"Adam Albright" <AA@ABC.net> wrote in message
news:uk9644hi999a6np0kmg3ed133egbgse7ev@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:44:33 GMT, "Canuck57"
> <dave-no_spam@unixhome.net> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Adam Albright" <AA@ABC.net> wrote in message
>>news:cvj54496f6aan8oguok3deqgev6oodq5k3@4ax.com. ..
>>
>>> Fast forward to 1981. IBM noticed Apple's growing success but also
>>> realized their major blunder using a closed architecture, just stupid
>>> and based on greed. Literally overnight IBM put together a team of 12
>>> engineers who with off the shelf parts gave birth to the PC using Open
>>> Architecture. Shortly before IBM for reasons only God knows approached
>>> Bill Gates, a total nobody at the time to write a OS for this PC. You
>>> know the rest of that story.
>>
>>I know some history on this. IBM designed the PC, 8088 @ 4.7 MHz.
>>Trouble
>>was IBM started building them and warehousing them before their internal
>>OS
>>development was finished with Digital Research. Boca Ratan comes to mind,
>>anyway IBM had big problems and was desperate for a working OS. Someone
>>found Microsoft as an alternative to the failing relationship with Digital
>>Research. For Microsoft, MS-DOS was originally known as QDOS (Quick and
>>Dirty OS) which borrowed from CP/M. Essentially, MS-DOS was stripped down
>>CP/M. Also added was Basic to the BIOS, borrowed from earlier works on
>>the
>>PET and Altair ports and then IBM had a PC with OS/programming.
>>Initially,
>>IBM actually helped people market and paid people to write programs for
>>this
>>PC. I believe Microsoft got $25 per MS-DOS sold via IBM.
>>
>>Competators at the time included: Apple, Tandy/Radio Shack and Commodore
>>Pet and a few others. There were plenty of micro based systems, 6800,
>>6502,
>>8080, Z80 and others before the 8088 IBM PC. IBMs ants in the pants to
>>get
>>to market as they could forsee the micro based personal market going big
>>time and they wanted in fast.
>>
>>While Bill is credited with the founding of Microsoft, this is folk lore.
>>A
>>real known picture of the Microsoft 11:
>>
>> http://kennethg.blogspot.com/2006/06...-founders.html
>>
>>11 or 12 people started Microsoft, most of which were moved asside before
>>or
>>when Ballmer came into Microsoft in 1980. There is a lot of hidden
>>stories
>>in this period to tell as American media likes the single shining knight
>>story. That is, Bill Gates is not the single founder of Microsoft, not
>>even
>>apartner, but one of many. But Ballmer was with Microsoft just before
>>they
>>hit it big time with the IBM contract.
>
> One thing I've always wondered about is why IBM the powerhouse it was
> and still is didn't write it's own OS for their PC totally in house.
>
> I've seen that famous picture many times. I think history never gave
> Paul Allen, extreme right bottom row much credit.

Big companies are political, writing good software is engineering,
discipline and to some degree artistic. The two don't usually mix too well
where the rules are not well defined. So I suspect IBM wanted Digital
Research to do it. But something went wrong with that relationship.
Licensing? Costs? Technology? Who knows.

But Bill Gates and Ballmer got their start by an element of luck of this
event. But to their credit, they did ruthlessly leverage it to the MS
behemoth we see today.