Part 2 of the documentary series deals with how PCs became more prevalent outside hobbyist circles. It's interesting to me how different groups needed what the other had to make this possible. If you took the Homebrew Computer Club and threw a lot of money behind it, getting it all tangled up in legal and financial issues, it might look something like this. Microsoft needed IBM and vice versa. They also needed CPM, but in the end the company with the botht eh most knowledge and the most cutthroat attitude toward business (post incorporation) won. In that sense, sharing was vital. It's just that that sharing happened duplicitously.
IBM-Big Blue-Biggest computer company in the world (at the time of the doc)
Conservative, Conservative, Conservative
Goes on about conservative dress code, company songs, etc.
Huge bureaucracy, everything had to be verified and approved by committees
“It would take 9 months to ship an empty box.”
1980 IBM decided they wanted to control the PC market
“We were losing the hearts and minds.”
IBM plan—open architecture. Using other companies’ components, software, sales, and service. Something IBM never did.
Who would they buy their software from?
Bill Gates did languages, Gary Killdall did operating systems.
Killdall is described as a techie and less of a business man.
Gates was extremely competitive. Killdall was behind the best selling OS, CPM. Gates was selling Basic, most popular programming language. IBM contacted Microsoft. They wanted the language and an OS. They didn’t know Microsoft didn’t have an OS to sell them.
When CPM said no, Microsoft jumped on it. Tim Patterson basically ripped off the CPM API to make his OS. He called it QDos. As usual, the prize didn’t go to the inventor, but the exploiter of the invention. 22:30
Bought QDos for $50k
IBM’s name carried a seal of approval for other type of companies. Lotus 123 (based on VisiCalc) was the PC’s killer app.
IBM had no control over Microsoft’s licensing. Microsoft really didn’t make much money comparatively. Other companies had to clone IBM’s PC to be successful.
1982 Compaq. Used reverse engineering to design their PC. Rom Bios was the only thing IBM invented, so Compaq had to copy it without breaking the law.
Computer industry backwards compared to others. Things getter better and cheaper. Because so many clones were getting into it, prices were going down and down. IBM’s share of the pie was going down. Microsoft’s was going up.
Gates was changing the culture of Microsoft to be more competitive and somewhere between traditional corporation and something else. Emergence of Microserfs. Setting up his own cult of personality.
IBM’s glacial pace put them behind clone makers. Moved toward closed hardware and their own operating system (OS 2). They asked Microsoft to code OS 2. One issue had to do with culture clashes based on view of size/complexity and value. Microsoft was for leaner coding. IBM felt coding should be paid based on amount of code not how well the code worked.
Windows created in parallel to OS 2. Tried to get IBM to move toward Windows.
Bill has an incredible desire to beat other people and put people under. 46:30
Gates is extremely paranoid and controlling. How does this transfer into education and his beliefs about education. It certainly fuels a really oppressive notion of lifelong learning.
Microsoft didn’t develop the first GUI. Apple did.
IBM-Big Blue-Biggest computer company in the world (at the time of the doc)
Conservative, Conservative, Conservative
Goes on about conservative dress code, company songs, etc.
Huge bureaucracy, everything had to be verified and approved by committees
“It would take 9 months to ship an empty box.”
1980 IBM decided they wanted to control the PC market
“We were losing the hearts and minds.”
IBM plan—open architecture. Using other companies’ components, software, sales, and service. Something IBM never did.
Who would they buy their software from?
Bill Gates did languages, Gary Killdall did operating systems.
Killdall is described as a techie and less of a business man.
Gates was extremely competitive. Killdall was behind the best selling OS, CPM. Gates was selling Basic, most popular programming language. IBM contacted Microsoft. They wanted the language and an OS. They didn’t know Microsoft didn’t have an OS to sell them.
When CPM said no, Microsoft jumped on it. Tim Patterson basically ripped off the CPM API to make his OS. He called it QDos. As usual, the prize didn’t go to the inventor, but the exploiter of the invention. 22:30
Bought QDos for $50k
IBM’s name carried a seal of approval for other type of companies. Lotus 123 (based on VisiCalc) was the PC’s killer app.
IBM had no control over Microsoft’s licensing. Microsoft really didn’t make much money comparatively. Other companies had to clone IBM’s PC to be successful.
1982 Compaq. Used reverse engineering to design their PC. Rom Bios was the only thing IBM invented, so Compaq had to copy it without breaking the law.
Computer industry backwards compared to others. Things getter better and cheaper. Because so many clones were getting into it, prices were going down and down. IBM’s share of the pie was going down. Microsoft’s was going up.
Gates was changing the culture of Microsoft to be more competitive and somewhere between traditional corporation and something else. Emergence of Microserfs. Setting up his own cult of personality.
IBM’s glacial pace put them behind clone makers. Moved toward closed hardware and their own operating system (OS 2). They asked Microsoft to code OS 2. One issue had to do with culture clashes based on view of size/complexity and value. Microsoft was for leaner coding. IBM felt coding should be paid based on amount of code not how well the code worked.
Windows created in parallel to OS 2. Tried to get IBM to move toward Windows.
Bill has an incredible desire to beat other people and put people under. 46:30
Gates is extremely paranoid and controlling. How does this transfer into education and his beliefs about education. It certainly fuels a really oppressive notion of lifelong learning.
Microsoft didn’t develop the first GUI. Apple did.