22 Jun
1999
22 Jun
'99
9:20 p.m.
On Tue, 22 Jun 1999, van burnham wrote:
#2 IBM came to Microsoft looking for an operating
system for the IBM PC,
not the other way around. Microsoft originally sent IBM to Gary Kildall
(developer of CP/M) who refused to meet with them. IBM returned to Gates
who, in turn, bought the OS from Kildall himself for $50K and then licensed
it back to IBM. These facts were totally inaccurate in the film.
MICROS~1 did NOT buy from Kildall. Q-DOS (which later became MS-DOS and
PC-DOS) was written by Tim? Patterson of Seattle Computer Products. In
"Pirates", the sign on the building reads "Seattle Computer Company".
Was it ever called that?
Was $50K the correct amount?
The true story would be even more interesting than the show, what with
the whole Kildall/IBM meeting story, "Project Commodore", etc.
I've always loved the revisionist version by Kildall's friends that it was
a "legitimate business trip to deliver some documentation to Godbout".
Yeah, right. "Legitimate business" for the CEO to blow off IBM in order
to be his own courier delivery boy. (ref: Computer Chronicles eulogy
show)