13 Apr
2005
13 Apr
'05
12:45 p.m.
On Tue, 12 Apr 2005, Classic Computers wrote:
GW stands for Gordon Whitten, a Microsoft employee.
If you Google gw-basic, you'll find a couple of places
that say Greg Whitten, but it's Gordon.
I have no facts, other than I recall when GWBASIC was new, and I
recall it as "gee whiz basic". For what that memory is worth.
Is there a contemporary (1980-ish) document that states this
alleged fact? That's the only thing that would convince me.
It sounds like the retroactive renaming of the unix mail client
pine. The man page now says "Program for Internet News and Email"
but I am quite certain -- and can probably dig up docs -- that in
the early 1990's it used to mean "Pine Is Not Elm", elm being a
pine-like predecessor (nice tautology, huh?!).
But in the corporate oughts (2x0x) that is too humane I guess.