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Skyles Electric Works

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Skyles Electric Works
Company typePrivate
IndustrySoftware industry
Founded1978; 46 years ago (1978) in Cupertino, California, United States
FounderBob Skyles
Defunct1993 (1993)
FateDissolution
Headquarters
Mountain View
,
United States
ProductsSoftware
Number of employees
13 (1985–1987)

Skyles Electric Works is a company founded in 1978 in California by Bob Skyles, a former Commodore engineer, to produce hardware add-ons for the Commodore PET. Like Apple Computer, it began in a garage in Cupertino, California, but for most of the company's existence it was based in nearby Mountain View.[1] The company employed 13 between 1985 and 1987 and reached annual sales of over $501,000 in those years.[2][3]

The first products from Skyles Electric Works were memory expansions and keyboards (the first PETs had calculator-style keys which were unsuited to touch-typing).[4]

The earliest software products were firmware, including the Command-O and Disk-O-Pro, which enhanced the BASIC language of the PET.[5]

The company also published cassette and disk-based software including Busicalc, the first spreadsheet program for the Commodore 64, and which was licensed from Supersoft in England.[6][7] Busicalc and the follow-up products Busicalc 2 and Busicalc 3 were highly successful in the US market during 1983 and 1984,[8]: 19  and encouraged Skyles Electric Works to source other similar products which were rebranded to form part of the Busi series, notably Busidata .[9] Another C64 title was the game Megapede written by Paul Andrus.[10] Among the company's last offerings were memory expansion boards for the 500, 1000, and 2000 models of the Amiga computer.[11]

Skyles Electric Works dissolved in 1993.[12]

References

  1. ^ Bagnall, Brian (2010). Commodore: A Company on the Edge. Variant Press. pp. 120, 169, 176. ISBN 9780973864960 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Microcomputer Market Place. Dekotek. 1985. p. 184. ISBN 0835219402 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Microcomputer Market Place. Dekotek. 1987. p. 247 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Bagnall, Brian (2010). Commodore: A Company on the Edge. Variant Press. pp. 175–176. ISBN 9780973864960 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Staff writer (September 1981). "For the PET". Computer Dealer. 4 (9). Gordon Publications: 130 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Milewski, Richard A. (1984). InfoWorld's Essential Guide to the Commodore 64. Harper & Row. pp. 61–63. ISBN 9780066690056 – via the Internet Archive.
  7. ^ Byers, Eugene (April 1983). "Other Programs". Midnite Software Gazette (12): 35 – via the Internet Archive.
  8. ^ Silveria, Terry (May 1984). "Spreadsheets for the C-64". Ahoy!. 1 (5). Ion International: 18–21, 34, 93–94 – via the Internet Archive.
  9. ^ Staff writer (December 1984). "Skyles Electric Works". Run (12). CW Communications: 133 – via the Internet Archive.
  10. ^ "Skyles: Megapede". MayhemUK. n.d. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021.
  11. ^ AC's Guide to the Commodore Amiga: Spring-Summer '90. PiM Publications. 1990. p. 131. ISSN 1046-2953 – via the Internet Archive.
  12. ^ "Skyles Electric Works". OpenCorporates. n.d. Archived from the original on November 14, 2022.
  •  Wikimedia Commons has a file available for a 1980 catalog of Commodore PET–related products by Skyles Electric Works.
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