The QDOS , an Operating System (OS ) written by Tim Paterson in 1979, was bought by Bill Gates and " become" in the MS-DOS , the product would be key to the future success of the Microsoft empire. QDOS was a 16-bit OS designed to run on the Intel 8086, draws heavily on the CP / M prewritten by Gary Kildall. Paterson, aged 22, wrote QDOS in just a month and a half, providing the same interface and most of the commands available in CP / M. We tell you the secrets of the origins of MS-DOS, one of the most popular operating systems in history.
circulate many stories about Bill Gates and his company Microsoft . One of the most interesting is the origin of what would be one of the operating systems (OS ) software in the world, whose success prompted the company financially Gates and became the giant it is today. The legend, not all the passages in this entertaining saga have ratified or denied by the people involved, and possibly never will be-that Microsoft bought for a few dollars an existing OS, I made some modifications and licensed it to IBM gaining in the process hundreds of millions of dollars. The OS in question was QDOS (for " Quick and Dirty Operating System " or " Quick and Dirty Operating System ") written by Tim Paterson . The QDOS was an OS for the systems used 16-bit Intel 8086 microprocessor , Paterson had written that in turn inspired by the interface and commands SO using the most popular of the era: the Control Program / Monitor ( CP / M ). The CP / M had been programmed by Gary Kildall between 1973 and 1974, who in 1976 founded the company Digital Research Inc. (DRI ). If you're over 35 years, may remember an OS alternative to MS-DOS called DR-DOS , it was not anything other than the version of Digital Research most widely used system for the first PC.
But back to the origins of QDOS . In the late 1970's could be found on the market several computers, some quite powerful- that were sold in kit form . This significantly lowered prices, and a large number of users " built" their own computers. But for these machines would serve as something was needed OS capable of handling files and system resources. One of the companies specialized in developing computer kits was Seattle Computer Products (SCP ), whose sales has not taken off due to lack of software capable of running on your system. SCP could only sell their badges on Microsoft BASIC-86, a programming language that Microsoft developed specifically for the platform. SCP dreamed in his catalog include the version of CP / M that Digital Research had announced for the Intel 8086 microprocessor , but months passed and the release of CP / M was postponed again and again. DRI carried on their backs with a true " tradition" in terms of delays, two years earlier had been delayed in migrating CP / M to new formats of floppy disks and hard drives. Tired of waiting, SCP in April 1980 took the bull by the horns and assigned to one of its employees scheduling a proprietary operating system. The employee was, you guessed it, Tim Paterson, and the OS was wrote QDOS . The new operating system, whose name referred to how fast it was written by Paterson (took only a month and a half) and " concessions" that had been made as to its characteristics in order to finish on time.
Paterson, who was only 22 years, QDOS designed to be as close as possible to CP / M, since this was a SO accepted by the public and very popular. QDOS was not trying to just a blatant copy-and having to face a hard-Paterson lawsuit scheduled most of the commands available on the CP / M, but did not use the same file system. Instead used the s ystem FAT file (File Allocation Table or Table File Allocation ) that Microsoft used in some versions of BASIC. To avoid forcing the update of the contents of the disks before removing, Paterson avoided using a copy of the file system in RAM. This, although towards the system drives a little slower, more memory left free to the user. It was a minor detail, since those years memory was extremely expensive and scarce . Also replaced some commands CP / M by less powerful but more intuitive. That was how the powerful and versatile command copy "PIP " of CP / M was replaced by " COPY." It is said that to do their job, Paterson bought a manual of CP / M and used as a basis for programming QDOS. You may have used much more than that, since it is quite difficult to write a " clone" of, for example, Windows XP seeing only your owner's manual. Anyway, the truth is that the young programmer gave Seattle Computer Product s OS needed, and it began to market it under the name 86-DOS.
Meanwhile, IBM had confined a group of engineers in Boca Raton designing what would be the most spectacular bombing in the history of computing : the IBM PC. late 1980 CP / M was arguably the most popular OS, and IBM wanted it for his new computer. But when representatives of the Big Blue interviewed managers Digital Research, found that this would not be easy. During discussion on the terms and scope of the license, Dorothy McEwen Kildall , the licensing representative, refused DRI to sign the agreement alleging the existence of a non-disclosure. IBM, decided to use CP / M, eliminated this pitfall of the contract, but Digital again refused to sign because he disagreed with the $ 250 000 (plus an amount in royalties for each sale) that IBM offered in exchange authorization to sell all copies of the OS they deemed necessary. The negotiations had stalled, and eventually people IBM met with Bill Gates to see if Microsoft provided an operating system that allowed them to enter the machine, which was almost ready, "in the market. Bill negotiated hard with IBM and got more or less the same Big Blue deal that he had offered to DRI, while retaining the rights to sell the OS with its own brand. This proved to be a great move for Microsoft, the IBM PC and its clones dominated the world, and each was sold Gates and his friends pocketed a few dollars. But best of all is that, when engaging with IBM, Microsoft had nothing to sell.
fact, Microsoft does had an operating system to deliver to IBM, or the time required for programming. Far from being discouraged, Gates purchased, in December 1980 - a non-exclusive license 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products for only $ 25,000 . Obviously, he could not deliver that product as it was IBM, so in May 1981 Microsoft hired Tim Paterson to change its former QDOS so that it ran on the new IBM-PC. The amendments were necessary because IBM had based his design on the cheaper and slower Intel 8088 microprocessor , which despite being very similar to 8086 was not 100% compatible. It took more than 300 changes all supervised very closely by representatives of IBM, who were clear that the proper operation of your computer depends largely on the quality of this software. Finally, in July 1981, just one month before they launched the IBM PC to stores Microsoft bought all rights to the 86-DOS in exchange for 50 thousand dollars additional . This operation completed the move of Bill Gates: IBM got an OS very similar to CP / M, programs written for that OS could be ported easily to the new DOS, assured financial gain from the sale of each PC, and eliminated any trial for kidnapping attempt by the SCP to have bought all rights of his 86-DOS. What they say, a windfall.
Microsoft became the QDOS in PC-DOS 1.0 - " DOS" means " Disk Operating System" or " Disk Operating System" - and I delivered to IBM. In addition, he began selling its own version under the name MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System ) and quickly garnered a fortune. Logically, lawyers for Seattle Computer Products argued that Gates had concealed its relationship with IBM at the time of buying the license 86-DOS, but only got an extra payment of one million dollars from Microsoft. Gary Kildall is said to have carefully examined the PC-DOS executable and found, as saying the journalist and writer Jerry Pournelle - containing parts of the original source of CP / M. Pournelle says Kildall showed him personally or by entering a command on the PC-DOS, it showed his name on the screen. However, this command was never revealed and the story has not been corroborated. By way of disclaimer, Paterson has always maintained that QDOS was written from scratch by himself, and only mimicked its interface and commands, without ever seeing the source code. And the vast majority of historians believe this version. At that time, an OS was small enough to be written by one person, and Paterson was smart enough to do so.
Obviously, in the history of QDOS the smartest character has proved Bill Gates. Without breaking the law, always moving to the edge of the border that separates the ethical from the trap, Microsoft managed to win billions of dollars from an investment of just over one million. He had the courage to sit at the heads of IBM and assure them that the OS would need, even if Microsoft did not have anything tangible to offer. Anyway, QDOS -the product of the mind of a programmer than 22 years became the PC-DOS / MS-DOS that millions of people bought for more than a decade. What do you think?
Source:
http://www.neoteo.com/qdos-el-padre-del-dos-1979.neo
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