Pirates...

From: Fred Cisin <cisin_at_xenosoft.com>
Date: Tue Jun 22 21:36:18 1999

> #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.

On Tue, 22 Jun 1999, Chandra Bajpai wrote:
> #2 is incorrect...the movie is absolutely correct on that fact.

The movie was correct about SCP, (although the sign in the movie, ...).
But the movie was still completely wrong about MICROS~1 approaching IBM
about the idea of an OS ("It's called DOS") IBM approached MICROS~1 for
BASIC and CP/M.

> Seattle
> Computer Products developed QDOS for some product of theirs. The guys name
> is Tim Patterson. Gates bought the rights for $50K, renamed it and licensed
> to IBM. Little know fact is that SCP retained the right to distributed
> MS-DOS at no charge as long as they bundled hardware...amazingly they were
> the only ones...SCP (at this point called Patterson Labs) was shipping
> MS-DOS with a 8088 chip (hardware) to get around the restriction..this was
> sometime in the mid-80's.
At one point, Patterson's company was called Falcon Technology.

> MSFT bought Patterson Labs thereafter, Tim
> Patterson went to work for Phoenix Technologies (BIOS guys) and I don't know
> what happened after that. I was buying DOS from Phoenix and remember
> reading about in Computer Reseller News.

Further interesting details:
Patterson was about to fold up his company and sell off its assets. A
few biggies (AT&T?, ...) were interested in an unlimited royalty-free
MS-DOS license. Microsoft filed suit to block the sale, claiming that it
was 1) non-transferrable, 2) for v1.00, NOT all subsequent (THE EXACT same
contract-writing incompetence as the Apple v MICROS~1 suit!). In a
bizarrely uncharacteristicly sensible move, MICROS~1 made the purchase,
eliminating the whole problem rather than letting it blow up into further
lawsuits.

> There is also a hidden story about IBM going to Digital Research and them
> shooing them off. From a friend who worked at DRI as a sales guy and knew
> Kildall well...he said the story was really bent out of shape. He said the
> IBM showed up on the wrong day, Kildall was out flying his plane and was

Unconfirmed UL:
When the IBM people showed up on the wrong day in a phalanx of blue suits,
some of the DRI people thought that it was a drug raid.

> unreachable. DRI/Mrs. Kildall spent the day on the phone with IBM's lawyers
> trying to pound out an acceptable Non-Disclosure. If you any of you have
> every dealt with IBM you know that they *rarely* every sign NDAs and their
> legal staff is slow. So they left after a day of this. Gary was mad at his
> wife..if he was there they would have talked without the NDA. This same
> guy...one of the best OEM salesguys you'll ever meet was personally
> recruited by Gates to join him around that point. He didn't like
> Gates...besides that he was working at DRI, they were the damn king of the
> hill! Don't feel bad for my buddy though he went on to make millions at
> Phoenix Technologies and SystemSoft, probably not as much as if he went to
> work for MSFT.
> This story isn't as juicy as the ones in print.
> -Chandra

Was your friend one of those interviewed in the Computer Chronicles
eulogy?
Received on Tue Jun 22 1999 - 21:36:18 BST