How did the father of DOS die!

As we all know, the take-off of PC depends on two main wings: microprocessor and operating system. These are also the two biggest cash cows in the PC industry. Ted. The microprocessor invented by Hoff planted a cash cow for Intel. Kildare's DOS operating system established Microsoft's dominance. Intel and Microsoft have become the biggest winners in the PC industry, while Hoff and kildare, after contributing their wisdom, remain unchanged and have been excluded from the page number of history.

Money can talk, it can write history; Money has hands and can rewrite history. Kildare's friends and admirers said, "Every PC user owes kildare a debt of gratitude, but what about Bill? Gates and his Microsoft company owe more than anyone else. " Just as Gates treated his guide Roberts, in order to cover up his "debt", Gates played down kildare and set up another father of Doss, so as to push him out of history!

1980, IBM PC brewing, the god of luck arrival bill? Gates' head. But at that time, he had no idea that he would make a lot of money from the disk operating system (DOS), and later he would firmly control the whole computer industry with DOS. What Gates was really good at at at that time was writing the programming language Basic. He just wants his Basic to hang on IBM's system. Moreover, Gates is not optimistic about the future of DOS. He thinks that programming languages are the real money. At that time, there was the most popular CP/M DOS in the market, which was developed by DRI (Data Research Company) in kildare. Besides, Gates and Digital Research Company have an unwritten agreement that they can't set foot in the field of operating system, and Digital Research Company won't enter the scope of his programming language, so he generously introduced the representative of IBM to kildare. The two sides agreed to meet at the beautiful California Pacific Forest Park next to the winding coast 1 highway.

There are many versions about how kildare missed the most valuable business of this century. Some people say that this computer doctor is arrogant, so when IBM came to him with a once-in-a-lifetime big business, he took his twin-engine small plane for a ride, leaving his wife, a lawyer, to deal with IBM. Faced with many restrictions on IBM's confidentiality, she was very unhappy. Bargaining most of the time. The only agreement reached between the two parties is that digital research companies should not disclose IBM's visit. However, kildare flatly denied this statement, saying that he had to deal with an urgent matter in the morning and would come back to see IBM people at 3 pm. He agrees with his wife's attitude towards the documents signed by IBM. He just shrugged his shoulders at losing the opportunity.

This is probably the typical fate of computer geniuses. Although in terms of software, Bill? Gates is not really a close opponent of kildare, but Gates is more keen on business. Kildare, on the other hand, is purely a scholar, and he is engaged in computers purely to satisfy his thirst for knowledge. He disagreed with Gates' philosophy of life. In his eyes, "I want to win" is not as good as "I want to be happy" Under this philosophy, kildare's loyalty to duty.

Give life to a microprocessor

1942 may 19, Gary? Kildare was born in Seattle, the northwest of the United States, and he is the hometown of Gates. I majored in mathematics, worked as a soldier and was an excellent fighter pilot. 1972, received a doctorate in computer science from Washington University, joined the US Navy, and was assigned to the Naval Graduate School in Monterrey, California as a computer lecturer in autumn, mainly engaged in software research.

Kildare likes the scenery of this seaside city. Song Qing's foggy environment suits him very well. He is soft-spoken and smart, wearing a sweatshirt and tights. When he wants to express something, he usually looks for a chalk or pencil first. He likes to solve problems with pictures, which is his lifelong hobby.

He likes teaching, is an excellent teacher, has a harmonious relationship with students and has published several books. His job also gives him time to program. It can be said that the academic atmosphere made him feel at home. He bought back a 4004 microprocessor invented by Intel for teaching needs. At that time, no one thought it was useful, including Intel. He had a whim: "Can you make a computer program here?" In this way, "microprogram" was born.

In the past, computer data storage, data processing and data control were separated. The appearance of microprocessor makes it three in one. So the program also needs to be miniaturized. Kildare created a new "microprogram" for 4004 on DEC's PDP- 10 microcomputer by two steps. 1973, visit the microcomputer department of Intel. At that time, the newly established company had only a few shabby houses. Kildare gets along well with Intel people. As an Intel consultant, he takes one day off every week. Not only does he like his new job, but he is also fascinated by microprocessors. Soon, Intel let him try the newly released 8008. In just a few months, kildare created the revolutionary microprocessor programming language PL/M in PC history, which gave the microprocessor real life and opened the channel between the microprocessor and the microcomputer. At that time, Intel felt that the microprocessor had no future, and of course it was indifferent to kildare's plan. Intel also lost a great opportunity to have both a microprocessor and an operating system. Gave the other half to Microsoft.

