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35c18f08
@REPLYADDR Aron Hoekstra <nullvalue@gmail.com>
@REPLYTO 2:5075/128 Aron Hoekstra
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@TZUTC: -0700
@PID: G2/1.0
@TID: FIDOGATE-5.12-ge4e8b94
Wow, talk about a necropost..
On Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 2:16:33 PM UTC-5, Dave McGuire wrote:
> On 9/11/23 21:00, KP2 KP2 wrote:
> > On Wednesday, July 13, 1994 at 3:51:52 PM UTC-7, Greg Limes wrote:
> >> In article
,
> >> Mark E. Davidson <davi...@pdsc.com> wrote:
> >>> The local (Monterey, CA) paper had an obituary for Gary Kildall ...
> >> The San Jose Mercury News ran his obit at the bottom right corner
> >> of the front page and continued on the back page as follows; typos
> >> are of course my fault. Reproduced without permission.
> >> PC pioneer Kildall dies in Monterey
> >> By Rory J. O`Connor
> >> Mercury News Staff Writer
> >> Kildall lost to Gates with IBM
> >> Personal computer giant remembered for deal he didn`t make
> >> Personal computer pioneer Gary Kildall, who but for a single
> >> failed business deal might have enjoyed the wealth and fame of
> >> Bill Gates, died Monday night in a Monterey hospital at age
> >> 52.
> >> Kildall was admitted late Sunday to the Community Hospital of
> >> the Monterey Peninsula. He died around 9 p.m. Monday, said Jean
> >> Tierney, the hospital`s administrative supervisor. She said
> >> the hospital did not know the cause of death.
> >> Kildall apparently was taken to the hospital after suffering a
> >> concussion in a fall, said Thomas Rolander, a longtime friend
> >> and former business associate of Kildall. While an autopsy
> >> report is still incomplete, Rolander said evidence indicates
> >> Kildall suffered a fatal heart attack. It is unclear if the
> >> two conditions were related.
> >> Kildall`s career spans the history of the personal computer,
> >> which he was instrumental in popularizing in the 1970s.
> >> "Gary`s technical contributions in the beginning days of
> >> microcomputing were order-of-magnitude enhancements to the
> >> capabilities with which we were working," said Jim Warren, a
> >> Woodside consultant who played a key role in early
> >> microcomputing. "The were enhancements both in technical power
> >> and in equitable consumer-oriented pricing and support
> >> practices."
> >> In 1972, Kildall was an associate professor of computer science
> >> at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey and a
> >> consultant for Intel Corp., which the year before had created
> >> the world`s first microprocessor chip. Kildall wrote a version
> >> of the PL/I programming language that worked on the chip, the
> >> Intel 4004. A year later, frustrated with the difficulty of
> >> making the 4004 work with disk drives and other computer
> >> components, he wrote the first personal computer operating
> >> system.
> >> A PC Breakthrough
> >> The program, called Control Program for Micro-Computers and
> >> shortened to CP/M, offered hobbyists a way to use their
> >> microcomputers, as they were then called, in the same way as
> >> larger minicomputers and mainframes. Before, the computers were
> >> programmed in laborious ways, like flipping switches on the
> >> front panel of the machines. With CP/M, they could type
> >> instructions on a keyboard, store data on a floppy disk or tape
> >> recorder and view results on a screen or printer.
> >> Digital Research, the company started in 1976 by Kildasll and
> >> his first wife, Dorth McEwen, sold CP/M for $75 each. Kildall,
> >> who disliked business, said in a 1981 interview that he hoped
> >> "just to support my computer habits" with the proceeds.
> >> But the typical minicomputer operating system at the time sold
> >> for at least $10,000, and Intel`s own operating system for
> >> microcomputers cost $800. CP/M soon became the standard
> >> operating system for personal computers, which could be bought
> >> for as little as a thousand dollars. By 1981, Kildall was one
> >> of the best known figures in the $2 billion personal computer
> >> business, and his $10 million company had sold 250,000 copies
> >> of CP/M.
