actually the genesis of MS-DOS is a little more convoluted ... Tim Paterson >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tim PatersonBornJune 1, 1956Occupationcomputer programmer<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programmer> , software designer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_designer>WebsitePaterson Technology <http://www.patersontech.com/>
*Tim Paterson* (born 1956) is an American<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States> computer programmer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programmer>, best known as the original author of MS-DOS<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS>, the most widely used personal computer operating system<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system> in the 1980s. Paterson was educated in the Seattle Public Schools, graduating from Ingraham High School in 1974. He attended the University of Washington<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Washington>, working as a repair technician <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technician> for The Retail Computer Store in the Green Lake area of Seattle, Washington<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle,_Washington>, and graduated *magna cum laude<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_cum_laude> * with a degree in Computer Science in June 1978. He went to work for Seattle Computer Products <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Computer_Products> as a designer and engineer. He designed a schematic of Microsoft's Z-80 SoftCard <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-80_SoftCard> which had a Z80 CPU and ran the CP/M <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP/M> operating system on an Apple II. A month later, Intel released the 8086<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8086> CPU, and Paterson went to work designing an S-100<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-100_bus> 8086 board, which went to market in November 1979. The only commercial software that existed for the board was a standalone version of Microsoft BASIC<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_BASIC>. The standard CP/M operating system at the time was not available for this CPU and without a true operating system, sales were slow. Paterson began work on QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) in April 1980 to fill that void, copying the APIs<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_programming_interface> of CP/M from sources including the published CP/M manual so that it would be highly compatible. QDOS was soon renamed as 86-DOS<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86-DOS>. Version 0.10 was complete by July 1980. By version 1.14 86-DOS had grown to 4,000 lines of assembly code.[1]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Paterson#cite_note-0> In December 1980Microsoft <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft> secured the rights to market 86-DOS to other hardware manufacturers. While acknowledging that he made 86-DOS compatible with CP/M, Paterson has maintained that the 86-DOS program was his original work and has denied allegations that he referred to CP/M's code while writing it.[2]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Paterson#cite_note-1> When a book appeared in 2004 claiming that 86-DOS was an unoriginal "rip-off" of CP/M,[3] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Paterson#cite_note-2> Paterson sued the authors and publishers for defamation<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation> .[4] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Paterson#cite_note-3>[5]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Paterson#cite_note-4> The judge found that Paterson failed to 'provide any evidence regarding “serious doubts” about the accuracy of the Gary Kildall<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Kildall> chapter. Instead, a careful review of the Lefer notes ... provides a research picture tellingly close to the substance of the final chapter' and the case was dismissed on the basis that the book's claims wereconstitutionally protected<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution> opinions and not provably false.[6]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Paterson#cite_note-5> Paterson left SCP in April 1981 and worked for Microsoft from May 1981 to April 1982. After a brief second stint with SCP, Paterson started his own company, Falcon Technology<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Falcon_Technology&action=edit&redlink=1>, which was bought by Microsoft in 1986. Paterson did a second stint with Microsoft from 1986–1988 and a third stint from 1990-1998. During his third stint at Microsoft, he worked on Visual Basic<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Basic> . After leaving Microsoft a third time, Paterson founded another software development company, Paterson Technology<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paterson_Technology&action=edit&redlink=1>, and also made several appearances on the Comedy Central<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_Central> television <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television> program *Battlebots<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlebots> *. Paterson also races rally cars in the SCCA<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCCA> Pro Rally<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SCCA_Pro_Rally&action=edit&redlink=1> series, and even engineered his own trip computer<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trip_computer> which he integrated into the axle of a four-wheel drive Porsche 911<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche_911> . [edit<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tim_Paterson&action=edit§ion=1> ] see also http://www.patersontech.com/dos/micronews/paterson04_10_98.htm and it will give more insight into the history behind DOS and early MicroSoft. On 30 July 2011 04:47, Angus Scott-Fleming <angu...@geoapps.com> wrote: > ** > Well, two days ago. > > ============= Included Stuff Follows ============= > Microsoft's MS-DOS is 30 today • reghardware > Kudos to QDOS > By Tony Smith > 27th July 2011 06:00 GMT > > MS-DOS is 30 years old today. Well, kind of. On 27 July 1981, Microsoft > gave the name MS-DOS to the disk operating system it acquired on that day > from Seattle Computer Products (SCP), a hardware company owned and run by a > fellow called Rod Brock. > > ============= Included Stuff Ends ============= > More here with links: > http://www.reghardware.com/2011/07/27/ms_dos_turns_30/ > > Makes me feel OLD. > > Angus > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