After the advent of Intel 8008, we made several microcomputers called Intellec-8. As part of the kildare Prize, Intel gave him a computer, which he put at the back of the classroom and became the first microcomputer laboratory in the Naval Graduate School. Curious students come to play for a few hours after class. When 8008 was upgraded to 8080, Intellec-8 became Intellec-80, and its performance was improved by 10 times. Intel added a monitor and a high-speed paper tape reader. Kildare and the students were greatly encouraged. At this moment, I happened to meet Allen who invented the 8-inch floppy disk by IBM. Shugart, why don't you take Gordon right away? Dembus's students cooperated to develop the operating system and control program CP/M of microcomputer, which is the first disk operating system (DOS) in the world.

Of course, at that time, no one could foresee the future glory of the PC industry. Kildare, like Intel's designers, believes that microcomputers will eventually be used in household mixers and food evaporators. Kildare and several programmers wrote a game program for 4004. They found Robert, the head of Intel. Noyce, sell this program. Noyce disagreed. Noyce is convinced that the future of microprocessors lies in other aspects. He said seriously, "As far as clocks and watches are concerned."

The development of CP/M is very strange. At that time, while teaching, kildare participated in this course. Cooper's project is to make an astrologer. They are neither interested in nor believe in astrology, and they all think it is obvious nonsense. But I believe it will sell well. So Cooper built the machine and kildare programmed it. This machine is put in the grocery store, eating coins and printing fortune-telling horoscope. Kildare thinks this machine is simply beautiful.

The two inventors put this machine in many places in San Francisco. But the customer is very dissatisfied, because the machine eats coins and the paper is blocked into a ball. They don't know what to do. Later, kildare said: "This is a complete failure in business."

However, the astrology machine has put some programs in kildare, namely CP/M, into commercial testing for the first time. In the process, he also rewrote the tools for debugging and assembling programs, which are the key parts of the operating system. He also created a basic language assembler, which conforms to the translator of instruction code. In the mid-1970s, there were two influential companies in the field of microcomputers. One is MITS which produces Altair 8800, and the other is IMSAI which is silent today. Both companies used 8080, so they began to compete on the operating system. The former cooperated with Gates, while the latter developed a very simple DOS in Basic language, but it was not easy to use and was not compatible with other microcomputers. The latter asked kildare to purchase the authorization of CP/M for $25,000, and immediately covered Gates' "masterpiece".

Scholar entrepreneur

Kildare doesn't think the program he wrote has any value. He just thought, how can I write valuable programs? How many software developers can use him? Obviously, he lacks Gates' business vision and business means. As an accomplished university professor, it is certainly impossible to be as whimsical as those ambitious boys. Of course, it turns out that these wild children are completely right.

Encouraged by his wife, 1976, kildare left the Naval Graduate School and founded the Galaxy Digital Institute with his wife Dorothy, which was quickly renamed Digital Research Company (DRI). Dorothy is in charge of this operation. Obviously, the earliest customers of the company took a big advantage, such as Thomas, who first bought CP/M in the name of the company. Laffler bought the right to use CP/M for only $90. In less than a year, it will cost tens of thousands of dollars to get a CP/M license.

1977 the contract with Emsay company is a turning point. Manager Rubinstein bought CP/M for $25,000. He thinks kildare is a software genius, but he is like a child who doesn't understand business. He thinks he almost stole the operating system from the author. Kildare, on the other hand, is very satisfied. This business has made Digital Research Company a formal commercial company. CP/M also became the most influential PC operating system in 1970s and early 1980s, which could run on hundreds of PCs at that time.

CP/M has become the de facto standard.

When IBM failed to reach a deal with kildare, Gates accepted the deal voluntarily. But it takes at least a year to write an operating system, but IBM requires it to be completed within a few months. Gates was as anxious as a cat on hot bricks. At this time, Paul? Allen played a great role. He heard the wind and knew that there was a set of qdo compiled by insiders. QDOS means fast and dirty operating system, which means borrowing the idea and name of CM/P operating system, but there was no legal action of huge fine at that time. Programmers don't think much of illegally copying other people's works. Allen gave the mobile phone to Tim, the author of QDOS? Patterson. Finally, Microsoft paid about $75,000, bought it with people and products, and renamed it MS-DOS. And gave it to IBM and started the apprenticeship of Microsoft.

198 1 year, IBM PC was ready to go, and kildare came to the door and filed a lawsuit that might endanger IBM's software plan. Kildare decided that the QDOS bought by Microsoft had stolen his CP/M, so he wanted to sue Microsoft and IBM for using this plagiarized thing as the basis of DOS. IBM was shocked and quickly sent several lawyers to find kildare. I found out that this nerd is too easy to mess with when we met. Because the real purpose of kildare's complaint is to hope that IBM will adopt his next version of CP/M in PC. Of course IBM is willing to do it, and bad things turn into good things. Microsoft also dodged a fatal bullet.

