4 ms·

> There is no way successful IBM would commit to Microsoft without a thorough vetting. As I recall, at the time said commitment was made, Microsoft didn't even

by jen20 1y ago

> There is no way successful IBM would commit to Microsoft without a thorough vetting. As I recall, at the time said commitment was made, Microsoft didn't even _have_ an operating system, and subsequently bought QDOS! Their original deal was for languages.

WalterBright 1y ago
Gates convinced IBM that he could build one, as he knew about QDOS, and immediately went and bought QDOS as a base to start with. So, yeah, it was a bit of bluster on his part, but he was able to fulfill the contract.
- wpollock 1y ago
  It wasn't a "base to start with". MS Dos was QDOS. I was a summer intern in the early 1980s with IBM in Kingston, NY, and had access to the source. Gates didn't even bother to remove the SCP copyright notice from the comments, nor the references to QDOS. Too bad "sed" and "awk" weren't available for search and replace back then.
  - canucker2016 1y ago
    Much of the remaining QDOS/PCDOS work was probably adapting to the IBM BIOS. from Tim Paterson's website, https://web.archive.org/web/20190722012644/http://www.patersontech.com/dos/softalk.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20190722012644/http://www.paters... ...In May, he went to Microsoft to work full-time on the PC-DOS version of 86-DOS. "The first day on the job I walk through the door and 'Hey! It's IBM,' " says Paterson, grinning impishly. "I worked at Microsoft a neat eleven months. In May, June, and July I worked on things I hadn't quite finished, refining PC-DOS." International Business Machinations. This was the beginning of an eleven-month hurricane. Almost daily, Paterson shipped stuff to Boca Raton for IBM's approval, and IBM would instantly return comments, modifications, and more problems. "They were real thorough. I would send them a disk the same day via Delta Dash. IBM would be on the phone to me as soon as the disk arrived." Paterson pauses and winds up. He's remembering one request that clashed violently with his view of the project. "IBM wanted CP/M prompts. It made me throw up." But when IBM asks, you comply if you're a lowly programmer, and that is what Paterson did. He finished PC-DOS in July, one month before the pc was officially announced to the world. By this time, 86-DOS had become MS-DOS.
- lproven 1y ago
  > immediately went and bought QDOS Important correction: MS did not buy QDOS -- or SCP. It licensed it. Some years later, when MS-DOS was a big hit, then it licensed it. I suspect this was not in error; it was some form of protective gamble.
  - canucker2016 1y ago
    According to Tim Paterson's blog and Paul Allen autobiography, MS bought SCP's QDOS on 1981 July 27 (MS had a non-exclusive license for QDOS to sell to OEMs). This is before the IBM PC release in August. see https://web.archive.org/web/20190722012644/http://www.patersontech.com/dos/softalk.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20190722012644/http://www.paters...
    - lproven 1y ago
      That was the year after MS initially licensed it. MS did buy it eventually, but not immediately.
      - canucker2016 1y ago
        MS bought SCP's QDOS less than one year after IBM came to them to discuss software for the IBM PC. source - Paul Allen's autobio, Tim Paterson's blog entry.
        lproven 1y ago
        Conceded, OK. It wasn't a hit yet: it was before the PC's launch. Even so, the point remains: it didn't buy it at first.

by jen20 1y ago

WalterBright 1y ago

Gates convinced IBM that he could build one, as he knew about QDOS, and immediately went and bought QDOS as a base to start with. So, yeah, it was a bit of bluster on his part, but he was able to fulfill the contract.

wpollock 1y ago
It wasn't a "base to start with". MS Dos was QDOS. I was a summer intern in the early 1980s with IBM in Kingston, NY, and had access to the source. Gates didn't even bother to remove the SCP copyright notice from the comments, nor the references to QDOS. Too bad "sed" and "awk" weren't available for search and replace back then.
- canucker2016 1y ago
  Much of the remaining QDOS/PCDOS work was probably adapting to the IBM BIOS. from Tim Paterson's website, https://web.archive.org/web/20190722012644/http://www.patersontech.com/dos/softalk.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20190722012644/http://www.paters... ...In May, he went to Microsoft to work full-time on the PC-DOS version of 86-DOS. "The first day on the job I walk through the door and 'Hey! It's IBM,' " says Paterson, grinning impishly. "I worked at Microsoft a neat eleven months. In May, June, and July I worked on things I hadn't quite finished, refining PC-DOS." International Business Machinations. This was the beginning of an eleven-month hurricane. Almost daily, Paterson shipped stuff to Boca Raton for IBM's approval, and IBM would instantly return comments, modifications, and more problems. "They were real thorough. I would send them a disk the same day via Delta Dash. IBM would be on the phone to me as soon as the disk arrived." Paterson pauses and winds up. He's remembering one request that clashed violently with his view of the project. "IBM wanted CP/M prompts. It made me throw up." But when IBM asks, you comply if you're a lowly programmer, and that is what Paterson did. He finished PC-DOS in July, one month before the pc was officially announced to the world. By this time, 86-DOS had become MS-DOS.
lproven 1y ago
> immediately went and bought QDOS Important correction: MS did not buy QDOS -- or SCP. It licensed it. Some years later, when MS-DOS was a big hit, then it licensed it. I suspect this was not in error; it was some form of protective gamble.
- canucker2016 1y ago
  According to Tim Paterson's blog and Paul Allen autobiography, MS bought SCP's QDOS on 1981 July 27 (MS had a non-exclusive license for QDOS to sell to OEMs). This is before the IBM PC release in August. see https://web.archive.org/web/20190722012644/http://www.patersontech.com/dos/softalk.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20190722012644/http://www.paters...
  - lproven 1y ago
    That was the year after MS initially licensed it. MS did buy it eventually, but not immediately.
    - canucker2016 1y ago
      MS bought SCP's QDOS less than one year after IBM came to them to discuss software for the IBM PC. source - Paul Allen's autobio, Tim Paterson's blog entry.
      - lproven 1y ago
        Conceded, OK. It wasn't a hit yet: it was before the PC's launch. Even so, the point remains: it didn't buy it at first.