podcast "ANTIC," who scanned all the documentation and, with the help of experts from the AtariAge site, recovered and repaired all the information on the disks, so that the program can now be run from any drive.
It is worth noting that the discovery was particularly fortunate, as Atari included a backup copy with the main diskettes, which allowed the recovery of sectors lost due to disk ageing. It should also be remembered that, even under the best storage conditions, the useful life of 5.25 disks is 35 years at most.
The Atari Accountant Series
Download | Unknown sizeSize: 44 Mb
With information fromAtari 8-bitAtari Wiki
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