27 Oct
2006
27 Oct
'06
10:31 p.m.
On Fri, 2006-10-27 at 18:44 -0700, Fred Cisin wrote:
Ah, thanks.
Everybody who was around had hold of different pieces
of that elephant.
Indeed!
Apparently
that was sufficient, as nobody
got sued. Bill Gates then bought out SCP -- I'm unclear if it was the
whole company or just the O/S product, and a legend was born.
just the OS. and both Tim Patterson ("Falcon Tech"?) and
SCP retained rights to use and
market the OS!
Much later (1987?) when SCP was on the rocks, a number of biggies,
reputedly including AT&T were very interested in the asset of a royalty
free license. MS sued, but then they settled out of court by MS buying
SCP. (MUCH cheaper than the lawsuit would have been!)
Oh, thanks! This is a much more comforting reason why I remember
BOTH Microsoft buying the O/S AND the company. Previously, I was going
with some form of dementia. I like the idea of two separate purchases
(and memories) MUCH better.
If not for the SPECIFIC incident, (Gary flying up to
Oakland for the day
when IBM was scheduled to meet), DRI (once "Intergalctic Digital
Research"!) would still have lost it - there was an extreme level of
culture clash. IBM, with their dress code, etc.) was SHOCKED at what they
saw in Pacific Grove. And (UNCOFIRMED), when the staff at DRI first saw
the IBM people arriving, they thought it was a drug raid.
Probably the LONG term outlook would have been separate, but IBM
wasn't expecting the success they had with the PC, so I think they would
have gone with DRI alone, without Gary's literally flying off. Gary
could be annoying to deal with. I'm given to understand that he also
did some touch-and-go landings for practice on the way back, and met the
IBM v.i.p.s at the airport without knowing who they were. Ouch. That
was when they decided to go with that "snot-nosed kid up near Seattle."
Peace,
Warren E. Wolfe
wizard at voyager.net