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"There are several theories on what the initials "GW" stand for. Greg Whitten, an early Microsoft employee who developed the standards in the company's BASIC co
by smitty1e 6y ago
"There are several theories on what the initials "GW" stand for. Greg Whitten, an early Microsoft employee who developed the standards in the company's BASIC compiler line, says Bill Gates picked the name GW-BASIC. Whitten refers to it as Gee-Whiz BASIC and is unsure if Gates named the program after him. The Microsoft User Manual from Microsoft Press also refers to it by this name. It may have also been nicknamed Gee-Whiz because of its numerous graphics commands. Other common theories as to the initials' origins include "Graphics and Windows", "Gates, William" (Microsoft's president at the time), or "Gates-Whitten" (the two main designers of the program)."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GW-BASIC https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GW-BASIC
- teddyh 6y agoI have no basis for this theory, but I have a hunch that Bill Gates named it “GW-BASIC” after the initials of Greg Whitten, not to give Greg credit, but as a form of disclaimer. Remember, the Basic interpreter was Gates’ own baby (it was Micro-Soft’s original product, written by Gates personally), and Gates may have planned to make a, in his mind, real version of Microsoft Basic later. Therefore, Gates might not have wanted this new Basic, which he might have viewed as an interim version, to be the definitive branded version. Of course, this is all speculation.
- Koshkin 6y agoToo bad he probably stopped reading Hacker News some time back in late 80s, otherwise he could chime in on this.