Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Cassie Maas started at Atari as a sales order processing clerk; then as a member of the marketing team, she evaluated new product ideas; then she worked in technical support, where she was the high-end technical support for word processing, and managed a BBS for user groups. She contributed to the 1984 book "InfoWorld's Essential Guide to Atari" and wrote for Antic magazine and Infoworld.
This interview occurred on April 6 and April 14 2015.
Teaser quotes:
“I was really exited about the computer and I said, ‘Do you think I could get a job there?’ He laughed and snorted... Within a year I not only had a job at Atari, I had his job.”
“I’m not accepting your resignation. You’re going to be laid off like everybody else, on Friday, with a severance package!”
“That place was a fiasco. That place was just - woah! Money was being spent willy-nilly on all kinds of crazy things. People were sleeping with each other. People were cheating on their spouses. I mean, just crazy, crazy stuff went on.”
“So inside I’m totally freaking out, I’m this young kid, I don’t know, am I in really serious trouble? Am I breaking the law?”
Cassie Maas started at Atari as a sales order processing clerk; then as a member of the marketing team, she evaluated new product ideas; then she worked in technical support, where she was the high-end technical support for word processing, and managed a BBS for user groups. She contributed to the 1984 book "InfoWorld's Essential Guide to Atari" and wrote for Antic magazine and Infoworld.
This interview occurred on April 6 and April 14 2015.
Teaser quotes:
“I was really exited about the computer and I said, ‘Do you think I could get a job there?’ He laughed and snorted... Within a year I not only had a job at Atari, I had his job.”
“I’m not accepting your resignation. You’re going to be laid off like everybody else, on Friday, with a severance package!”
“That place was a fiasco. That place was just - woah! Money was being spent willy-nilly on all kinds of crazy things. People were sleeping with each other. People were cheating on their spouses. I mean, just crazy, crazy stuff went on.”
“So inside I’m totally freaking out, I’m this young kid, I don’t know, am I in really serious trouble? Am I breaking the law?”



![Fred DIgnazio, prolific computer magazine/book writer — interview
Fred DIgnazio wrote more than 20 computer books, including Atari in Wonderland and The Atari Playground. He hosted four television shows about computers and robots, and was the gadget guru on Good Morning America. He was an associate editor and columnist for Compute! magazine, where he wrote the columns World Inside The Computer and On The Road With Fred DIgnazio.
This interview was conducted April 10, 2015.
Teaser quotes:
Katie and the Computer, my advance was $300. And I had to split it with my illustrator.
You know Nolan Bushnell, right? ... Hed put his arm around me and say, Fred, Hows it goin in the world of the ankle biters and the little people?
You could hear a pin drop after my speech. There was just this embarrassed silence, like
Who the freaking heck is this joker they hired to speak at our convention?
Fred Demonstrates the Amiga on Tom York’s Morning Show: https://archive.org/details/Tom_York_Amiga_Fred_Dignazio
Fred’s videos and articles: https://archive.org/details/@savetz?and[]=subject%3A%22Fred%20D%27Ignazio%22
Fred’s articles in Compute! magazine: http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/index/index.php?author=Fred+D%27lgnazio
Contact fred: fred.dignazio@gmail.com Fred DIgnazio, prolific computer magazine/book writer — interview](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/V23Y9vnRW_4/mqdefault.jpg)






