ANTIC Interview 40 - Doug Carlston, Br0derbund

Published: May 6, 2015, 7 a.m.

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Doug Carlston, Broderbund CEO

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Doug Carlston was co-founder and CEO of the software publisher Broderbund.

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Broderbund published many hits across several platforms, including Bank Street Writer, Print Shop, A.E., Choplifter, Lode Runner, Karateka, Spelunker, David\'s Midnight Magic, and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego.

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This interview occurred March 5, 2015.

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LINKS

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AtariMania.com\'s List of Br0derbund Games

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Teaser quotes:

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"So we thought it\'d be funny to call it Br0derbund and put a slash through the O. Caused all kinds of grief."

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"There was a competition between us and a number of other companies like Sierra Online and Sirius Software to see how many [products] we could get on the best seller list at the same time. I think maybe the best we ever did was something like 6 products out of 30."

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"It was kind of a game: we had very talented engineers in-house who loved to try to put copy protection on, and sometimes carried it to unfortunate lengths."

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"I drove across the country and back over 5 weeks and sold about $15,000 worth of software, and often ended up staying at the homes of the people who owned the little computer stores. I would just look up a name of a computer store in every town I went through and zigzag across the country."

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