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To: HerbVic who wrote (33516)	5/30/2002 9:34:21 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 213177

Herb> Consider if you will, a millionaire's son destined to become a Harvard man. The parents, who didn't get to where they were by playing marbles in the sand, pull every trick in the book to insure the success of their progeny. Their objective: CEO of IBM. Or at least a good job. ?? Isn't that what every parent no matter what their means should or does try to do for their offspring. A lot of much wealthier families have the same desires but with much less success. It was as much about timing as anything. More interesting is Paul Allen and what little he really did to justify being one of the richest men in the world. His bio should be called Accidental Billions.

To: HerbVic who wrote (33516)	5/30/2002 11:49:32 PM
From: jonkai	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213177

By the way, even if you pick apart the paragraph you linked piece by piece, and take it for the Gospel Truth, there is not one bit of refuting evidence. perhaps you missed this part..... also you might have missed the part where this author got his research from several books with quotes from the people involved.... so i will include those EXACT QUOTES AT THE BOTTOM from the same people too which makes it obvious that this author was correct....and your version incorrect..... so IBM went to Bill Gates . IBM didn't know it, but Microsoft had no operating system to sell them. which is why they went to MSFT.... to get an OS thinking MSFT had one ........ because MSFT by then was the biggest supplier of computer languages in the fledgling PC industry, so IBM assumed MSFT had one, MSFT had a product that licensed CP/M and IBM knew about this product, but they didn't know that MSFT only licensed CP/M... .. by the way, Kildall could have easily sued MSFT and won for copyright, after MSFT picked up QDOS.... that's how close QDOS was to CP/M.... another lucky break for MSFT that Kildall didn't sue after realizing his mistake........ nothing wrong with luck..... but since you are skeptical how about a few direct quotes; first from Jack Sams..... he is the IBM person who first called Gates.... as you can see, it was IBM calling..... not visa versa..... not to set up personal interview, these quotes make it extremely clear what happened..... there is NO CONFUSION here... please let me know if you are confused by anything else.... there is much more......... this is from Cringely's transcripts of the triumph of the nerds.... Jack Sams: "At about noon I guess I called Bill Gates on Monday and said I would like to come out and talk with him about his products." notice, not about an interview... but products....... Of course Gates thought they were coming out to look at Basic interpreters..... but IBM wasn't out there just for that.... what they really needed was an OS....... .. quote from Cringely: "Jack Sams was looking for a package from Microsoft containing both the BASIC computer language and an Operating System. But IBM hadn't done their homework". quote from Steve Ballmer: "They thought we had an operating system. Because we had this Soft Card product that had CPM on it, they thought we could licence them CPM for this new personal computer they told us they wanted to do, and we said well, no, we're not in that business." quote from Jack Sams: "When we discovered we didn't have [an os] - he [Bill Gates] didn't have the rights to do that and that it was not...he [Bill Gates] said but I think it's ready, I think that Gary's [Gary Kildall] got it ready to go. So I said well, there's no time like the present, call up Gary." as you can see..... there is no way to interpret it in a different way... IBM called MSFT, not visa versa.... and that IBM was looking for an OS.... no way to confuse it... jon.

To: HerbVic who wrote (33516)	5/31/2002 1:17:13 PM
From: Doren	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213177

IBM first contacted Gary Kildall about using his CP/M microcomputer operating system, which Kildall copyrighted in May 1976, for the Acorn. However, Kildall was not interested, so IBM went to Bill Gates. IBM didn't know it, but Microsoft had no operating system to sell them. The devil is in the lack of details. Why did Dr. Kildall turn a cold sholder to IBM? Why did IBM turn to a complete unknown KID, not yet graduated from Harvard? I believe that Kildall was not impressed with IBM and made the reps wait. The reps were used to being treated like they were gods from a higher empire and were offended. They thought they would be able to find another OS else where. I believe they may even have left without actually seeing Kildall. Bill was willing to wait and was even differential to Kildall.