"Although the machine had important flaws, the Commodore 64 design team created a fantastic machine at very low cost which soundly thrashed the competition for years. How did they do it and why would it prove to be nearly impossible for Commodore (and most other companies) to replicate process in the future? The design success is widely attributed to the fact that engineers were not intending to build a computer, just some chips, so the corporate bureaucrats left them alone. Engineers did the core market research and developed their own standards."