For this reason, IBM planned an advertisement showing three doors marked DOS, CP/M and UCSD. The last operating system was also written for PC, but it has not been popularized. More crucially, kildare did not understand the strategy of occupying the market at ultra-low prices and establishing factual standards. His CP/M price is about six times that of MS-DOS 40 dollars. But also obviously lags behind Microsoft in version update. In the mid-1980s, CP/M could run on 300 kinds of personal computers. It is estimated that by 1987, the total number of CP/M copies will reach about 200 million. More than 3000 kinds of software have been developed on CP/M. But by the end of 1980s, MS-DOS had become the de facto standard in the operating system.

Overwhelmed by money

198 1 year, digital research company's income is 6 million dollars, and kildare's personal wealth150,000 dollars. In contrast, Microsoft and Gates at that time were still small shrimps. However, Microsoft's BASIC was later embedded in IBM PC system, and Microsoft's DOS was tightly bound by IBM. 1982, kildare was not really defeated. He believes that as a product, BASIC is a disaster. He is right to a great extent. BASIC is not an easy language for beginners. As a master programmer, kildare wants to develop a simpler and better visual language than BASIC, that is, DR LOGO. Unfortunately, this product, which has poured a lot of wealth and money, has never really caught on. Because at this time, people no longer care so much about programming languages. The focus of the market began to favor application software. Kildare is a technical person. He thinks that if you develop a set of key application software on your own operating system (which is easy for kildare), it is immoral and heartless to compete with your own customers. Therefore, he decided not to compete directly with software companies such as WordStar and VisiCalc. These softwares all depend on his operating system. In this way, kildare's business is too single and dangerous. Gates, on the other hand, doesn't feel guilty. On the contrary, he believes that in the field of application software, we must be ruthless and unscrupulous. From the beginning, he set out to deploy, laying a solid foundation for a series of profitable application software, which can run on various platforms, including kildare's operating system. In this way, with a solid business foundation, we can be more savage in the market. Moreover, Gates also got another big revelation: it is too easy to find innovative products and technologies in the software industry, and imitation is too simple. But turning them into market success requires another ability and means. And all this means that kildare will never learn. This is the fundamental reason why Microsoft without innovation can sweep the world, while kildare, a generation of software genius, can only decline rapidly. From the astrology machine to the missed opportunity of CP/M, and finally to the software pricing, kildare will never be a person in a shopping mall. It can be said that kildare is the first all-round expert in computer history, and he has made extraordinary contributions in both hardware and software. In particular, he prepared the operating system before the earliest personal computer Altair, which created conditions for the eruption of the PC industry. But he is just a relatively simple technical genius, destined to be trampled on by Gates.

Be submerged by history

Now people have forgotten kildare, even Bill? Gates boasted in his best-selling book The Road to the Future, Tim? Patterson held it out and was crowned as "the father of Doss", without mentioning anything about kildare.

But there is a part of history that money and fame cannot rewrite. Because it was kildare, not Patterson, who first created the disk operating system (DOS), and it was kildare who defined the drivers of disk A, disk B and disk C (CD-ROM) which are widely used today. Kildare was also one of the pioneers of graphical user interface (GUI). He also developed the computer language "Dr. Logo". Meanwhile, at 1974, he and Gordon? Together, they helped create the most prestigious "Homebrew Club" in Silicon Valley, which became a paradise for computer enthusiasts to communicate and the center of igniting the PC revolution in Silicon Valley. Kildare's CP/M is also used as the development environment of missile guidance system by the US Department of Defense.

In addition to being the chairman of the board of directors of digital research company, kildare founded another company, Knowledge-Set, in 1985, which was the first company to develop application software for the emerging mass storage media CD. The first product was the publication of Encyclopedia of Grolier. However, kildare sold most of the company's shares and made commercial and video content for the video design company (VDG).

With the development of Microsoft, the digital research companies in kildare have gone from bad to worse. 199 1 year, digital research company was merged by Novell company. He himself moved from Silicon Valley to a small town near Austin, Texas, and gradually faded out of people's sight. We began to put money and energy into the relief work for AIDS children.

Only a few professionals and enthusiasts can still play CP/M now. Since the late 1980s, kildare has become somewhat depressed and depressed. Because he found himself mercilessly abandoned by his pioneering PC industry. Kildare began to drown his sorrows by drinking, became a complete alcoholic, and divorced his wife Dorothy, who had started a business together. 1994, 52-year-old kildare bumped his head in his apartment in Monterey, California, and died three days later. A generation of masters passed away, saying goodbye to his love-hate computer industry completely.

The media only mentioned a few words lightly. As an all-round pilot, teacher, software master, writer and computer pioneer in the booming industry, kildare has completely entered the history and entered a forgotten corner.