

A Giant Bid That Shows How Tired the Giant Is - __
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/technology/02nocera.html?ex=1359608400&en=ec9043c55905f787&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

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edw519
"...Microsoft convinced that era's tech behemoth to use Microsoft's operating
system..."

False.

IBM was more than happy to avoid doing any R & D in an area it didn't take
seriously. Microsoft didn't even have an operating system at the time. After a
"chance meeting" between IBM CEO John Opel and Bill Gates's mother at a United
Way Board Meeting and IBM's refusal to sign Gary Kildall's non-disclosure
agreement, Paul Allen purchased DOS from Seattle Computing for $50,000. The
rest is history.

But you'd never know it if all you read was the New York Times.

~~~
allenbrunson
i wouldn't say it was "false" so much as "simplified." it was "microsoft's
operating system" in the sense that they owned it, had the rights to license
it to ibm, and saw potential where ibm didn't.

