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To: jonkai who wrote (33496)	5/29/2002 9:28:27 PM
From: HerbVic	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 213177

Keep your train of thought, jonkai. You responded to: The job interview went well and in saying goodbye to the Suits, young Bill, as a last minute afterthought, asked them if there was anything else he could do for them. They responded halfheartedly, not unless he could find them a DOS like CP/M and fast. The next thirty seconds was Bill's a coup sur, or masterstroke. He responded that he might be able to find one and took their number. I can't produce the book or an Internet quote, but the incident was published as fact. My recollection may color some details. For instance, it's quite possible that there was a business meeting instead of a personal job interview. As I recall, the job interview was covertly arranged by young Bill's Mother. There may have been a premise of looking at Microsoft's offerings in order to arrange the meeting without Bill's knowledge. The book named the social connections that made it possible for her to do so. Remember, at the time Digital Research was called Intergalactic Digital Research and Microsoft was a tiny company making punch cards, tape and disks to sell Microsoft BASIC to PC hobbyists. Very cottage level stuff. Not the kind of industry production that would attract a team of high power IBM middle managers. Bill Gates and Paul Allen had originally been making car counters for highway departments under the name Traf-O-Data. I think perhaps in observing their transition to the microcomputer hobbyist market, Bill's Mother was afraid they might become Microflop. Tim Paterson was the author of QDOS. He essentially knocked off CP/M in order to have a 16 bit version for the 8086. These guys were all cottage level hobbyists. At the time, THE ONLY ONE WHO HAD STROKE ENOUGH TO ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF IBM WAS DR. GARY KILDALL. I wasn't there. I present this story from memory because, if true, it is a story worth telling. If you want to dispute it, go ahead. But, don't just blurt out a different version of events. That only convinces me that you know even less than I do. Tell me why it isn't so. And please ... please ... please ... cut back on the "whatevers." HerbVic