Filfre has, as always, great story about it: https://www.filfre.net/2012/05/the-ibm-pc-part-2/ https://www.filfre.net/2012/05/the-ibm-pc-part-2/ https://www.fil

Filfre has, as always, great story about it: https://www.filfre.net/2012/05/the-ibm-pc-part-2/ https://www.filfre.net/2012/05/the-ibm-pc-part-2/ https://www.filfre.net/2012/05/the-ibm-pc-part-3/ https://www.filfre.net/2012/05/the-ibm-pc-part-3/ >Paul Allen negotiated an agreement with SCP owner Rod Brock in January, implying that Microsoft had a whole stable of customers eager to run 86-DOS. The deal would essentially allow Microsoft to act as middleman — or, if you like, retailer — in these transactions. For each customer to whom they sold a license for 86-DOS, they would pay SCP $10,000, or $15,000 if the license also included the source code. [...] One clause buried in the contract might have raised a red flag: “Nothing in this licensing agreement shall require Microsoft to identify its customer to Seattle Computer Products.” Brock later said, “That seemed strange to us, but we agreed to go along.” In reality, of course, Microsoft had no stable of eager licensees. They had just one, the biggest fish of all: IBM. Microsoft sold just one license under the agreement, acquiring IBM’s operating system for them complete with source for just $25,000.