"One theory is that may not have happened if Don Estridge hadn't been killed in that crash." Fate seemed to be sealed (or on it's way) much earlier than that (

"One theory is that may not have happened if Don Estridge hadn't been killed in that crash." Fate seemed to be sealed (or on it's way) much earlier than that (based on my memory, and supported by an obvious link below.) http://inventors.about.com/od/computersoftware/a/Putting-Microsoft-On-The-Map.htm http://inventors.about.com/od/computersoftware/a/Putting-Mic... "Bill Gates then talked IBM into letting Microsoft retain the rights, to market MS-DOS separate from the IBM PC project, Gates and Microsoft proceeded to make a fortune from the licensing of MS-DOS" That was of course way before Estridge got killed. And Compaq came out in 1982... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq "In November 1982 Compaq announced their first product, the Compaq Portable, a portable IBM PC compatible personal computer."