> >> Negotiated with IBM
> >> However, Kildall is probably best remembered for being on the
> >> losing end of one of the biggest deals in computer history.
> >> In 1980, IBM contacted Digital Research, hoping to persuatde it
> >> to produce a new version of CP/M for the personal computer IBM
> >> was secretly developing. Kildall didn`t think much of IBM"s
> >> chances but met with the company anyway.
> >> "IBM wanted to take the market away from Apple, and they looked
> >> at them and saw that the SoftCard (a CP/M add-in card for the
> >> Apple II) was an important part of it," Kildall said in a 1991
> >> interview.
> >> Negotiations went badly, Rolander said. IBM wanted Digital
> >> Research to sign a non-disclosure agreement but refused to sign
> >> one in return. IBM wanted to pay a flat fee for CP/M, with no
> >> royalties, and change the software`s name.
> >> Silicon Valley legend has it that Kildall, a passionate private
> >> pilot, missed a crucial meeting because he decided to go flying
> >> instead. While Kildall did fly that morning, Rolander said, he
> >> attended the afternoon meeting.
> >> IBM decided to hedge its bets. During a visit to tiny
> >> Microsoft Corp., to obtain a version of its BASIC programming
> >> language, IBM inquired if the company also could provide an
> >> operating system.
> >> Microsoft moves in
> >> Even though he didn`t have one, Microsoft founder Bill Gates
> >> readily agreed to IBM`s request. He bought a CP/M clone called
> >> DOS from Seattle Computer Products, a company run by a friend
> >> of Gates, for $250,000. That program became MS-DOS, proably
> >> the most widely used software in the world, and helped turn
> >> Gates into a billionaire.
> >> Kildall had earlier sued Seattle Computer Products for
> >> copyright infringement. When he confronted IBM with the fact,
> >> IBM responded that it would agree to license CP/M as well -- if
> >> Kildall agreed never to sue. He did, only to discover when the
> >> IBM PC was introduced that the price of DOS was $40, while the
> >> price of CP/M-86 was $200 more.
> >> "It was only through inadequately sharp business hustling that
> >> MS-DOS took the IBM cake when, by rights, CP/M should have done
> >> so," Warren said.
> >> But hard-nosed business was not Kildall`s style.
> >> "Basicly I am a gadget-oriented person," Kildall said in 1981.
> >> "I like to work with gadgets, dials and knobs. I`m not a very
> >> competitive person. I`m forced into it."
> >> Kildasll remained active in the industry until his death. He
> >> was Digital Research chairman until 1991, when Novell Inc.
> >> bought the company. He started an early multimedia company in
> >> Monterey in 1985, and later moved to Austin, Texas, to persue
> >> the field. He recently returned to Monterey and spent the last
> >> year and a half writing an unpublished book on the computer
> >> industry called "Computer Connections."
> >> Kildall was born in Seattle on May 19, 1942, and studied
> >> computer science at the University of Washington, eventually
> >> earning a Ph.D. He then took his post at the Naval
> >> Postgraduate School.
> >> Kildall met McEwen while in high school. The two married in
> >> 1963 and were divorced 20 years later. Kildall married his
> >> second wife, Karen, in 1986. They were recently divorced.
> >> Kildall is survived by two children; Scott, of San Fransisco,
> >> and Kristin, of Seattle; his mother, Emma; and a sister, Patti
> >> Guberlet, both of Seattle.
> >> Kildall, who was also race car enthusiast who collected and
> >> rebuilt Grand Prix cars, will be cremated after a memorial
> >> service later this week. Details are incomplete.
> >> --
> >> Greg Limes [not speaking for 3DO]
> >> #include
> >> When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.
> >> PGP 0x1873DB65 // 12 8B 30 43 AA 88 8E F7 DD 50 97 D2 84 FD 5A 5C
> > RIP
> That post was from 1994!
>
> Tell me again why it was a good idea for Google to start mucking
> around with Usenet?
>
> -Dave
>
> --
> Dave McGuire, President/Curator
> Large Scale Systems Museum
> New Kensington, PA
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