🚀 go-pugleaf

si...@MCS.COM (Kevin Martin) wrote:

>Huh?

>IBM had the Intel 8086/8088 in mind before it solicited OS people.  CPM/80
>was probably envisioned as the primary OS, but when Microsoft bought DOS
>1.0 from someone else and fixed it up a little, they were in the right
>place at the right time (and Digital missed out, as the legends say).  DOS
>1.0 was so awful it had to be rewritten from scratch for 2.0.

>The details are rough, but my paragraph above is much closer to true than
>yours.  Jeez.

"Rough" is a good word. Here are the *facts*: 

IBM had a processor *in mind* when it approached Microsoft about doing
a BASIC for the new machine - they HAD NOT made a decision on the
processor yet. Jack Sams of IBM discovered that "Gates and his crew
obviously new quite a bit about hardware design as well", so Sams
"gave him sort of an open invitation to tell us what was needed."
(from "Gates", by Stephen Manes & Paul Andrews, page 152). Gates
pushed for many things, including "a 16-bit design instead of the
outmoded 8-bit". 

Sams also contacted Gates regarding an OS, and Gates initially
referred him to Gary Kildall of DRI, who was off flying his plane and
missed the meeting - probably one of the most expensive airplane rides
in history. Sams called Gates back and told him it was up to Gates to
find an OS for the new PC, or the languages deal was off. This info
can be found in "Big Blues", by Paul Carroll (pages 17-19).

Maybe you should double check your *own* statements before you shoot
your mouth off....

Scott